Nominees React to the 2019 Tony Award Nominations | Playbill

Tony Awards Nominees React to the 2019 Tony Award Nominations Read how this year's crop of Tony Award nominees found out about their nods!

Below, find out how this year's crop of Tony Award nominees found out the news and their feelings about scoring a nod for their work this season.

For a full list of nominees, click here. And keep checking this page for further updates as they come in.

Peter Mumford, Best Lighting Design for a Play and Musical, The Ferryman and King Kong
"I am absolutely delighted and honoured to receive two Tony Award nominations for two very different pieces of theatre, both of which are very close to my heart.

"I’ve been involved with The Ferryman since its inception in London and it’s been wonderful to be a part of the production’s success on Broadway. It has to be one of the best plays that I’ve ever been privileged to design the lighting for.

"King Kong is an epic musical that I’ve seen grow into its Broadway manifestation over several years of preparation, and I’m so happy that the production has come home to New York in such a dynamic form.

Thank you to the Tony Awards for these nominations, I very much appreciate them.”

Derrick Baskin, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, Ain't Too Proud
"It's been a career highlight playing living legend Otis Williams each night, while working alongside the most incredibly giving cast and crew. Now to be recognized by the American Theater Wing is an absolute honor."

Kenneth Lonergan, Best Revival of a Play, The Waverly Gallery
“Working with Elaine May was one of the great experiences of my life. It's thrilling to be nominated alongside all these amazing shows. I loved this production and I’m very grateful to Lila Neugebauer and the entire stupendous cast for everything they gave to tell a very difficult story.”

Chad Beguelin and Matthew Sklar, Best Original Score, The Prom
“We have been writing musicals together for over 25 years. It is beyond thrilling to be a part of the theatre community, which we love so much, and an absolute honor to be amongst such talented fellow nominees. To be recognized in this way for an original musical, is simply overwhelming. If we could go back and tell those two college kids, who first met over greasy fries in a NYC diner, that they would be nominated for a Tony Award for Best Original Score, their minds would be blown. We share this with our amazing The Prom family who bring this show to life every night.”

Dominique Morisseau, Best Book of a Musical, Ain't Too Proud
"The one thing I’ve always told my cast is that we’re storytellers first, and the mission is to serve the people we are telling stories about. So in this case, that’s Detroit, Otis Williams, and the legendary group The Temptations. So this recognition makes me feel like we’re doing our jobs. And I want to add an extra, 'Hell yeah! Go Detroit!'”

Laura Donnelly, Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play, The Ferryman
"I’m so thrilled and honoured to be nominated in the company of such talented women. Bringing The Ferryman to Broadway has been an incredible journey. The play means so much to me on a personal level and for it to have been recognised in this way brings me immense pride and joy. The Tony nomination is the icing on top of a very special cake.”

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Amber Gray and cast of Hadestown Matthew Murphy

Robert Horn, Best Book of a Musical, Tootsie
"Three computers, two televisions, and a mother in Los Angeles. A screaming mother. It wasn’t even over the phone, I literally heard her in Los Angeles! I was ecstatic, I was just thrilled and excited and humbled. This is just been the bucket list thing for me all my life. I’m a musical boy. I grew up loving musicals, and to actually reach this sort of pinnacle, it’s truly humbling. It’s really exciting, and that this team got recognized is just so fantastic. They’ve become like my family, and you root for them! So I was just excited by all of it.

"You can’t imagine what it’s like to hear this collective experience, and especially now more than anything. Being able to write funny is cathartic for me. It’s incredible to sit there and hear 1,600 people laughing at one time. What I also love as a comedy writer is when the show is quiet, and when it sits and it’s still, and you can hear a pin drop. And that’s when you know are taking that ride with you."

Amber Gray, Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, Hadestown
“Thank you to the Broadway League and The American Theater Wing for the personal honor and all of the Hadestown love. I am so proud to be sharing this work of art, night after night, and am thrilled people are resonating with it. There are so many fellow artists I adore, some I consider family, nominated this year, and I can’t wait to go on this celebratory ride with them. Congrats to all.”

Andy Grotelueschen, Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical, Tootsie
"What a crazy morning! I couldn't be prouder of this show, and I'm ecstatic that NYC audiences are enjoying it. And personally, I just called my mom in Iowa and she screamed."

Ali Stroker, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, Oklahoma!
"We were watching the news, and then we only saw the first half of it. So my boyfriend jumped up and looked online.

"I don’t think I’ve stopped smiling all morning. You feel like a little kid again, and partially because that’s the first time you begin dreaming about something like this. And to arrive at a place in my life and my career where it’s happening and it’s real is just so special. I feel so honored. And to be nominated alongside Mary Testa, who is also in the show, who is a friend and a mentor. I view her as a Broadway legend, it’s just such an honor."

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Robin de Jesús Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Robin De Jesús, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, The Boys in the Band
"I made breakfast for two of my best friends from back home who were with me. One’s my roommate, so she’s always with me. So, I was trying to make breakfast and they’re like, ‘Robin, stop making breakfast! Get over here, they’re announcing the nominees!’ Our computers weren’t streaming for some reason, so we were watching it on an iPhone and they made me stop cooking and we sat down together and when we heard the show get nominated, I just felt such relief and joy that it was remembered and acknowledged. Although I have to say, in my core, I kind of knew it would be. I felt like it would the show itself would just work out that way, but when they called my name specifically, the three of us were huddled in a corner sobbing. It was nice. If I’m being really honest, I think that this one right now for me makes me feel very seen by my own community in a way that’s a little deeper than being nominated for an award. I think we, as actors, we all go through life wanting to be seen and we’re in a business where you don’t always feel that way, so it’s on a—I don’t even know how to say this. It’s not so much about the award so much as it is the sense of community for me and the big old bear hug from my community."

Adam Cork, Best Sound Design of a Play, Ink
"I'm deeply honoured to be nominated for my work on Ink, hugely grateful to the MTC for inviting us to bring the show to New York, and I'm thrilled for my colleagues on the show who have also received nominations today. It's a collaborative piece we're all very proud of!"

Sergio Trujillo, Best Choreography, Ain't Too Proud
"I was feeding my 1-year-old his breakfast. I’m beyond thrilled and so incredibly honored to be part of the team, and more important, that the actual show was acknowledged in the way that it has been. And I’m very proud of the story we are telling and of the talent that’s up on that stage.

"I’ve been involved for about three years. This is my third bio-musical, this is the one that I felt the most pressure on because their choreography comes with such hype, and they’re just legendary—The Temptations. So for me to figure out how to pay homage to them, and still have my own point of view and put my own stamp on it, that became my greatest challenge.

"The audience is the biggest barometer of any of this stuff. What we do is try to entertain and bring joy to the audience. And the music is timeless and what the journey of these men has been is absolutely inspiring. To be able to celebrate them and this period in music history is important, and really gratifying."

Rob Howell, Best Costume Design and Best Scenic Design of a Play, The Ferryman
"I am thrilled about these nominations. It’s enough luck to get to move our show from London to Broadway, so these nine nominations seem embarrassingly greedy.

"Of course, I am learning very fast how to manage the embarrassment and celebrate today’s news."

Bradley King, Best Lighting Design of a Musical, Hadestown
"My wife actually commutes to lower Manhattan by ferry. So after dropping my daughter off at pre-school, we were standing on the ferry dock, with one headphone each, watching the nominations on Facebook on her phone.

"Shock, which I’m still experiencing. Humility. Mostly just really excited for Anaïs Mitchell and Rachel Chavkin, who are two of the most incredible women I’ve had the pleasure or opportunity to work with. It’s been one of the smoother pieces I’ve worked on because there’s so much richness in the material for me to play of off."

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Alex Brightman Marc J. Franklin

Alex Brightman, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, Beetlejuice
"I woke up like literally five minutes before the thing and then I had to Google, ‘Where do they do the nominations and how can I watch them?’ and within two minutes—I mean literally, I felt like I was an old man—found the Facebook live thing and as I turned it on, they started and I think we were like three categories in so I was thrilled. I know it goes in alphabetical order so I heard Brooks Ashmanskas, Derrick Baskin, and then when it came to my name, I was two-fifths in the air. It was very cool. I was alone and it was very nice to just be recognized in a way that not many people get to do, it’s very cool.

"This production is the sum of many parts so a ton of people have gone into what is Beetlejuice the show and what I’m doing as the character. It’s huge not just for me, at all, I mean it’s great. I’m thrilled to be a representative. But it is so much bigger than me, and I’m more than thrilled to share it with everybody. It means that I get to go hug my friends and thank them for being incredible scene partners that made me look good onstage with them. I’m excited for everybody, I’m psyched that we got eight nominations."

Ephraim Sykes, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical, Ain't Too Proud
“There’s no way to truly express how honored and humbled I am at this moment. Getting to portray David Ruffin in a Broadway show was already a dream I could never have dreamt, and now being recognized by The American Theatre Wing and sharing this moment with my brothers Derrick Baskin and Jeremy Pope!? I’m in tears! I just give all glory and honor to God and all of my love to my Ain’t Too Proud fam, friends, family, and the entire Broadway community!”

Janet McTeer, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play, Bernhardt/Hamlet
"I’m so happy! I woke up in Maine to find an exploding cellphone. I didn’t know they were being announced today and also since we closed in November I had presumed everyone would have forgotten! I’m thrilled for [playwright[ Theresa [Rebeck] and [director] Moritz [von Stuelpnagel] and all the cast, the entire production team, as it’s a testament to them and congratulations to Toni[-Leslie James] for her costume nomination! And I’m sure the great Sarah Bernhardt is smiling somewhere. I’m going to have a blueberry muffin and go and walk the dog by the ocean to celebrate. What fun! So thrilled."

Mart Crowley, Best Revival of a Play, The Boys in the Band
“Never in a million years did I imagine that I would be a Tony nominee at this point in my career. Everything about this production has been an unexpected delight and to be honored with a nomination is beyond my wildest dreams. I can’t thank Joe Mantello, Ryan Murphy, David Stone and the brilliant company enough. This 83-year old first-time Tony nominee couldn’t be happier this morning!”

Read: BRINGING BACK MART CROWLEY'S THE BOYS IN THE BAND

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Julie White Little Fang Photography

Julie White, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
"I was at home. I knew the nominations were happening and I was really praying for some nominations for our show to help it stay open! And then I was like, 'Shit, did they announce them at 8 AM?' I didn’t know when they were being announced. But it got to be around 8:45 and no one had called me and I was like, 'Oh shit.' And then my agent called me and said, 'Congratulations! You’re a three-time Tony nominee.' You can’t help yourself, you’re like, 'What, no way! Is this a really cruel joke?' But then he gave me a lowdown and the play and Taylor and Santo and George and Kristine. It’s going to be happy news on the second floor dressing room level. I’m really really mad that Nathan was snubbed because there is no Gary without Nathan Lane and he is absolutely genius in the part and it’s a joy to be with him on the stage and he’s been nothing but so generous to me throughout this crazy process!"

Bartlett Sher, Best Direction of a Play, To Kill a Mockingbird
"I was in Berlin. I’m directing an opera here in East Berlin and I rehearsed this morning and headed to the airport and here we are! Really, really extraordinary. We all worked very hard on it, I was very moved and delighted for everybody. I’ll hopefully see everyone tomorrow and celebrate with them and tell them how amazing they are. I’ve been friends with Celia for 15 years and to see her grow so powerfully in this work and to be lucky enough to work with Jeff and see him lead our company so beautifully and to feel so close to Gideon and for my dear friend Adam Guettel to receive a nomination is just great."

André De Shields, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical, Hadestown
"The first call came from California from all places. It started like a churning in my stomach, and I thought, 'This is a curious response.' The churning I experienced was the same kind of feeling you get when you’re going to throw up. And no sooner did I think that, I started to cry. And I thought, 'Oh wow.' This is more than just a Tony nomination, this is an emotion that has been pent up in me for so long, for so many reasons, and representing so many communities of people. That here is the release expressed in a Tony nomination for Hadestown. It’s sort of perfect.

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André De Shields in the original Broadway cast of Hadestown

Matthew Murphy

"It is terribly, importantly meaningful for me. First of all, I’m celebrating my half-century being a performer. I’m celebrating my 73rd birthday. I’m celebrating my third Tony Award nomination. There are people coming back into my life from my childhood, from my school days, from college, people I’ve taught. People who have taught me. Perhaps the most meaningful expression I’ve received came from a friend in Ohio, who simply said, 'Look over your shoulder. I’m standing there.'

"The challenge of the role was claiming it, and re-claiming it. I understand that Rachel Chavkin, who I call “Chavkin the Great” and Anaïs Mitchell, who I call “The Oracle,” are writing a legend here from Hadestown. They are writing a legend about women being self-empowered, about strong Feminism. And that legend takes precedence over any other story that’s being told, and I respect that. However, I want to tell this story. That in 2012 Anais Mitchell did a workshop of Hadestown at Second Stage in a studio. That doesn’t get mentioned. What I’m claiming now, is having invented Hermes in 2012. And infected him with my DNA and having planted a boomerang in him, saying, 'I know you’re going to go away from me. But come back.' It took seven years, but he’s back to me now. It really resonates with great significance."

Laurie Metcalf, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play, Hillary and Clinton
“It’s such a wonderful honor to get nominated for playing this role. It’s an honor I share with our brilliant playwright, Lucas Hnath, all three of my incredible scene partners, and the great Joe Mantello.”

Bertie Carvell, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, Ink
"I was in bed, half asleep. I rolled over, glanced down, and saw reams of messages from friends, family, agents, all saying the same thing. So that was very nice. I’m just absolutely thrilled. I think there was a time when I felt it seemed decorous to seem embarrassed to be singled out, but I've grown out of that. Now I’m just absolutely thrilled. People say it glibly, it takes a village, but it’s true. And I’m thrilled we’ve been recognized in so many different categories because it's a team effort and I think the nominations the play has received recognized that. But very nice for me to be the mascot!"

James Graham, Best Play, Ink
"I just feel so honored to see Ink feature in the Best Play category, especially alongside such incredible shows and these fellow writers I admire. Writing plays can be a scary thing (especially when they're about Rupert Murdoch!) and also a lonely thing before you share them with others. So to be on Broadway and among this welcoming community is pretty much a dream come true. I'm so proud to be at MTC in particular, alongside Choir Boy in the same category, and to have five other nominations for our show including Rupert for directing and Bertie for his amazing performance as Murdoch. We've only just opened and I can't wait to keep sharing this show with audiences in the weeks and months ahead."

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Camille A. Brown Marc J. Franklin

Camille A. Brown, Best Choreography, Choir Boy
"My best friends called me screaming! That was my wake-up call. I was speechless. I just kept saying, ‘Are you serious? Are you serious?’ and they read the list and I said ‘Oh my goodness, oh my goodness,’ and then I was just quiet for like three minutes. I haven’t had time to really process it, so I have so many emotions, but the one that comes to the forefront is gratitude to the Tony committee, gratitude to Trip Cullman the director, and Tarell and my associate choreographer for creating such a safe and uplifting space for me. We never do anything alone so any time that I get to say thank you to those people that believe in my work, that’s what I feel, and the fact that it’s also acknowledging movements of the African diaspora onstage, it means so much."

Sarah Stiles, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, Tootsie
"I was sleeping. I was at the Actors Fund gala until late last night. My boyfriend comes into the room, and I wake up to him just hugging me, and he’s looming over me with his face in my face, and he goes, 'Congratulations.' And my eyes just popped open, and I was like, 'Really!?!'

"It’s such an incredible season, the shows are so great. The performances are off the charts. And this category is just filled with bad asses—and one of my co-stars, which is so thrilling. I just connected with Lilli Cooper on the phone, both of us were just screaming.

"I’m so grateful and so honored. Because I’ve done this before, I know what to expect. I can’t wait to hang out with all of these people, and really get to know them. And we’re going to get to know the photographers, the reporters, and that’s a part I really love about it—getting to connect with everyone in the community on a deeper level. It’s going to be really fun."

Taylor Mac, Best Play, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
“I’m feeling so so proud of Gary and all involved. Our play asks the question, “How can one cope when chaos permeates?” And the answer is, at least on this Tuesday morning: put on a play that grapples with the horror of the world and put it on with a bunch of exceptional humans. Thank you to everybody who championed this new play and all the other work this season.”

Bryan Cranston, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, Network
“It’s hard to stay Mad as Hell when you’re nominated for a Tony! Thank you to the members of the American Theater Wing and The Broadway League for this recognition.”

Anaïs Mitchell, Best Original Score and Best Book Hadestown
"I’m kind of a tech dunce and I couldn’t figure out how to follow it on my phone on CBS so I just had Rachel Chavkin, our director, text me every time there was a nomination. I was on a thread with Rachel and Amber Gray and it was like ‘Orchestrations! Sound design!’ and then as many emojis as I could possibly find to shoot back about how it went!"

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Anais Mitchell Helen Maybanks

"The main thing I’m feeling is I’m just so grateful. Overwhelmed and grateful. This show has taken a long and winding road to Broadway, we didn’t know that this is where we would end up and so many amazing artists have put their hands on it and sprinkled their fairy dust on it over the years and kept it moving forward, so I’m thinking about all of them today, from the very beginning. To the many who were nominated along with me in the show today, I’m so grateful for the recognition for them because it’s been so much joyful hard work."

Tarell Alvin McCraney, Best Play, Choir Boy
Choir Boy inspired me, motivated me watching that amazing cast led by Jeremy Pope, and that incredible production directed by Trip Cullman everyday I knew we had to do everything we could to tell stories yet untold. I’m honored by this nomination ... all of them. I’m so excited to see so much of our production recognized; especially alongside folks like Taylor Mac. It’s humbling. I hope we’ve made MTC proud. #ForDrew”

Damon Daunno, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, Oklahoma!
"I rolled over in bed and got a phone call from my agent [which elicited] a very sleepy fist in the air!

"It really means the world. I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude to be a part of this project and for this project to be recognized in this way and for this community to welcome me in this way really just means the world."

Nick Powell, Best Sound Design of a Play, The Ferryman
“This is a great surprise and amazing to receive this nomination in my favourite city. It feels like the culmination of an epic journey with this epic play - well over two years since we first started. It’s been an honour to bring the banshees’ wails to Broadway, and a privilege to be in the company of the other nominees.”

Kelli O’Hara, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, Kiss Me, Kate
I was at the Today Show about to do our number and I found out right before I went on air. It never gets old. I was on pins and needles, I have to admit. It’s always a nice gift. It is a challenging show these days. A lot of misogyny. Our challenge was to pay homage to the classic and beautiful musical piece that it is—it’s the first Tony Award-winning musical—but to also shine light on the things that aren’t."

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David Neumann Joseph Marzullo/WENN

David Neumann, Best Choreography, Hadestown
"I found out via text messages. I wasn’t watching, I didn’t think I could handle it. It means the world to me, it’s lovely to be recognized like this. I’m really happy to have been part of this project, and to work with such a talented and lovely group of people."

Patrick Page, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured role in a Musical, Hadestown
"As with many musicals your work has to be very precise and detailed, because you aren’t given a lot of dialogue. You know, with Hamlet, if you blow the first soliloquy, you still have four more to go. But with a musical like Hadestown, if I don’t quite make the right emotional turns at the right point, if I don’t hit the right things, then it sort of cascades and the whole performance becomes less effective than it could have been. So it’s about precision, hitting each beat precisely is the most challenging part of the show."

Stephanie J. Block, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, The Cher Show
"We live in New Jersey, so we don’t get NY1, and I’m not on Facebook, and neither is Sebastian, but our babysitter Shelly came over and we watched it on her computer, because she is on Facebook.

"It takes a while to digest. It was really beautiful. It was also the first name announced, so it was a relief. This is the first time I’ve been nominated while still doing a show. Drood had closed and so had Falsettos. So knowing that I’m going to go back to the Neil Simon with my Cher Show family and I’m going to honor them and celebrate them, and carry them with me these next few weeks. It feels huge, and really special."

Celia Keenan-Bolger, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play, To Kill a Mockingbird
“This day started differently than past nominations mornings. Previously, waking up at 8:30 felt extremely early, but this year, my 4-year-old came into our room around 6:15 AM so I’ve been up for a couple of hours.

"I am so enormously proud to be a part of this production and the first person I thought of when these nominations were announced was Harper Lee. I wish she was alive to witness this production and I hope she’d feel so proud of what Aaron Sorkin has made and that something she wrote in 1960 about 1934 is having such a huge impact in 2019. She’s the reason we all get to be here and I am so moved that her contribution lives on through these awards.

"I am, of course, so grateful to be nominated, but this production has been a true collaboration from the start. So it is especially meaningful to me that so many people were recognized.

"I am so thankful, especially to Gideon and Will, since we are such a trio and so much of my performance hinges on them—I rely on them completely both as actors and humans every single time we perform. I’m over the moon for Gideon.”

Gideon Glick, Best Performance by an Actor in a featured Role in a Play, To Kill a Mockingbird
“I am utterly shell shocked and beaming with gratitude. I’ve been working in this community since I was 17 years old and to be recognized and acknowledged in this way is very moving. I am so proud of the work that our cast, creative team, and crew have poured into this show, and I feel very lucky to be able to tell this story and to play this character every day. Aaron, Bart, and Scott have created something quite remarkable at the Shubert Theater and I feel so deeply grateful to be a part of it.”

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Caitlin Kinnunen Marc J. Franklin

Caitlin Kinnunen, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, The Prom
“I’m shocked and honored and completely overwhelmed. I’m so happy to be a part of this incredible show. We’ve all worked so hard to make this happen. I’m crying the happiest of tears.”

Kristine Nielsen, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured role in a Play, Gary
"I don’t think [co-star Julie White and I] expected to be facing off! I was sound asleep! I was sort of not anticipating this at all, so my agent called and woke me up. And my niece, crying and hysterical.

"I think [tonight] will be a combination of things, I think Julie and I will be laughing, and we’ll celebrate Nathan Lane because none of us would be there without his commitment to this play. He is just one of our greats. And I'll be excited to celebrate [playwright Taylor Mac]. It’s his first and hopefully there will be many many more for him! I’m happy because it’s not an easy play to assume would be a fan favorite, but when we come out and see all those young people every night, it feels so exciting to be in something that feels like the beginning of an exciting, new emerging playwright. And I’m going to celebrate by not going to the gym!"

Adam Driver, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, Burn This
“It’s hard to articulate the honor it is to be nominated. I’m beyond thrilled to be a part of this play, with this cast and director, and this production team. It’s a meaningful moment in my life that I’m very grateful for.”

Jim Nicola, Best Play and Best Musical, What the Constitution Means to Me and Hadestown
"One is always fearful and hopeful in those moments. That was a big surprise, the number [of nominations Hadestown received: 14]. I guess I can’t escape my New England Protestant childhood to always be suspicious of the good moments and remember the others! I did think a lot about particular those two central creators, Heidi [Schreck] and Anaïs {MItchell], and this is such a great marker along the way of a lifelong journey for those two people. They each took 10 years to make these pieces and to see people have that kind of commitment and devotion and respect for the gift that’s been given to them... The shape of a life like that, that commits to giving us all something that makes us better, is really moving to me and in a moment like this I really think about those outstanding lives. And two women! It’s almost always been men. So that’s really another notable moment."

Mary Testa, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, Oklahoma!
"My agent called me this morning at 8:35 or whatever time it was. I’m delighted. I’m just delighted! I’m very proud and I’m proud to be in this lovely group of women that have been nominated, most of us being friends, so it’s lovely.

"I’m very proud of this show. I’ve been involved with it for a long time. It’s lovely to be recognized. I also understand how this business works, there’s no guarantees of anything, but I’m thrilled to be nominated. I’m very satisfied because I think this piece, by everybody, is extraordinary so I’m thrilled. I’m just thrilled!"

Scott Ellis, Best Direction of a Musical, Tootsie
“My husband and I have two kids so he said, ‘Why don’t I take the kids to school and you stay here?’ and I said ‘OK.’ We got a new TV so I have no clue how to turn the TV on, and I mean none. I was like, ‘I don’t know how to turn the TV on.’ So I had to call him and he ran home and was like, ‘OK, here it is.’ So we got it right in the nick of time. When CBS stopped, we were like, ‘Now what do we do?’ We couldn’t figure out how to get on, so we’re finding it online and I just wanted to see how everyone was doing. Luckily The Today Show had a whole thing of Kelli and the cast of Kiss Me, Kate was doing “Too Darn Hot” so literally the moment it was done, we switched over and we just caught the beginning of it with Kelli talking, so it was a perfect half an hour.

"This is my ninth time, but this time I have to say, because of both shows running and getting nominated, it happened to me once before, but it just makes it special because you’re grateful for being able to do what you love to do and being in this business and then you’re grateful for two shows that have done well and having those nominations for both shows say everything about everybody involved with those shows. It probably would be harder if one wasn’t nominated and another one was, not probably, it would have been! So it’s an incredibly great thing to have them both celebrated."

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Brandon Uranowitz Marc J. Franklin

Brandon Uranowitz, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, Burn This
"This was the first time I actually got up and watched. I had never done it before and I couldn’t sleep and my boyfriend is in China, so I was super antsy so I just bit the bullet and watched.

"I didn’t even really have time to scream because as soon as they announced my name, my buzzer rang—and Robbie Fairchild and Sarah Esty were down in my lobby with noisemakers and bagels. I have the best friends in the entire world, but also, at the same time, I was like, 'What were you guys going to do if I didn’t get nominated?' 'We would have been here to comfort you! And thrown the noisemakers away.'

I was so thrilled they had the confidence because I sure as hell didn’t. And we got nominated for Best Revival! I’m so thrilled about that. I’m so proud and thrilled!"

Casey Nicholaw, Best Direction of a Musical, The Prom
"Basically I was waiting until it was online because I didn’t know how to stream it. Then my phone started blowing up. I was so happy for the show, and for Kaitlin, Beth, and Brooks. The show has been such a close one to us and to our hearts. It really feels great that we are here after starting to work on it seven years ago. We spent so much time working on it, and tweaking it, and getting the tone right. It feels really good to be here.

"This one feels so personal to all of us, it’s been our baby. Most of the actors involved have been with it since the beginning, and we’ve been able to create it around them and for them. It’s such a collaborative effort, and that’s what’s great. It feels really rewarding this moment."

Jeff Daniels, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, To Kill a Mockingbird
“It is an honor to play Atticus Finch on Broadway. And now this. Thank you, Broadway League and American Theatre Wing.”

Lilli Cooper, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, Tootsie
"I rolled over in bed and I slept through the broadcast. I didn’t set my alarm because I kind of wanted to wake up—and I luckily woke up to 50-plus text messages and that was my first hint! And my mom called me and was the one to actually tell me, which was pretty awesome.

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Lilli Cooper and Cast Matthew Murphy

"She was freaking out, she was screaming on the phone. She was just so happy and joyous and proud. Then my boyfriend called me, and he’s actually in Phoenix right now so he’s three hours behind and he screamed at the top of his lungs in his hotel room and he’s pretty sure he woke everyone else up in the hotel!

I’m still sort of processing it. It feels like a culmination of a lot of work and I’m really proud of my work in the show and I’m really proud of everyone’s work in the show and I’m just happy that we could get the recognition for it. It just feels very surreal... I don’t know that I’ve fully taken it in yet!"

Richie Jackson, Best Revival of a Play, Torch Song
"I was in the middle of our morning bike ride. Jordan [Roth]'s and my two-and-a-half year son, I take him on a bike ride every morning and my phone beeped. And I did not check my phone while biking—I can't get a call from my mother asking if I really read and biked—and Jordan had texted me.

"It’s so moving to me that the production has resonated and stayed with people. This play stayed with me for 36 years after seeing it in 1983 with my mother, so I can’t stop thinking about the original. When it won the Tony I was working in the Haagen Dazs in Merrick, Long Island, and my mother called me to tell me the good news. So this is a full circle that I don’t think anyone could have written

"And I want to say: There’s no Torch Song without Michael Urie. I cast Michael because not only is he an extraordinary actor but I wanted young LGBTQ youth to have the role model offstage that I had with Harvey when I was 17."

Sam Mendes, Best Direction of a Play
“I’m absolutely thrilled to have been nominated. The Ferryman has been one of the best experiences of my professional life, and this really is the cherry on the cake.”

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Heidi Schreck Marc J. Franklin

Heidi Schreck, Best Play and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, What the Constitution Means to Me
“I’m truly in shock, I’m not gonna lie! I know everyone says it. I tried to plan to sleep through it, so I set my alarm right past it but I woke up anyway.

“I’m excited to do the show every night, but I think tonight will be very special. I’ve been texting with my stage manager because Mike [Iveson] and the debaters and I pick a motto before we go on stage, kind of a reason or doing it, and tonight will be extra special.

“The first [nomination, for Best Play], I had hopes. I tried not to get my hopes up too high, but I did have hopes. I did not expect to be nominated as an actress and I’m so honored, especially with that group of women who are all my heroes. And I got choked up! I just love them all so much.”

Fionnula Flanagan, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play, The Ferryman
“I’m sort of wandering around in a daze, here, not quite believing it. I got two calls from Europe to say congratulations and I thought, ‘My god, what is this?’ Thrilling, totally thrilling. I wasn’t so much surprised as shocked into paying attention! It just shows Maggie Faraway is never that far away—she’s wandering around my apartment!”

 
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