An unconventional show nurtured by the downtown theater scene — sung-through, poetic, packed with emotion and politics — “Hadestown” will now face off against four others for the big prize: “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations,” an exuberantly sung and danced jukebox musical, garnered 12 nominations; “Tootsie,” a musical comedy adapted from the popular film but updated to reflect today’s gender politics, got 11. “Beetlejuice,” another movie adaptation, scared up eight nominations; and “The Prom,” about egotistic New York actors who insert themselves into a debate about sexuality at an Indiana high school, received seven.
“I can’t believe this is real — I never expected that this road was going to lead here,” said singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, who fell in love with the Greek myth as a child and then, a dozen years ago, adapted it for the stage in a do-it-yourself production that she packed into a silver school bus and toured around community theaters in Vermont.
Now she is a two-time Tony nominee, for the show’s book and score.
“I just got captivated by the idea that there’s this character who believed that if he could make a piece of art beautiful enough, he could change the world,” she said.
The nominations, which come at the end of a lucrative Broadway season notable for the plethora of nonmusical plays, were striking not only for those recognized, but also for those snubbed.
Neither “To Kill a Mockingbird” nor “Network,” two costly dramas that have been hits at the box office, was nominated in the best new play category. They did not come away empty-handed — “Mockingbird” was nominated for nine awards, and “Network” five — but it was clear that the nominators preferred fully original work in the best play category. (Aaron Sorkin based “Mockingbird” on the 1960 Harper Lee novel, while Lee Hall’s “Network” follows the plot of the 1976 film.)
The race for best new play is now likely to be a faceoff between “The Ferryman,” Jez Butterworth’s gripping family drama set in a troubled Northern Ireland in 1981, and “What the Constitution Means to Me,” an autobiographical piece by Heidi Schreck, inspired by her adolescent experience giving speeches about the Constitution to win scholarship money.
“Choir Boy,” “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus” and “Ink” are the other contenders for best new play.
“I’m a little bit speechless,” said “Choir Boy” playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, a critically celebrated presence off-Broadway whose Broadway debut came thanks, in part, to his winning an Academy Award for the screenplay of “Moonlight.”
“Choir Boy,” about a gay teenager struggling with his status in the choir of an all-male high school, was inspired, he said, “by growing up and learning the history of Negro spirituals” and also by “really wanting to investigate being queer and black and also loving my community and my people.”
A group of 42 theater experts, who saw the 21 plays and 13 musicals eligible for awards, determined the nominations. The nominators are not allowed to have any financial relationship with the eligible shows.
Now begins the campaigning. Many acting categories appear to be hotly contested — the featured performances were especially strong this season — so watch for a lot of politicking, Tonys-style, over the next few weeks. The nominees will be showing up for gala dinners and fancy luncheons and giving a lot of interviews as they try to remind voters of their charm and skill.
The 831 Tony voters — actors, producers, writers, directors, designers and others active in theater, some with financial interest in the nominated shows — have until noon June 7 to cast their electronic ballots.
The winners are to be announced on June 9 at the 73rd annual Tony Awards, held at Radio City Music Hall, hosted by James Corden, and broadcast on CBS starting at 8 p.m. ET. The Tony Awards, formally called the Antoinette Perry Awards, are presented by the Broadway League and the American Theater Wing.
A Big Day for Big Names
This season did not feature a talk-of-the-town starmaking performance like those of Cynthia Erivo in “The Color Purple” or Ben Platt in “Dear Evan Hansen.”
But the nominators gave nods to performers well known from television and film, including Bryan Cranston, as a decompensating television anchor in “Network”; Annette Bening, as the determined mother trying to hold a troubled family together in “All My Sons”; Adam Driver, as the wild-eyed suitor of his recently deceased brother’s roommate in “Burn This”; and Jeff Daniels as Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Laurie Metcalf will be up for her third Tony in three years for her fierce-yet-fragile performance as Hillary Clinton in “Hillary and Clinton.” Also noteworthy: Elaine May, 86, the beloved comedian and director, was nominated for portraying a woman losing her memory in “The Waverly Gallery” — her first time appearing on Broadway in 50 years.
A few artists had especially big days Tuesday. The 26-year-old actor Jeremy Pope, who had never appeared on Broadway before, accomplished the rare feat of being nominated for work in two shows — as a gifted student in the play “Choir Boy” and as a magnetic member of the Temptations in the musical “Ain’t Too Proud.”
And Schreck, who is 47 and also making her Broadway debut, was nominated both as the writer and the star of “What the Constitution Means to Me,” a personal look at how U.S. law has treated women.
Five musicals — “Hadestown,” “Tootsie,” “The Prom,” “Ain’t Too Proud” and a revival of “Oklahoma!” — dominated the performance categories, recognizing actors both veteran and new. For example, musical comedy mainstays Brooks Ashmanskas and Beth Leavel were nominated for “The Prom,” but so was 27-year-old Caitlin Kinnunen, a Broadway newbie.
Revivals: A Wide Open Race
The race for best play revival is wide open, but among the hopefuls are “The Waverly Gallery,” a Kenneth Lonergan drama, first produced in 1999, and “The Boys in the Band,” a pioneering 1968 play by Mart Crowley about a group of gay men gathered for a birthday party. Neither play had been staged on Broadway before.
Also nominated: “All My Sons,” “Burn This” and “Torch Song.”
There were only two musical revivals this season. Both were well reviewed and both were nominated for the prize in that category: the revisionist “Oklahoma!”, which scored eight nominations, and the revised “Kiss Me, Kate,” which garnered four, including a seventh for Kelli O’Hara, who won in 2015.
Snubs and Surprises
Producer Scott Rudin brought a remarkable five plays to Broadway this season, but he had a mixed day on Tuesday.
In addition to leaving out “To Kill a Mockingbird” for best new play, Tony nominators did not include Lucas Hnath’s “Hillary and Clinton.” (Only Metcalf was nominated from that show.) The revival of “King Lear” that Rudin produced received just one, too — and not for the 82-year-old Glenda Jackson in the challenging title role.
Instead, the riskiest of Rudin’s productions — the bloody vaudeville “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus,” by the downtown favorite Taylor Mac — did surprisingly well, scooping up seven nominations. (His fifth production, “The Waverly Gallery,” earned two nods.)
Nine of the season’s 34 shows were completely overlooked by nominators, including “American Son,” a Kerry Washington-backed play about the fraught relationship between young black men and the police, and “Pretty Woman,” a musical adaptation of the film and the only non-nominated show still playing.
“Be More Chill,” the sci-fi musical about a teenager’s effort to become more popular, was powered to Broadway by online fandom. But that fan base is largely adolescent, and there are no teenagers among the 42 Tony nominators. So the show’s hardworking composer, Joe Iconis, scored its only nod.
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Tony Awards 2019: Full List of Nominations
Best Musical
“Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”
“Beetlejuice”
“Hadestown”
“The Prom”
“Tootsie”
Best Play
“Choir Boy”
“The Ferryman”
“Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus”
“Ink”
“What the Constitution Means to Me”
Best Revival of a Musical
“Kiss Me, Kate”
“Oklahoma!”
Best Revival of a Play
“All My Sons”
“The Boys in the Band”
“Burn This”
“Torch Song”
“The Waverly Gallery”
Best Book of a Musical
“Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”: Dominique Morisseau
“Beetlejuice”: Scott Brown and Anthony King
“Hadestown”: Anaïs Mitchell
“The Prom”: Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin
“Tootsie”: Robert Horn
Best Original Score
“Beetlejuice,” music and lyrics: Eddie Perfect
“Be More Chill,” music and lyrics: Joe Iconis
“Hadestown,” music and lyrics: Anaïs Mitchell
“The Prom,” music by Matthew Sklar; lyrics by Chad Beguelin
“Tootsie,” music and lyrics: David Yazbek
“To Kill a Mockingbird,” music by Adam Guettel
Best Direction of a Play
Rupert Goold, “Ink”
Sam Mendes, “The Ferryman”
Bartlett Sher, “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Ivo van Hove, “Network”
George C. Wolfe, “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus”
Best Direction of a Musical
Rachel Chavkin, “Hadestown”
Scott Ellis, “Tootsie”
Daniel Fish, “Oklahoma!”
Des McAnuff, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”
Casey Nicholaw, “The Prom”
Best Leading Actor in a Play
Bryan Cranston, “Network”
Paddy Considine, “The Ferryman”
Jeff Daniels, “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Adam Driver, “Burn This”
Jeremy Pope, “Choir Boy”
Best Leading Actress in a Play
Annette Bening, “All My Sons”
Laura Donnelly, “The Ferryman”
Elaine May, “The Waverly Gallery”
Janet McTeer, “Bernhardt/Hamlet”
Laurie Metcalf, “Hillary and Clinton”
Heidi Schreck, “What the Constitution Means to Me”
Best Leading Actor in a Musical
Brooks Ashmanskas, “The Prom”
Derrick Baskin, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”
Alex Brightman, “Beetlejuice”
Damon Daunno, “Oklahoma!”
Santino Fontana, “Tootsie”
Best Leading Actress in a Musical
Stephanie J. Block, “The Cher Show”
Caitlin Kinnunen, “The Prom”
Beth Leavel, “The Prom”
Eva Noblezada, “Hadestown”
Kelli O’Hara, “Kiss Me, Kate”
Best Featured Actor in a Play
Bertie Carvel, “Ink”
Robin de Jesús, “The Boys in the Band”
Gideon Glick, “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Brandon Uranowitz, “Burn This”
Benjamin Walker, “All My Sons”
Best Featured Actress in a Play
Fionnula Flanagan, “The Ferryman”
Celia Keenan-Bolger, “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Kristine Nielsen, “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus”
Julie White, “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus”
Ruth Wilson, “King Lear”
Best Featured Actor in a Musical
André De Shields, “Hadestown”
Andy Grotelueschen, “Tootsie”
Patrick Page, “Hadestown”
Jeremy Pope, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”
Ephraim Sykes, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”
Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Lilli Cooper, “Tootsie”
Amber Gray, “Hadestown”
Sarah Stiles, “Tootsie”
Ali Stroker, “Oklahoma!”
Mary Testa, “Oklahoma!”
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Miriam Buether, “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Bunny Christie, “Ink”
Rob Howell, “The Ferryman”
Santo Loquasto, “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus”
Jan Versweyveld, “Network”
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Robert Brill and Peter Nigrini, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”
Peter England, “King Kong”
Rachel Hauck, “Hadestown”
Laura Jellinek, “Oklahoma!”
David Korins, “Beetlejuice”
Best Costume Design of a Play
Rob Howell, “The Ferryman”
Toni-Leslie James, “Bernhardt/Hamlet”
Clint Ramos, “Torch Song”
Ann Roth, “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Ann Roth, “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus”
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Michael Krass, “Hadestown”
William Ivey Long, “Tootsie”
William Ivey Long, “Beetlejuice”
Bob Mackie, “The Cher Show”
Paul Tazewell, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Neil Austin, “Ink”
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus”
Peter Mumford, “The Ferryman”
Jennifer Tipton, “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Jan Versweyveld and Tal Yarden, “Network”
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kevin Adams, “The Cher Show”
Howell Binkley, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”
Bradley King, “Hadestown”
Peter Mumford, “King Kong”
Kenneth Posner and Peter Negrini, “Beetlejuice”
Best Sound Design in a Play
Adam Cork, “Ink”
Scott Lehrer, “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Fitz Patton, “Choir Boy”
Nick Powell, “The Ferryman”
Eric Sleichim, “Network”
Best Sound Design in a Musical
Peter Hylenski, “King Kong”
Peter Hylenski, “Beetlejuice”
Steve Canyon Kennedy, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”
Drew Levy, “Oklahoma!”
Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz, “Hadestown”
Best Choreography
Camille A. Brown, “Choir Boy”
Warren Carlyle, “Kiss Me, Kate”
Denis Jones, “Tootsie”
David Neumann, “Hadestown”
Sergio Trujillo, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”
Best Orchestrations
Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose, “Hadestown”
Simon Hale, “Tootsie”
Larry Hochman, “Kiss Me, Kate”
Daniel Kluger, “Oklahoma!”
Harold Wheeler, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”
Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater
Rosemary Harris
Terrence McNally
Harold Wheeler
Isabelle Stevenson Award
Judith Light
Regional Theater Tony Award
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
Special Tony Award
Marin Mazzie
Sonny Tilders and Creature Technology Company
Jason Michael Webb
Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theater
Broadway Inspirational Voices - Michael McElroy, Founder
Peter Entin
FDNY Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9
Joseph Blakely Forbes
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.