Monty Python's Spamalot, as expected, garnered 14 nominations, the most of any show this season. The production, which bills itself as "a new musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail,'" received nominations for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical (Eric Idle), Best Original Score Written for the Theatre (John Du Prez and Eric Idle), Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Hank Azaria and Tim Curry), Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael McGrath and Christopher Sieber), Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Sara Ramirez), Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Tim Hatley), Best Costume Design of a Musical (Tim Hatley), Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Hugh Vanstone), Best Direction of a Musical (Mike Nichols), Best Choreography (Casey Nicholaw) and Best Orchestrations (Larry Hochman).

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Light in the Piazza and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee will vie against Spamalot for the Best Musical Tony Award. Scoundrels and Piazza each received 11 Tony nominations; Spelling Bee nabbed six nominations.

John Patrick Shanley's Doubt received the most nominations of any new play this season, garnering eight nods: Best Play, Best Scenic Design of a Play (John Lee Beatty), Best Lighting Design of a Play (Pat Collins) and Best Direction of a Play (Doug Hughes). The play also received nominations for each of its four-member cast: Brían F. O'Byrne, Cherry Jones, Heather Goldenhersh and Adriane Lenox.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? also garnered nominations for each member of its four-person cast: Kathleen Turner, Bill Irwin, David Harbour and Mireille Enos. It took in six nods altogether.The revival of Glengarry Glen Ross also collected six nominations.

Playwright Albee will also be honored with a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. Surprise omissions included Jeff Goldblum, who was widely expected to get a nod for his work in The Pillowman; Denis O'Hare, thought by many to be one of the best parts of Sweet Charity; and David Hyde Pierce, the only star of Spamalot not to be recognized. Shows that were shut out of the nominations altogether included All Shook Up, Good Vibrations, The Glass Menagerie, After the Fall, Steel Magnolias, Julius Caesar, The Good Body, Dracula, Brooklyn and, perhaps most surprisingly, the lavish and much publicized Lincoln Center production of Stephen Sondheim's The Frogs.

The 2004-2005 Tony Award nominations follow:

Best Play
Democracy
Doubt
Gem of the Ocean
The Pillowman

Best Musical
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Light in the Piazza
Monty Python's Spamalot
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Best Revival of a Play
Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Glengarry Glen Ross
On Golden Pond
Twelve Angry Men

Best Revival of a Musical
La Cage aux Folles
Pacific Overtures
Sweet Charity

Best Special Theatrical Event
Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance!
Laugh Whore
700 Sundays
Whoopi, the 20th Anniversary Show

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Philip Bosco, Twelve Angry Men
Billy Crudup, The Pillowman
Bill Irwin, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
James Earl Jones, On Golden Pond
Brían F. O'Byrne, Doubt

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Cherry Jones, Doubt
Laura Linney, Sight Unseen
Mary-Louise Parker, Reckless
Phylicia Rashad, Gem of the Ocean
Kathleen Turner, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Hank Azaria, Monty Python's Spamalot
Gary Beach, La Cage aux Folles
Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Tim Curry, Monty Python's Spamalot
John Lithgow, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Christina Applegate, Sweet Charity
Victoria Clark, The Light in the Piazza
Erin Dilly, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Sutton Foster, Little Women
Sherie Rene Scott, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Alan Alda, Glengarry Glen Ross
Gordon Clapp, Glengarry Glen Ross
David Harbour, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Liev Schreiber, Glengarry Glen Ross
Michael Stuhlbarg, The Pillowman

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Mireille Enos, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Heather Goldenhersh, Doubt
Dana Ivey, The Rivals
Adriane Lenox, Doubt
Amy Ryan, A Streetcar Named Desire

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Dan Fogler, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Marc Kudisch, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Michael McGrath, Monty Python's Spamalot
Matthew Morrison, The Light in the Piazza
Christopher Sieber, Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Joanna Gleason, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Celia Keenan-Bolger, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Jan Maxwell, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Kelli O'Hara, The Light in the Piazza
Sara Ramirez, Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Direction of a Play
John Crowley, The Pillowman
Scott Ellis, Twelve Angry Men
Doug Hughes, Doubt
Joe Mantello, Glengarry Glen Ross

Best Direction of a Musical
James Lapine, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Mike Nichols, Monty Python's Spamalot
Jack O’Brien, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Bartlett Sher, The Light in the Piazza

Best Choreography
Wayne Cilento, Sweet Charity
Jerry Mitchell, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Jerry Mitchell, La Cage aux Folles
Casey Nicholaw, Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Orchestrations
Larry Hochman, Monty Python's Spamalot
Ted Sperling, Adam Guettel and Bruce Coughlin, The Light in the Piazza
Jonathan Tunick, Pacific Overtures
Harold Wheeler, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek

The Light in the Piazza
Music & Lyrics: Adam Guettel

Monty Python's Spamalot
Music: John Du Prez and Eric Idle; Lyrics: Eric Idle

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Music & Lyrics: William Finn

Best Book of a Musical
Jeffrey Lane, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Craig Lucas, The Light in the Piazza
Eric Idle, Monty Python's Spamalot
Rachel Sheinkin, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Best Scenic Design of a Play
John Lee Beatty, Doubt
David Gallo, Gem of the Ocean
Santo Loquasto, Glengarry Glen Ross
Scott Pask, The Pillowman

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Tim Hatley, Monty Python's Spamalot
Rumi Matsui, Pacific Overtures
Anthony Ward, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Michael Yeargan, The Light in the Piazza

Best Costume Design of a Play
Jess Goldstein, The Rivals
Jane Greenwood, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
William Ivey Long, A Streetcar Named Desire
Constanza Romero, Gem of the Ocean

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Tim Hatley, Monty Python's Spamalot
Junko Koshino, Pacific Overtures
William Ivey Long, La Cage aux Folles
Catherine Zuber, The Light in the Piazza

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Pat Collins, Doubt
Donald Holder, Gem of the Ocean
Donald Holder, A Streetcar Named Desire
Brian MacDevitt, The Pillowman

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Christopher Akerlind, The Light in the Piazza
Mark Henderson, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Kenneth Posner, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Hugh Vanstone, Monty Python's Spamalot

Regional Theatre Tony Award
Theatre de la Jeune Lune
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Edward Albee

The total number of nominations received by each production follows:
Monty Python's Spamalot - 14
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - 11
The Light in the Piazza - 11
Doubt - 8
Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - 6
Glengarry Glen Ross - 6
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - 6
The Pillowman - 6
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - 5
Gem of the Ocean - 5
La Cage aux Folles - 4
Pacific Overtures - 4
A Streetcar Named Desire - 3
Sweet Charity - 3
Twelve Angry Men - 3
On Golden Pond - 2
The Rivals - 2
700 Sundays - 1
Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance! - 1
Democracy - 1
Laugh Whore - 1
Little Women - 1
Reckless - 1
Sight Unseen - 1
Whoopi, the 20th Anniversary Show -1

The Antoinette Perry "Tony" Award is bestowed annually for distinguished achievement. The 2005 Tony Awards will once again be held at Radio City Music Hall and will be broadcast by CBS from 8 to 11 PM. Sunday, June 5 is the date. Tony Award winner Hugh Jackman will return as host.

Visit www.tonyawards.com for more information.