While the overall reviews for "Irena's Vow" were mixed, critics like New York Times scribe Charles Isherwood thought that Tovah Feldshuh delivered a first-rate performance. In this new play by Dan Gordon, the actress portrays real-life heroine Irena Gut Opdyke, a Polish Catholic who saved 13 Jews from extermination by hiding them in the basement of a Nazi officer's villa.

Although Feldshuh is a theater favorite, she faces stiff competition from better-known names in the lead actress in a play race at the Tony Awards. Among her competition could be any or all of these five Oscar winners — Jane Fonda for her much-heralded return to the rialto after a 46-year absence as a musicologist in "33 Variations"; Marcia Gay Harden, a 1993 Tony nominee for "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches," as a helicopter mother in "God of Carnage"; Mercedes Ruehl, who won a Tony for "Lost in Yonkers" the same year (1991) she won an Oscar for "The Fisher King," who rules the roost in "An American Plan"; Susan Sarandon, who was on Broadway only once, in 1972, but commands our respect as a onetime queen in "Exit the King"; and double Oscar champ Dianne Wiest, who could contend for her first Tony for her portrayal of a wife whose life is shattered in "All My Sons."

Feldshuh is a four-time also-ran at these top theater kudos. She has twice contended for lead actress in a play, losing her first bid in 1976 for "Yentl" to Irene Worth. who won the second of her three Tonys for the revival of "Sweet Bird of Youth," and her 2004 nod for "Golda's Balcony" to Phylicia Rashad ("A Raisin in the Sun"). She lost the 1989 featured actress in a play race for "Lend Me A Tenor" to Christine Baranski, who won her second Tony in this category for "Rumors" five years after prevailing for "The Real Thing." And Felshuh was bested in her 1979 lead actress in a musical bid for "Sarava" by Angela Lansbury, who took Tony No. 4 for "Sweeney Todd."

While all four of Lansbury's wins came for lead actress in a musical ("Mame," "Dear World" and "Gypsy" were the others), this year she could be contending for lead actress in a play for her comedic delight of a turn as a larger-than-life medium in "Blithe Spirit." Janet McTeer returns to Broadway 11 years after winning this award for "A Doll's House" in the title role of the acclaimed West End transfer of "Mary Stuart." Both she and her co-star Harriet Walter (as Queen Elizabeth) contended for the Olivier Award in 2005. While they lost, Kristin Scott Thomas won that award last year for her role as the aging actress in "The Seagull," and she could well be in the running for the Broadway production. And finally, Carla Gugino, soon to begin previews in the much-lauded Chicago transfer of "Desire Under the Elms," could also figure into the final five.

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Photos: Walter Kerr Theatre ("Irena's Vow"), Eugene O'Neill Theatre ("33 Variations"), Jacob's Theatre ("God of Carnage"), Ethel Barrymore Theatre ("Exit the King"), Broadhurst Theatre ("Mary Stuart")

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