The Tony Awards, celebrating excellence in Broadway theatre in the 2011-12 season, will be broadcast in a live three-hour ceremony from the Beacon Theatre on the CBS television network June 10. Emmy winner Neil Patrick Harris will again host.
Once, the new musical based on the film of the same name, earned 11 Tony nominations, the most of any production of the season. The two Gershwin musicals, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and Nice Work If You Can Get It, earned 10 nominations apiece.
All four Best Play nominees, including the 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Clybourne Park, arrived on Broadway after acclaimed Off-Broadway runs. Venus in Fur and Clybourne Park were first seen by New York audiences in the winter of 2010, while Other Desert Cities and Peter and the Starcatcher debuted in 2011.
The New York Theatre Workshop, the Off-Broadway company that ushered the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent to Broadway in 1996, is enjoying a strong showing for the 2012 Tony nominations: The new musical Once, which received 11 nominations, and the family-friendly adventure Peter and the Starcatcher, the top-nominated play with 9 nominations, both originated at NYTW prior to their celebrated Broadway transfers.
Nicky Silver's biting family comedy The Lyons was warmly received by critics (including a New York Times rave), but failed to garner a Best Play nomination. Its only Tony recognition was for Linda Lavin, as the play's sharp-tongued matriarch, who earned a Best Actress in a Play nomination. On Tuesday morning, she was in an airplane and not immediately aware of her nomination.
Productions from 2011-12 that were left empty-handed on Tony nomination day are Katori Hall's The Mountaintop, which took the 2010 Olivier Award for Best Play in London (on Broadway, it starred Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett); "Smash" creator Theresa Rebeck's Seminar (with no mention of stars Lily Rabe or Alan Rickman); Private Lives (and its star Kim Cattrall); the trio of plays titled Relatively Speaking; the new basketball drama Magic/Bird; and David Henry Hwang's Chinglish, which was admired by many critics. The only musical to not garner a single nomination this season was the revival of Godspell.
Nominations for the 2012 Tony Awards follow:
Best Play
Clybourne Park
Author: Bruce Norris
Other Desert Cities
Author: Jon Robin Baitz
Peter and the Starcatcher
Author: Rick Elice
Venus in Fur
Author: David Ives
Best Musical
Leap of Faith
Newsies
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Once
Best Revival of a Play
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Gore Vidal’s The Best Man
Master Class
Wit
Best Revival of a Musical
Evita
Follies
The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Jesus Christ Superstar
Best Book of a Musical
Lysistrata Jones
Douglas Carter Beane
Newsies
Harvey Fierstein
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Joe DiPietro
Once
Enda Walsh
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Bonnie & Clyde
Music: Frank Wildhorn
Lyrics: Don Black
Newsies
Music: Alan Menken
Lyrics: Jack Feldman
One Man, Two Guvnors
Music & Lyrics: Grant Olding
Peter and the Starcatcher
Music: Wayne Barker
Lyrics: Rick Elice
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
James Corden, One Man, Two Guvnors
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
James Earl Jones, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man
Frank Langella, Man and Boy
John Lithgow, The Columnist
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Nina Arianda, Venus in Fur
Tracie Bennett, End of the Rainbow
Stockard Channing, Other Desert Cities
Linda Lavin, The Lyons
Cynthia Nixon, Wit
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Follies
Jeremy Jordan, Newsies
Steve Kazee, Once
Norm Lewis, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Ron Raines, Follies
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Jan Maxwell, Follies
Audra McDonald, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Cristin Milioti, Once
Kelli O’Hara, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Laura Osnes, Bonnie & Clyde
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Christian Borle, Peter and the Starcatcher
Michael Cumpsty, End of the Rainbow
Tom Edden, One Man, Two Guvnors
Andrew Garfield, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Jeremy Shamos, Clybourne Park
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Linda Emond, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Spencer Kayden, Don’t Dress for Dinner
Celia Keenan-Bolger, Peter and the Starcatcher
Judith Light, Other Desert Cities
Condola Rashad, Stick Fly
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Phillip Boykin, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Michael Cerveris, Evita
David Alan Grier, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Michael McGrath, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Josh Young, Jesus Christ Superstar
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Elizabeth A. Davis, Once
Jayne Houdyshell, Follies
Judy Kaye, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Jessie Mueller, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Ghost the Musical
Best Scenic Design of a Play
John Lee Beatty, Other Desert Cities
Daniel Ostling, Clybourne Park
Mark Thompson, One Man, Two Guvnors
Donyale Werle, Peter and the Starcatcher
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Bob Crowley, Once
Rob Howell and Jon Driscoll, Ghost the Musical
Tobin Ost and Sven Ortel, Newsies
George Tsypin, Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark
Best Costume Design of a Play
William Ivey Long, Don’t Dress for Dinner
Paul Tazewell, A Streetcar Named Desire
Mark Thompson, One Man, Two Guvnors
Paloma Young, Peter and the Starcatcher
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes, Follies
ESosa, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Eiko Ishioka, Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark
Martin Pakledinaz, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Jeff Croiter, Peter and the Starcatcher
Peter Kaczorowski, The Road to Mecca
Brian MacDevitt, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Kenneth Posner, Other Desert Cities
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Christopher Akerlind, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Natasha Katz, Follies
Natasha Katz, Once
Hugh Vanstone, Ghost the Musical
Best Sound Design of a Play
Paul Arditti, One Man, Two Guvnors
Scott Lehrer, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Gareth Owen, End of the Rainbow
Darron L. West, Peter and the Starcatcher
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Acme Sound Partners, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Clive Goodwin, Once
Kai Harada, Follies
Brian Ronan, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Best Choreography
Rob Ashford, Evita
Christopher Gattelli, Newsies
Steven Hoggett, Once
Kathleen Marshall, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Best Direction of a Play
Nicholas Hytner, One Man, Two Guvnors
Pam MacKinnon, Clybourne Park
Mike Nichols, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Roger Rees and Alex Timbers, Peter and the Starcatcher
Best Direction of a Musical
Jeff Calhoun, Newsies
Kathleen Marshall, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Diane Paulus, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
John Tiffany, Once
Best Orchestrations
William David Brohn and Christopher Jahnke, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Bill Elliott, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Martin Lowe, Once
Danny Troob, Newsies
* * *
Recipients of Awards and Honors in Non-competitive Categories
Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Emanuel Azenberg
Regional Theatre Award
The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington, D.C.
Isabelle Stevenson Award
Bernadette Peters
Special Tony Award
Actors’ Equity Association
Hugh Jackman
Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre
Freddie Gershon
Artie Siccardi
TDF Open Doors
* * *
Tony Nominations by Production
Once - 11
The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess - 10
Nice Work If You Can Get It - 10
Peter and the Starcatcher - 9
Follies- 8
Newsies - 8
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman - 7
One Man, Two Guvnors - 7
Other Desert Cities - 5
Clybourne Park - 4
End of the Rainbow - 3
Evita - 3
Ghost the Musical - 3
Bonnie & Clyde - 2
Don’t Dress for Dinner - 2
Gore Vidal’s The Best Man - 2
Jesus Christ Superstar - 2
Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark - 2
Venus in Fur - 2
Wit - 2
The Columnist - 1
Leap of Faith - 1
The Lyons - 1
Lysistrata Jones - 1
Man and Boy - 1
Master Class - 1
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever - 1
The Road to Mecca - 1
Stick Fly - 1
A Streetcar Named Desire - 1