Broadway musicals "Maybe Happy Ending," "Buena Vista Social Club" and “Death Becomes Her" led the tally of Tony Award nominations, each with 10, when they were announced on Thursday ahead of the June 8 awards ceremony.
The 78th annual Tony Award nominations, celebrating the best in Broadway theater, reflect a season shaped by unique storytelling and genre experimentation with new works that push boundaries in form, subject and perspective.
Previous Tony Award winners Sarah Paulson and Wendell Pierce announced the awards.
“Maybe Happy Ending” is a story about obsolete robots in a futuristic Seoul; “Buena Vista Social Club” brings the iconic Cuban musical collective’s story to the stage, and “Death Becomes Her” is based on a dark comedy film.
In the best play category, nominees include “John Proctor is the Villain,” which draws on “The Crucible” to examine teenage self-discovery in the #MeToo era; “Oh, Mary!,” the much-talked-about satirical reimagining of Mary Todd Lincoln's personal life, by Cole Escola, who is also nominated as its star; and “The Hills of California” by Jez Butterworth, a family drama set in a declining British seaside town. Notable revivals nominated are “Gypsy,” “Sunset Blvd.,” and “Our Town.”
Some of this season’s Hollywood heavyweights were also nominated, including George Clooney in his Broadway debut in “Good Night, and Good Luck”; Sarah Snook, who plays more than two dozen characters in the one-woman reimagination of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and Sadie Sink in “John Proctor is the Villain.”
But high-priced “Othello,” starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, was completely left out of the nominations. Also snubbed: Kieran Culkin and Robert Downey Jr., in this season's "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "McNeal," respectively.
Leading acting nominations in musicals include Jonathan Groff for his performance as Bobby Darin in “Just in Time”; six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald in the legendary role of Mama Rose in the revival of “Gypsy”; and Nicole Scherzinger in a much-lauded performance as fading movie star Norma Desmond in “Sunset Blvd.”
Directing nominations for musicals include Michael Arden for “Maybe Happy Ending” and Jamie Lloyd for “Sunset Blvd.” and Sam Mendes for “The Hills of California” and Danya Taymor for “John Proctor is the Villain.”
Special awards have been announced ahead of the ceremony. Harvey Fierstein will receive the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, and Celia Keenan-Bolger will be honored with the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award for her advocacy work through the arts.
"I am so excited and happy that the Tony voters recognized the great work the performers in our shows are doing,” said LaChanze of LaChanze Productions, which is behind “Purpose” and “Buena Vista Social Club,” both up for multiple nominations including best play and best musical, respectively.
“It just goes to show you there’s room for new musicals and new ideas coming to the stage and it inspires me as a producer to do more work like this,” she told Reuters.
Tony voters include voting members of The Broadway League and the board of directors and designated members of the advisory committee of the American Theatre Wing, along with members of various theatrical guilds and unions.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony on Sunday, June 8, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. This year's awards will be hosted by Oscar-winner “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo. Read the full list of nominations here.
