Broadway's tiny wonders

Petite powerhouses storm the Great White Way, proving they weren't shortchanged on talent. By BARBARA HOFFMAN

Petite powerhouses storm the Great White Way, proving they weren't shortchanged on talent.

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!’ ”