Who’s in line for Tony awards?
SpongeBob, Mean Girls lead the 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 clam bake. And The Boss.
The 2017-18 Broadway season had it all, and the time has 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 the coveted best musical, and My Fair Lady, Once on This Island and Carousel, the only eligible revivals, will compete for best revival of a musical.
The Children, Farinelli and The King, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Junk and Latin History for Morons earned nominations for best play. Angels in America, Three Tall Women, The Iceman Cometh, Lobby Hero and Travesties were nominated for best revival of a play.
In the category of best leading actor in a play, big-name 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 in the category: Tom Hollander in Travesties and Mark Rylance for Farinelli and The King.
One of the more intriguing faceoffs will come for best leading actress in a play, in which 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 best performance by a 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 nods for leading actress 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.
The nominations were announced by Leslie Odom Jr. and Katharine McPhee from the New York City Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
Chita Rivera and Andrew Lloyd Webber will receive special Tonys 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, in a statement.
The Tony Awards will be broadcast live on CBS June 10 at 8 p.m. ET.