Tag: Tony Awards

The 2019-2020 Tony Awards – titled THE TONY AWARDS® PRESENT: BROADWAY’S BACK! – will take place on Sunday, September 26 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) with two separate events. As theater fans know, the annual awards ceremony was originally scheduled for June 7, 2020. But the coronavirus pandemic not only ended the 2019-2020 Broadway season on March 12, 2020, but also postponed the Tonys as well. The long-awaited celebration will begin with the presentation of the American Theatre Wing’s 74th Annual Tony Awards® at 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT live exclusively on Paramount+. The streaming presentation will honor the outstanding shows, performances and artistry of the 2019-2020 Broadway season, which was brought to a halt by the COVID-19 pandemic. Immediately following, THE TONY AWARDS PRESENT: BROADWAY’S BACK! will air on the CBS Network, bringing the excitement of Broadway to viewers through a live concert event, featuring superstar Broadway entertainers and Tony Award winners re-uniting on stage to perform beloved classics and celebrate the joy and magic of live theatre. The re-opening of Broadway will be further celebrated with special performances from the three Tony nominated Best Musical contenders, followed by the live presentation of three Tony Awards, including Best Play, Best Revival of a Play and Best Musical. Other winners will be celebrated throughout the broadcast. Performances on the Great White Way are set to resume September 2 with the return of Hadestown. September 14 will see the reopening of Broadway blockbusters Wicked, Hamilton and The Lion King, to be followed by more in the following weeks.

Tony winner James Monroe Iglehart (Aladdin) announced the nominees for the 2020 Tony Awards this morning. The musical productions that scored big were the Alanis Morissette musical Jagged Little Pill (15 nominations), and Moulin Rouge! with 14 nominations. Tina: The Tina Turner Musical rounded out the Best Musical nominees leaving The Lightning Thief as the only show locked out of contention. In the Play categories, Jeremy O. Harris’ Slave Play garnered a whopping 12 nominations (the most ever for a play) and Matthew Lopez’s awesome gay-centric The Inheritance was honored with 11 nominations. Bess Wohl’s Grand Horizons, Adam Rapp’s The Sound Inside, and Sea Wall/A Life from Simon Stephens and Nick Payne join the first two productions in the Best Play category. An interesting quirk: Only Aaron Tveit, the leading man for Moulin Rouge!, was nominated for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.” Chris McCarrell, the leading man for The Lightning Thief, was the only other possible nominee given the eligibility constraints. Not sure why the nominating committee decided to not even afford him a nomination…but don’t count Tveit as the winner just yet. As the rules below state, Tveit will still need to garner at least 60% support from Tony voters to actually win the award.

As we all are painfully aware, the 2019/2020 Broadway season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Broadway theaters were forced to close on March 12 (and will remain so until June 2021 at the earliest).

The Broadway League and American Theatre Wing agreed to an eligibility cut-off date of February 19 for this year’s Tony nominations which allowed for a total of 18 productions to be considered.

No official word at this time on when this year’s awards ceremony will be (virtually) held.

Best Play
Grand Horizons by Bess Wohl
The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez
Sea Wall/A Life by Simon Stephens and Nick Payne
Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris
The Sound Inside by Adam Rapp

Best Revival of a Play
Betrayal
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune by Terrence McNally
A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller

Best Musical
Jagged Little Pill
Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Joaquina Kalukango, Slave Play
Laura Linney, My Name is Lucy Barton
Audra McDonald, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Mary-Louise Parker, The Sound Inside

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Ian Barford, Linda Vista
Andrew Burnap, The Inheritance
Jake Gyllenhaal, Sea Wall/A Life
Tom Hiddleston, Betrayal
Tom Sturridge, Sea Wall/A Life
Blair Underwood, A Soldier’s Play

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Karen Olivo, Moulin Rouge!
Elizabeth Stanley, Jagged Little Pill
Adrienne Warren, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Aaron Tveit, Moulin Rouge!*

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Ato Blankson-Wood, Slave Play
James Cusati-Moyer, Slave Play
David Alan Grier, A Soldier’s Play
John Benjamin Hickey, The Inheritance
Paul Hilton, The Inheritance

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Jane Alexander, Grand Horizons
Chalia La Tour, Slave Play
Annie McNamara, Slave Play
Lois Smith, The Inheritance
Cora Vander Broek, Linda Vista

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Moulin Rouge!
Derek Klena, Jagged Little Pill
Sean Allan Krill, Jagged Little Pill
Sahr Ngaujah, Moulin Rouge!
Daniel J. Watts, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Kathryn Gallagher, Jagged Little Pill
Celia Rose Gooding, Jagged Little Pill
Robyn Hurder, Moulin Rouge!
Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill
Myra Lucretia Taylor, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Best Book of a Musical
Jagged Little Pill, Diablo Cody
Moulin Rouge!, John Logan
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Katori Hall with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
A Christmas Carol, Christopher Nightingale
The Inheritance, Paul Englishby
The Rose Tattoo, Fitz Patton and Jason Michael Webb
Slave Play, Lindsay Jones
The Sound Inside, Daniel Kluger

Best Direction of a Play
David Cromer, The Sound Inside
Stephen Daldry, The Inheritance
Kenny Leon, A Soldier’s Play
Jamie Lloyd, Betrayal
Robert O’Hara, Slave Play

Best Direction of a Musical
Phyllida Lloyd, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
Diane Paulus, Jagged Little Pill
Alex Timbers, Moulin Rouge!

Best Choreography
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Jagged Little Pill
Sonya Tayeh, Moulin Rouge!
Anthony van Laast, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Best Orchestrations
Tom Kitt, Jagged Little Pill
Katie Kresek, Charlie Rosen, Matt Stine, and Justin Levine, Moulin Rouge!
Ethan Popp, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Bob Crowley, The Inheritance
Soutra Gilmour, Betrayal
Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol
Derek McLane, A Soldier’s Play
Clint Ramos, Slave Play

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Riccardo Hernández and Lucy Mackinnon, Jagged Little Pill
Derek McLane, Moulin Rouge!
Mark Thompson and Jeff Sugg, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Best Costume Design of a Play
Dede Ayite, Slave Play
Dede Ayite, A Soldier’s Play
Bob Crowley, The Inheritance
Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol
Clint Ramos, The Rose Tattoo

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Emily Rebholz, Jagged Little Pill
Mark Thompson, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
Catherine Zuber, Moulin Rouge!

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Jiyoun Chang, Slave Play
Jon Clark, The Inheritance
Heather Gilbert, The Sound Inside
Allen Lee Hughes, A Soldier’s Play
Hugh Vanstone, A Christmas Carol

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Justin Townsend, Jagged Little Pill
Justin Townsend, Moulin Rouge!
Bruno Poet, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Best Sound Design of a Play
Paul Arditti and Christopher Reid, The Inheritance
Simon Baker, A Christmas Carol
Lindsay Jones, Slave Play
Daniel Kluger, Sea Wall/A Life
Daniel Kluger, The Sound Inside

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Jonathan Deans, Jagged Little Pill
Peter Hylenski, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Nevin Steinberg, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

*In categories with only one nominee listed, such as Leading Actor in a Musical, an affirmative vote of 60 percent of the total ballots cast will grant an award in that category

Productions With Multiple Nominations:
Jagged Little Pill – 15
Moulin Rouge! – 14
Slave Play – 12
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical – 12
The Inheritance – 11
A Soldier’s Play – 7
The Sound Inside – 6
A Christmas Carol – 5
Betrayal – 4
Sea Wall/A Life – 4
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune – 2
Grand Horizons – 2
Linda Vista – 2
The Rose Tattoo – 2