Last night, as you’ve probably heard, Broadway rookie Scarlett Johansson upset overdue front-runner Jan Maxwell for the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Of the four big showbiz awards — also including Emmys, Grammys, and Oscars — a Tony would seemingly have been the most difficult for her to win, since Hollywood movie stars are more typically zinged offstage by Ben Brantley and ignored altogether by the American Theatre Wing (until this year, anyway). But even though Denzel Washington and Catherine Zeta-Jones — both of whom have already won Oscars — were also fêted last night, could Johansson be next in line to win the remaining three prizes, and score a much-coveted EGOT?
All Washington, Zeta-Jones, or Johansson would need to do to pick up an Emmy is guest on 30 Rock (any of the three would be great as Jenna’s loopy sister). But Denzel and Zeta-Jones would face an uphill battle at the Grammys (unless they tried to win for Best Spoken Word Album, which is tantamount to cheating). Not so for Johansson, though — she’s made two credible, enjoyable albums so far, and if the one she released with Pete Yorn last September fails to be nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group or something this year, she could easily make another record aiming for a more specific musical category (if her next collaborator were Marc Anthony, next year’s Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album would be a foregone conclusion).
As for that Oscar, the Academy’s never been very shy about rewarding attractive young actresses for playing against type as prostitutes or Nazis. If Johansson can squeeze just one unglamorous movie role into her busy schedule of acting in comic-book and Woody Allen movies, she’ll have an EGOT pretty much in the bag. After her victory last night, doesn’t it suddenly kinda seem like this was her plan all along?
