Category Error

It's hard to comment on the winners and losers at last night's Tony Awards since I didn't see any of the productions under consideration.. (And I'm not interested in all the hatred expressed toward Trump--the whole thing is getting tired.)

But one thing intrigued me.  Andrew Garfield won for best lead actor in a play for his Prior Walter in Angels In America.  Meanwhile, Nathan Lane won for best featured actor in a play for his Roy Cohn in the same.

Angels in America requires eight actors (though this production had more to fill in smaller roles) and each has a major part.  All of them but one double in other roles, though each has a main character to play.

Angels In America is also two plays, both lengthy--part 1, Millennium Approaches, and part 2, Perestroika.  But here's the thing--in the first Broadway production, the actor who played Prior Walter (Stephen Spinella) and the actor who played Roy Cohn (Ron Leibman) both won Tonys.  However, Leibman won for best actor and Spinella won for best featured actor--the opposite of what happened last night.

As noted, all the roles are major, so perhaps anyone can win for anything.  I don't know who decides which category the actors will be nominated in.  But could it possibly be that Leibman was a bigger name than Spinella, while Andrew Garfield is a bigger star (in the movies, anyway) than Nathan Lane?