With 37 productions in contention for this year’s Tony Awards, there were plenty of surprises in Tuesday’s nominations announcement. (See full list of nominations here.)
Among the famous folk left off the list of contenders were a pair of two-time Tony winners: Matthew Broderick (“Nice Work If You Can Get It”) and Bernadette Peters (“Follies”). Also snubbed was Emmy and Tony champ Tyne Daly for her role as opera diva Maria Callas in the nominated revival of “Master Class.” And Emmy winners John Larroquette and Eric McCormack were edged out of the lead actor race by their co-star in “The Best Man” James Earl Jones.
The new tuner “Leap of Faith” earned a Best Musical bid but its leading man, Raul Esparza, who has contended in all four acting categories, was denied a chance to finally win a Tony.
“The Mountaintop” may have won the Olivier for Best Play two years ago, but Katori Hall‘s imagining of the last night in the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. starring Oscar nominees Angela Bassett and Samuel L. Jackson was shut out entirely.
And the Tony curse for “A Streetcar Named Desire” continues as this eighth rialto staging of the Tennessee Williams‘ classic reaped only one technical bid.
NOT BEST PLAY
Chinglish
The Columnist
End of the Rainbow
The Lyons
Magic/Bird
The Mountaintop
One Man, Two Guvnors
Relatively Speaking
Seminar
Stick Fly
NOT BEST MUSICAL
Bonnie & Clyde
Ghost the Musical
Lysistrata Jones
Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark
NOT BEST PLAY REVIVAL
Don’t Dress for Dinner
Man and Boy
Private Lives
The Road to Mecca
A Streetcar Named Desire
NOT BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL
Godspell
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever
NOT BEST ACTOR (PLAY)
Tug Coker – Magic/Bird
Hugh Dancy – Venus in Fur
Kevin Daniels – Magic/Bird
Paul Gross – Private Lives
Dulé Hill – Stick Fly
Samuel L. Jackson – The Mountaintop
Stacy Keach – Other Desert Cities
John Larroquette – Gore Vidal’s The Best Man
Eric McCormack – Gore Vidal’s The Best Man
Mekhi Phifer – Stick Fly
Alan Rickman – Seminar
Blair Underwood – A Streetcar Named Desire
Gary Wilmes – Chinglish
NOT BEST ACTRESS (PLAY)
Angela Bassett – The Mountaintop
Kim Cattrall – Private Lives
Tyne Daly – Master Class
Rachel Griffiths – Other Desert Cities
Rosemary Harris – The Road to Mecca
Jennifer Lim – Chinglish
Nicole Ari Parker – A Streetcar Named Desire
Tracie Thoms – Stick Fly
NOT BEST ACTOR (MUSICAL)
Matthew Broderick – Nice Work If You Can Get It
Reeve Carney – Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark
Harry Connick, Jr. – On A Clear Day You Can See Forever
Raúl Esparza – Leap of Faith
Ben Fankhauser – Newsies
Richard Fleeshman – Ghost the Musical
Jeremy Jordan – Bonnie & Clyde
Paul Nolan – Jesus Christ Superstar
Hunter Parrish – Godspell
Josh Segarra – Lysistrata Jones
NOT BEST ACTRESS (MUSICAL)
Jennifer Damiano – Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark
Caissie Levy -Ghost the Musical
Kara Lindsay – Newsies
Patti Murin – Lysistrata Jones
Bernadette Peters – Follies
Elena Roger -Evita
