It began as the season of hunky men in T-shirts, with Ricky Martin and Blair Underwood leading a pack of six-packs. But when all was said and sung, Broadway’s most powerful performances came from women—short women. Not since 4-foot-11 Kristin Chenoweth blew everyone off the stage in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” have so many tiny dynamos dominated the Tony nominations: This year’s include Tracie Bennett, Stockard Channing, Linda Lavin, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Cristin Milioti and Spencer Kayden—all of them scarcely taller than Helen Hayes, the 5-foot First Lady of Theater. We asked some of our shortest stars to put their height into perspective.
CELIA KEENAN-BOLGER
Height: 5-feet-zilch
The part: Molly, the only girl in “Peter and the Starcatcher”
Short shrift: Constantly hearing, “ ‘She can’t play that part—she doesn’t look like a grown-up.’ I’m 34!”
Whom she looks up to: her younger sister, “who’s even shorter,” and brother Andrew, who’s “a little taller”—and a star of “Newsies.”
Biggest payoff: “If you’re playing powerful people, nobody notices [how short you are] until you come offstage and sign autographs. Then they say, ‘OMG, you’re so much smaller than I thought!’ ”
Michael Stewart/WireImage