May 5, 2009

'Billy Elliot,' 'Next to Normal' lead Tony nominations

“Billy Elliot” this morning was nominated for 15 Tony Awards, followed by 11 nods for “Next to Normal” and eight each for “Shrek” and “Hair.”

Nominees for best new musical are “Next to Normal,” “Billy Elliott,” “Shrek” and the surprise of the day, the silly hair-band tribute show “Rock of Ages.” Among the shows left out on the cold in the best musical category was “9 to 5” which garnered four other nominations, including best original score for Dolly Parton.

Best new play nominees are Horton Foote’s “Dividing the Estate,” Yasmina Reza’s “God of Carnage,” Neil LaBute’s “reasons to be pretty” and Moisés Kaufman’s “33 Variations.”

Best revival of a play nominess are “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” “Mary Stuart,” “Waiting for Godot” and The Norman Conquests, which is actually a trilogy of three separate comedies but occupies one slot in the nomination.

The nominations for best revival of a musical are “West Side Story,” “Hair,” “Pal Joey” and lastly “Guys & Dolls,” which the critics slammed with terrible reviews.

“Sopranos” fans should be happy to see James Gandolfini nominated as best leading actor in a play, sharing the honor with his “God of Carnage” co-star Jeff Daniels. They’re up against Thomas Sadoski in “reasons to be pretty,” Geoffrey Rush in “Exit the King,” and Raúl Esparza for “Speed-the-Plow,” the one that made headlines for the sudden exit of Jeremy Piven and his infamous sushi incident.

The two leading ladies in “God of Carnage,” — Marcia Gay Harden and Hope Davis — are both nominated as leading actress in a play. They’re up against a pair of queens — Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter both in “Mary Stuart” — and Jane Fonda, who this year returned to Broadway after a four-decade hiatus.

Angela Lansbury, who plays a spirited medium in the Noel Coward comedy “Blithe Spirit,” is nominated as best featured actress in a pla. She’s up against Hallie Foote in “Dividing the Estate,” Marin Ireland of “reasons to be pretty,” as well as Jessica Hynes and Amanda Root, both of “Norman Conquests.”

Featured actor in a play nominees are Stephen Mangan and Paul Ritter of “Norman Conquests ,” John Glover in “Waiting for Godot,” Roger Robinson in “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” and Zach Grenier as Ludwig Van Beethoven in “33 Variations.”

Back to the musicals, the complicated category is best leading actor. The three young actors cast as “Billy Elliot” occupy one slot; they are David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish. They’re up against Gavin Creel of “Hair,” Brian d’Arcy James as Shrek, Constantine Maroulis in “Rock of Ages” and J. Robert Spencer in “Next to Normal.”

Best leading actress in a musical nominees are Allison Janney in “9 to 5,” Josefina Scaglione in “West Side Story,” Stockard Channing in “Pal Joey,” Sutton Foster in “Shrek,” and Alice Ripley in “Next to Normal.”

The best featured actor in a musical nominees are David Bologna and Gregory Jbara in “Billy Elliot,” Marc Kudisch, in “9 to 5,” Christopher Sieber in “Shrek” and Will Swenson in “Hair.”

The best featured actress in a musical nominees are Martha Plimpton in “Pal Joey,” Haydn Gwynne and Carole Shelley in “Billy Elliot,” Jennifer Damiano in “Next to Normal” and Karen Olivo in “West Side Story.”

The special theatrical event nominees are Will Ferrell’s “You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W Bush,” “Liza’s at The Palace” “Slava’s Snowshow” and “Soul of Shaolin.”

Winners will be announced June 7 in a ceremony at Radio City Music Hall. Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m.

In all, 43 productions were eligible for nominations this season, the most since the 1982-83 season, which is especially notable considering the economic crisis nudged many shows to cancel even before rehearsals started.

Total number of nominations for each Broadway show:

Billy Elliott - 15
Next to Normal - 11
Hair - 8
Shrek - 8
Mary Stuart - 7
Norman Conquests - 7
God of Carnage - 6
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone - 6
Rock of Ages - 5
33 - Variations - 5
Exit the King - 4
9 to 5 - 4
West Side Story - 4
Pal Joey - 4 (closed)
reasons to be pretty - 3
Waiting for Godot - 3
Blithe Spirit - 2
Guys and Dolls - 2
Dividing the Estate - 2 (closed)
Equus - 2 (closed)
Irving Berlin’s White Christmas - 2 (closed)
Liza’s at the Palace - 1 (closed)
Speed the Plow - 1 (closed)
[title of show] - 1 (closed)
Slava’s Snowshow - 1 (closed)
Souol of Shaolin - 1 (closed)
You’re Welcome America. - 1 (closed)

The shows currently on Broadway with no nominations are “Desire Under the Elms,” “Impressionism,” “Irena’s Vow,” “The Philanthropist” and “Accent on Youth.”

See the full list of nominees.

Update: See Variety’s list of big-name stars who were expected to get nominations, but didn’t.

May 5, 2009 8:28 AM in Broadway

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