By Michelle Hines, University Relations
Beth Leavel as Dolly Levi in UNCG Theatre's 1978 production of "Hello, Dolly!"
Beth Leavel walked into New York’s Radio City Music Hall Sunday night a Tony nominee.
She left … a Tony winner.
Leavel, who graduated from UNCG in 1980 with an MFA in acting, took home the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of the title character in Broadway’s red hot musical comedy, “The Drowsy Chaperone.” The Tonys, Broadway’s top honor, have honored excellence in theater for the past 60 years.
“It's just unconditionally joyful,” she told Playbill.com after the ceremony. “There's no show business in my background. None. My grandfather played the violin. That's it. Even my children don’t show much interest. That's such an un-showbizzy answer, isn't it?”
“Chaperone” is billed as “a musical within a comedy.” It’s a play within a play, built around a musical theater fan whose living room is transformed into a Broadway stage as he listens to a cast album of a 1920s-era show.
Leavel’s character is a Broadway diva named Beatrice Stockwell, who is performing in a musical called “The Drowsy Chaperone.” As the chaperone, Stockwell has a few too many martinis and falls down on the job, causing chaos. Stockwell’s anthem in the show is a foot-stomping ode to mixed drinks, “As We Stumble Along,” which Leavel belts out with gusto.
Beth Leavel in her Tony-winning role in Broadway's "The Drowsy Chaperone."
Leavel studied old films of the 1920s to develop the character, who is something of a throwback to Rosalind Russell’s Auntie Mame.
“I just pulled it out of my acting ‘whatever,’” she told Playbill.com. “It’s like, ‘Oh, there she is,’ and the audience kind of helped inform that. They would tell me what worked and what didn't work.”
Tom Behm, a retired professor in UNCG’s theater department, watched the Tonys from start to finish Sunday. He said he was confident Leavel would win, and that her acceptance speech was “dynamic.”
Her skillful portrayal of a diva will open up new professional opportunities for her, Behm added. “I think this will be a real launch for her to become the person they turn to for these kinds of roles.”
The role has also netted her a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award and an L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award. Her other Broadway roles have included Dorothy Brock in a revival of “42nd Street” and Tess in “Crazy for You.”
Leavel, a Raleigh native, graduated from Meredith College before coming to UNCG to complete graduate study with a focus on musical theater. She is perhaps best remembered at UNCG for her 1978 performance as Dolly Levi, the lead in UNCG Theatre’s production of the musical blockbuster “Hello, Dolly!”
“One of the major reasons she gave for coming to UNCG was our program in musical theater,” recalled Herman Middleton, former head of UNCG’s theater department. “She had her eyes on being a professional actor when she came here, and she has had success in a number of musicals. She is a lovely person and enormously talented.”
A production opening in any of the 39 eligible Broadway theaters during the season is eligible for a Tony. Nominees are selected by an independent committee of theatrical professionals appointed by the Tony Awards Administration Committee.
Named for Antoinette “Tony” Perry, an actress, director, producer and leader of the American Theatre Wing, the Tony Awards debuted at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Easter Sunday, April 6, 1947.
