USA TODAY International Edition
‘SpongeBob,’ ‘Mean Girls’ lead Tony nominations
Bikini Bottom, Britain, Bet Hatikva and Big Brother. Arendelle. Angsty teens. A mad king and a meteor shower. Harry and Hogwarts. A Caribbean island and one real nice clambake. And The Boss.
The 2017-18 Broadway season had it all, and the time’s come to honor the best of the best.
SpongeBob SquarePants and Mean Girls led the way with 12 Tony Award nominations apiece Tuesday, while Angels in America just eked out Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to top the plays with 11 nods to the boy wizard’s 10.
Tina Fey was recognized with a nomination for best book of a musical for Mean Girls. Bruce Springsteen (for his Springsteen on Broadway show) and John Leguizamo (for the run of his show Latin History for Morons) will be awarded special Tonys.
The Band’s Visit, Frozen, Mean Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants will duke it out for best musical, while My Fair Lady, Once on This Island and Carousel, the only eligible revivals, will compete for revival of a musical.
The Children, Farinelli and The King, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Junk and Latin History for Morons earned best play nominations, while Angels in America, Three Tall Women, The Iceman Cometh, Lobby Hero and Travesties earned nods for revival of a play.
In the leading actor in a play category, nominees include Andrew Garfield for Angels in America, Denzel Washington for The Iceman Cometh, and Jamie Parker for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Also nominated: Tom Hollander in Travesties and Mark Rylance for Farinelli and The King.
One of the more intriguing face-offs is amongthe leading actress in a play category, where Glenda Jackson (Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women) and Amy Schumer (Meteor Shower) earned nominations. Condola Rashad for Saint Joan and Lauren Ridloff for Children of a Lesser God also were nominated.
Harry Hadden-Paton for My Fair Lady, Joshua Henry for Carousel, Tony Shalhoub for The Band’s Visit and Ethan Slater for SpongeBob SquarePants were nominated for leading actor in a musical.
Lauren Ambrose for My Fair Lady, Hailey Kilgore for Once On This Island, LaChanze for Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, Katrina Lenk for The Band’s Visit, Taylor Louderman for Mean Girls, and Jessie Mueller for Carousel earned leading-actress nods in a crowded field.
Besides the 12 nominations each for Mean Girls and SpongeBob, Angels in America, The Band’s Visit and Carousel earned 11; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and My Fair Lady garnered 10; The Iceman Cometh and Once on This Island had eight each; Three Tall Women six; Farinelli and the King five; Travesties four and Frozen and Lobby Hero, three.
Chita Rivera and Andrew Lloyd Webber will receive Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.
“The cultural impact that Chita and Andrew have had on the international theater community and on theater education, has been immeasurable,” said Heather Hitchens, president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing and Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League.
The 2018 Tony Awards will be broadcast live June 10 on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/delayed PT.