TVandCity attended the Tony Award nomination announcements this morning at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. The nominees were announced by Leslie Odom Jr. and Katherine McPhee.
Here’s how the productions stacked up in the 26 Tony categories:
Mean Girls – 12 nominations
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical – 12 nominations
Angels in America – 11 (making it the most-nominated production of a play in Broadway history)
The Band’s Visit – 11
Carousel – 11
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – 10
My Fair Lady – 10
The Iceman Cometh – 8
Once on this Island – 8
Three Tall Women – 6
Farinelli and the King – 5
Travesties – 4
Frozen – 3
Lobby Hero – 3
The Children – 2
Junk – 2
The Donna Summer Musical – 2
Children of a Lesser God – 1
Latin History for Morons – 1
Meteor Shower – 1
1984- 1
Saint Joan – 1
Upon reviewing this list I was struck by a few things:
- 9 of the nominated productions are revivals (either plays or musicals).
- Of the new productions, 5 are based on films, books, TV shows – 4 of which are geared to children or teens.
- Despite a lot of enjoyable performances, there has not been a lot of totally original material on Broadway this season.
- While the Tony Administration Committee enlarged some categories that usually hold four slots for nominees to five, they only nominated 4 actresses in a leading role in a play and only 4 actors in a leading role in a musical – There were slimmer pickings in these categories.
- Some shows that received uneven reviews still made the list.
- Only one of the new plays that were nominated (Harry Potter) is still running.
All of this makes sense in light of the fact that only 30 Broadway productions were eligible for prizes this year, the smallest number in more than a decade. Additionally, a new rule made this year dictated that only categories with nine or more eligible competitors can get five nominees. So fewer competitors leads to fewer nominees – except in some categories where a show has 2 actors/actresses nominated in the same category (Lobby Hero, Angels in America and Carousel).
It will still be an enjoyable race to Tony night on June 10th, and with Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban as hosts, likely a good show. I’m especially looking forward to Spongebob Squarepants’ musical number!
Here’s hoping next season has even more productions to choose from.
TV and City 