‘A Beautiful Noise’ and ‘1776’ are bypassed in Tony nominations
“A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical,” which premiered last summer at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre, did not earn a single Tony Award nomination on Tuesday. Neither did “1776,” which opened last summer at Cambridge’s American Repertory Theater, directed there and on Broadway by Jeffrey L. Page and ART artistic director Diane Paulus.
“Life of Pi,” which made its North American debut at the ART last December before heading to Broadway, fared better, earning five nominations, including one for Tim Hatley and Andrzej Goulding’s outstanding scenic design. But it fell short in the competition for best play.
Two shows by the late Stephen Sondheim earned nominations in the category of best revival of a musical: “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (which got eight nominations overall) and “Into the Woods.” J. Harrison Ghee of “Some Like It Hot” and Alex Newell of “Shucked” became the first nonbinary-identifying actors to earn Tony nominations, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The nominees for best new musical were “Some Like It Hot,” which led the field with 13 nominations; followed by three shows that earned nine nominations apiece: “& Juliet,” “New York, New York,” and “Shucked.” Also nominated was “Kimberly Akimbo” (eight), adapted by South Boston native David Lindsay-Abaire from his play, with music by Jeanine Tesori.
Nominated for best new play were Jordan E. Cooper’s “Ain’t No Mo’,” Stephen Adly Guirgis’s “Between Riverside and Crazy,” Martyna Majok’s “Cost of Living,” James Ijames’s “Fat Ham,” and Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt.”
For best revival of a musical, the nominees were Sondheim and James Lapine’s “Into the Woods,” the Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler “Sweeney Todd,” Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s “Camelot,” and Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown’s “Parade.”
In the category of best revival of a play, nods went to August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson,” Amy Herzog’s new version of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” Lorraine Hansberry’s “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window,” and Suzan-Lori Parks’s “Topdog/Underdog.”
In the category of best lead actor in a play were Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Corey Hawkins for “Topdog/Underdog”; Sean Hayes (”Will & Grace”) for “Good Night, Oscar”; Stephen McKinley Henderson for “Between Riverside and Crazy”; and Wendell Pierce for “Death of a Salesman.”
For best lead actress in a play, nods went to Jessica Chastain for “A Doll’s House,” one of six nominations received by the production of Henrik Ibsen’s masterpiece; Jodie Comer (”Killing Eve”) for “Prima Facie”; Jessica Hecht for “Summer, 1976 ; and Audra McDonald, already the record-holder with six Tonys, for “Ohio State Murders.”
For best lead actor in a musical, nods went to Christian Borle and his costar in “Some Like It Hot,” Ghee; Josh Groban for “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”; Brian d’Arcy James for “Into the Woods”; Ben Platt for “Parade”; and Colton Ryan for “New York, New York.”
The nominees for best lead actress in a musical were Annaleigh Ashford for “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” Victoria Clark for “Kimberly Akimbo,” Micaela Diamond for “Parade,” Sara Bareilles for “Into the Woods,” and Lorna Courtney for “& Juliet.”
The nominations were announced by Lea Michele, star of the current Broadway production of “Funny Girl,” and Myles Frost, winner of a Tony Award last year for his performance as Michael Jackson in “MJ The Musical.”
The 76th Annual Tony Awards are slated to be presented on June 11 at 8 p.m. at the United Palace in the Washington Heights section of New York. The Tonys will be broadcast live on CBS and streamed live on Paramount+, and will be hosted for the second year in a row by Ariana DeBose. This year’s Tony Awards ceremony honors musicals and plays that opened on Broadway between April 29, 2022, and April 27, 2023.
The Tonys are presented by the Broadway League, which represents Broadway producers and theater owners, and the American Theatre Wing, a nonprofit organization that founded the awards.