The Tony Awards nominating committee showed a lot of love this morning to A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, the small, clever musical about mercenary homicide, which will compete for best musical and nine other categories honoring the just completed Broadway season.
A Gentleman’s Guide was the top nominations-getter, but the awards remain up for grabs with no clear front-runner this season. It will be vying for the box office-boosting best musical mantle against the jazz revue After Midnight (7 nominations), Beautiful, a Carole King biography (7) and the Disney animated film adaptation Aladdin (5).
The committee had the latitude to nominate five shows, but decided not to do so. That left such current shows as Bullets Over Broadway, Bridges of Madison County and Rocky — all based popular movies — as well as If/Then, a parallel universes yarn similar to, but not based on, the film Sliding Doors all on the ropes fighting for their long-term survival. (Pardon the Rocky metaphors.)
In recent years, the announcement of Tony nominations has been followed soon afterwards by the announcement of closing notices. This year, the committee spread the nominations around among 27 shows, six of which have already closed. Look for more — such as The Velocity of Autumn and Mothers and Sons — to follow suit.
Mothers and Sons, the Terrence McNally play about a homophobic widow confronting her dead son’s gay lover, managed to earn two nominations — for best play and for its star, Tyne Daly. It will be up against the Moss Hart biography Act One (5 nominations), Harvey Fierstein’s look at 1960s cross-dressing in the Catskills, Casa Valentina (4), a history lesson about LBJ’s passing of the Civil Rights Act, All the Way (2) and a long-since-closed love story by John Patrick Shanley called Outside Mullingar (1).
For these plays as well there is no clear front-runner, with the production’s stars often getting better reviews than the productions.
The best revival of a musical nominees and their nomination totals are Hedwig and the Angry Inch (8), Violet (4) and Les Misérables (3). The noteworthy thing here is that the committee chose to nominate only three shows, snubbing the revival of Cabaret that replicated the previous revival of the Kander and Ebb musical in 1998.
The play revival category is more crowded, split between the still running — The Cripple of Inishmaan (6 nominations) and Raisin in the Sun (5) — and the distant memories — The Glass Menagerie (7) and Twelfth Night (7). Eyebrows were raised at the failure of two prominent, well-reviewed movie actors to make the cut here — Daniel Radcliffe in Inishman and Denzel Washington in Raisin. Three of Twelfth Night’s featured actors will be competing against each other — Paul Chahidi, Stephen Fry and Mark Rylance — which is an advantage for the remaining two in that race, Casa Valentina’s Reed Birney and Glass Menagerie’s Brian J. Smith.
When the Tony rules committee decided that the Billie Holiday bio-show Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill would be considered a play and not a musical, that meant that the production’s star, Audra McDonald, would likely receive a nomination in the less competitive category. She did indeed cop a mention for best actress in a play and could well win her sixth Tony.
She will be in the running against Mothers and Sons’ Daly, Cherry Jones of The Glass Menagerie, 86-year-old Estelle Parsons in The Velocity of Autumn and LaTanya Richardson Jackson for A Raisin in the Sun.
Actress in a Musical, on the other hand, is probably the most competitive category of them all this year. It includes two former Tony winners — Idina Menzel (If/Then) and Sutton Foster (Violet) — as well as frequent also-ran Kelli O’Hara (The Bridges of Madison County), a previous nominee, Jessie Mueller (Beautiful) and a Broadway newcomer, Mary Bridget Davies (A Night With Janis Joplin).
In all, it will be a tough year for predictions, but I expect to weigh in with my foolhardy picks just before Tony Awards on Sunday, June 8.
Here is a complete list of the nominations in competition:
Best Play
Act One
All the Way
Casa Valentina
Mothers and Sons
Outside Mullingar
Best Musical
After Midnight
Aladdin
Beautiful
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Best Revival of a Play
The Cripple of Inishmaan
The Glass Menagerie
A Raisin in the Sun
Twelfth Night
Best Revival of a Musical
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Les Miserables
Violet
Best Book of a Musical
Aladdin: Chad Beguelin
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical – Douglas McGrath
Bullets Over Broadway: Woody Allen
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder: Robert L. Freedman
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Aladdin– Music: Alan Menken, Lyrics: Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin
The Bridges of Madison County– Music & Lyrics: Jason Robert Brown
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder– Music: Steven Lutvak, Lyrics: Robert L. Freedman & Steven Lutvak
If/Then– Music: Tom Kitt, Lyrics: Brian Yorkey
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Samuel Barnett, Twelfth Night
Bryan Cranston, All The Way
Chris O’Dowd, Of Mice and Men
Mark Rylance, Richard III
Tony Shalhoub, Act One
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Tyne Daly, Mothers and Sons
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, A Raisin in the Sun
Cherry Jones, The Glass Menagerie
Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill
Estelle Parsons, The Velocity of Autumn
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Ramin Karimloo, LES MISERABLES
Andy Karl, Rocky
Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Mary Bridget Davies, A Night with Janis Joplin
Sutton Foster, Violet
Idina Menzel, If/Then
Jessie Mueller, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Kelli O’Hara, The Bridges of Madison County
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Reed Birney, Casa Valentina
Paul Chahidi, Twelfth Night
Stephen Fry, Twelfth Night
Mark Rylance, Twelfth Night
Brian J. Smith, The Glass Menagerie
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Sarah Greene, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Celia Keenan-Bolger, The Glass Menagerie
Sophie Okonedo, A Raisin in the Sun
Anika Noni Rose, A Raisin in the Sun
Mare Winningham, Casa Valentina
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Cabaret
Nick Cordero, Bullets Over Broadway
Joshua Henry, Violet
James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin
Jarrod Spector, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Linda Emond, Cabaret
Lena Hall, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Anika Larsen, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Adriane Lenox, After Midnight
Lauren Worsham, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Beowulf Boritt, Act One
Bob Crowley, The Glass Menagerie
Es Devlin, Machinal
Christopher Oram, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Christopher Barreca, Rocky
Julian Crouch, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Alexander Dodge, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Santo Loquasto, Bullets Over Broadway
Best Costume Design of a Play
Jane Greenwood, Act One
Michael Krass, Machinal
Rita Ryack, Casa Valentina
Jenny Tiramani, Twelfth Night
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Linda Cho, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
William Ivey Long, Bullets Over Broadway
Arianne Phillips, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Isabel Toledo, After Midnight
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Paule Constable, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Jane Cox, Machinal
Natasha Katz, The Glass Menagerie
Japhy Weideman, Of Mice and Men
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kevin Adams, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Christopher Akerlind, Rocky
Howell Binkley, After Midnight
Donald Holder, The Bridges of Madison County
Best Sound Design of a Play
Alex Baranowski, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Steve Canyon Kennedy, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill
Dan Moses Schreier, Act One
Matt Tierney, Machinal
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Peter Hylenski, After Midnight
Tim O’Heir, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Mick Potter, Les Miserables
Brian Ronan, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Best Direction of a Play
Tim Carroll, Twelfth Night
Michael Grandage, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Kenny Leon, A Raisin in the Sun
John Tiffany, The Glass Menagerie
Best Direction of a Musical
Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Michael Mayer, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Leigh Silverman, Violet
Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Best Choreography
Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Steven Hoggett & Kelly Devine, Rocky
Casey Nicholaw, Aladdin
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway
Best Orchestrations
Doug Besterman, Bullets Over Broadway
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Steve Sidwell, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Jonathan Tunick, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder