"A Strange Loop" and "Company" lead the musical nods for the 75th Annual Tony Award Nominations
Monday, May 9, 2022 at 11:16AM
NATHANIEL R in Broadway and Stage, Company, Funny Girl, Macbeth, NYC, Six, The Music Man, Tony Awards

by Patrick Ball

A STRANGE LOOP leads the nominations. Photo © The New York Times / Sara Krulwich

Pulitzer winner A Strange Loop led the Tony nominations this morning but only by 1. Paradise Square a period musical about NYC's five points neighborhood, and the Michael Jackson musical MJ each scored 10 nominations. While Stephen Sondheim's Company was the clear frontrunner among the Revivals with 9 nominations. Voters nearly shut out two big glitzy musicals (Funny Girl and Mrs Doubtfire scored just 1 nomination each!) and the year's priciest ticket had mixed results with The Music Man scoring just 6 nominations. If you believe nomination counts predict winners (they do sometimes) your big winners in June will be the popular gender bent revival of Company, the box office struggling revival of for colored girls (which could get a big boost from these nods), and for original musicals and plays, A Strange Loop  and the already-closed The Lehman Trilogy respectively. 

The nominations after the jump include a lot of well loved stars (Jackman, Foster, Rashad, Negga, Crystal, Dratch, Aduba, Winningham) though several other "names" were snubbed (SJP, Feldstein, Craig) were left out...

THE NOMINATIONS (MUSICALS)

* = the show has already closed

BEST MUSICAL

9 shows were eligible and the voting was obviously close given the rules about percentages so we got six nominees instead of the usual 5. The only show that's open that wasn't nominated is Mrs Doubtfire but that one will sell tickets to tourists anyway given the IP. People did not expect Flying Over Sunset or Diana to place since the former closed a long time ago and the latter was viciously reviewed. 

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL

4 shows were eligible. The first ever revival of Funny Girl was the one on the chopping block which is not surprising given the unfavorable reviews.

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL

The surprise nominee here is surely the Michael Jackson musical MJ which pundits thought might be divisive in terms of nominations given the controversies over the late pop star (though that wasn't at all the case since it racked up the nominations). "Book" is like "screenplay" essentially. So again its Mrs Doubtfire that's the big one left out. Perhaps Six's concert nature worked against it?

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE 
Technically plays are also eligible here though rarely nominated since they dont tend to have much scoring

7 of the 9 original musicals on Broadway this season were eligible plus a scattered amount of plays. Tony voters really did not like Mrs Doubtfire.

 

*for the rest of the musical categories both originals and revivals are eligible

BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

The semi-surprise here was Carmen Cusack for the long closed Flying Over Sunset beating out Tony winner Katrina Lenk (of The Band's Visit fame) for Company... though we don't mind that so much. Company is a great production but oddly she was its weakest link. Beanie Feldstein was unsurprisingly shut out (her reviews were particularly mean) for Funny Girl. All six wives in Six were designated as leads and none could overcome that internal competition handicap. But Broadway favourite (and an actress we've loved forever) Mare Winningham overcame having a smallish role in the ensemble piece Girl from the North Country to land in the shortlist. This category was much more crowded than usual with 15 or so women vying for placement. That was a tough break for a lot of them who might have been shoo-ins in a less competitive season.

BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL 

Rob McClure managed a nomination, the ONLY nomination for his tourist-friendly show, Mrs Doubtfire.

Omissions here include Tony nominees like Ramin Karimloo (Funny Girl) as Nicky Anstein and our beloved Tony Yazbeck for the long closed Flying Over Sunset (he was playing Cary Grant). Jay O. Sanders received much praise for his turn in Girl from the North Country but unlike Mare Winningham didn't overcome the smallness of the role given his competition. 

BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

All of the Caroline or Change actresses were left out. And the general response to Funny Girl obviously hurt Jane Lynch. Patti LuPone is widely expected to win her third Tony for Company. But personally we preferred Simard who steals all her scenes in a part that isn't 'an awards role' in the way Patti's "Joanne" is so she's doing ALL the work. But it is also the omst I've personally ever liked Patti in a show (I'm not a Patti Gay. Sorry!) 

BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

THE ONLY PERFORMANCE CATEGORY THIS YEAR THAT'S ALL FIRST TIME NOMINEES!

This is one of the more surprising lineups. The nomination for Jared Grimes is the ONLY nomination for the big budget high expectations Funny Girl so that's a surprise. Everyone expected David Paymer to repeat his Oscar nomination for Mr Saturday Night with a Tony nomination but it didn't happen. Tony winner Jefferson Mays was also widely tipped to compete for The Music Man . The omission we're saddest about is Claybourne Elder (who you'll know from The Gilded Age) who took a role that isn't usually the highlight of Company (the beautiful dumb flight attendant) and made it one. He was just fantastic.

BEST DIRECTION, MUSICAL

The big miss here is arguably the legendary Jerry Zaks missing for The Music Man.  

BEST SCENIC DESIGN, MUSICAL

BEST COSTUME DESIGN, MUSICAL 

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN, MUSICAL

BEST SOUND DESIGN, MUSICAL

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS
Technically plays are also eligible in this category though rarely nominated 

 

 

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Technically plays are also eligible in this category though rarely nominated

 

 

 

THE NOMINATIONS (PLAYS)

* = the show has already closed 

BEST PLAY

12 shows were eligible with 4 of the 12 still running. The Lehman Trilogy looks like it's in the lead given its very impressive nomination count despite being closed. The shows that were left out were Birthday Candles (will it close early now despite only having a few weeks left?), Chicken & Biscuits, Dana H., Is This a Room, Pass Over, POTUS, and Thoughts of A Colored Man. 

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY

9 shows were eligible, 7 of which were still open. The 4 that are still open just got a boost for ticket sales for their final weeks. The only closed show that made it was Trouble in Mind. The negative press about 'why is Broadway still reviving David Mamet shows?' didn't end up hurting American Buffalo. Noitable misses here included the starry modern Macbeth and Lincoln Center's The Skin of Our Teeth. 

BEST ACTRESS, PLAY

The big snub here is Sarah Jessica Parker for Plaza Suite who was widely expected to be nominated. Will Mary Louise Parker win her third Tony? There's quite a narrative since she led the original production of this 25 year old show Off Broadway.

 

BEST ACTOR, PLAY

Will this go to David Morse (reprising an old role) or Ruben Santiaga-Hudson's acclaimed (and remembered despite closing!) solo performance?

But overall this is insane. We're supposed to get 5 nominees and somehow it's 7. Voting must have been very tight but we dont approve of wildly varying numbers of nominees at any awards show. This is a tough break for Jon Michael Hill and Namir Smallwood from the long closed but very well reviewed Pass Over.  It's not surprising that Daniel Craig missed for Macbeth but still noteable given his stardom.  

BEST FEATURED ACTRESS, PLAY

Voting was close given the extra slot but even with six nominees there were some obvious omissions like Blair Brown from The Minutes, and other actresses from Trouble in Mind, Hangmen, How I Learned to Drive, and Macbeth 

BEST FEATURED ACTOR, PLAY

Voting was close so we got six nominees. This was a competitive category so it's a tough break for well liked performances from Pass Over, Hangmen, Skeleton Crew, and The Minutes.

 

BEST DIRECTION, PLAY

 

 

BEST SCENIC DESIGN, PLAY

 

 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN, PLAY

 

 

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN, PLAY

 

 

BEST SOUND DESIGN, PLAY

 

 

If you missed the announcement show starring Tony winner Adrienne Warren and 3 time nominee Joshua Henry, here it was...

Oscar winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) will host the Tony Awards live on CBS and Paramount+, June 12th. 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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