It's nail-biting time on Broadway as Tony Award nominations roll around
[May 01, 2025]
By MARK KENNEDY
NEW YORK (AP) — After a Broadway season that delivered 14 new musicals
and the same number of new plays, there's lots of uncertainty when it
comes to the Tony Award nominations. But one thing that's practically a
lock is Audra McDonald hearing her name called.
The record holder for the most Tonys by a performer — with six — is
almost guaranteed another nod for her turn as Rose in a hailed revival
of “Gypsy,” a role that led to previous Tonys for the likes of Angela
Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Patti LuPone.
Many of the other categories are a lot harder to predict ahead of
nominations being revealed Thursday by Tony winners Wendell Pierce and
Sarah Paulson.
“Stranger Things: The First Shadow” co-director Justin Martin says he's
been excited by the mixed offerings this season — silliness and
seriousness and everything in between.
“We can hold all that, but it does feel like there is a lot of desire
for escapism at the moment. And I wonder whether that is to do with the
political situation,” he says.
Predicting the top musicals and plays
Best new musical will likely contain the android rom-com “Maybe Happy
Ending,” the comedy about frenemies “Death Becomes Her” and the
corpse-centered “Dead Outlaw.” That leaves two slots open, perhaps taken
by the immigrant tale “Buena Vista Social Club,” the British farce
“Operation Mincemeat,” the revue “Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends” or the
bio of a cartoon “Boop!”
The best new play category will likely see the loony bio of Abraham
Lincoln's wife “Oh, Mary!,” the drawing-room drama “Purpose” and the
feminist “John Proctor Is the Villain.” That leaves two slots for worthy
candidates like the Pulitzer Prize-winning “English,” the George
Clooney-led “Good Night, and Good Luck” — the first play to gross over
$3 million in a week — and “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” an
effects-driven prequel to the hit Netflix show.
Two plays with starry casts and expensive tickets will probably get nods
in the revival category — “Glengarry Glen Ross” with Kieran Culkin, Bob
Odenkirk and Bill Burr, and “Othello” with Denzel Washington and Jake
Gyllenhaal. Two other possible candidates are “Our Town,” starring Jim
Parsons and Katie Holmes, and a millennial-targeting “Romeo + Juliet”
with Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler.
Safe bets for best musical revival candidates are McDonald's “Gypsy” and
the Nicole Scherzinger-led “Sunset Blvd.” That means “Floyd Collins,”
“Pirates! The Penzance Musical” and “The Last Five Years” will likely be
competing for the other two slots.
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A view of the stage appears before the start of the 75th annual Tony
Awards on Sunday, June 12, 2022, at Radio City Music Hall in New
York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
Tina Landau, a Tony-nominated director, playwright and lyricist, wasn't
able to see any shows this season for a very good reason. She had two
shows — “Floyd Collins” and “Redwood” — open months from each other.
“I’m very glad that there’s so much work,” she says. “I feel like when
you have a season this big, there’s room for everyone and everything.
Some are apples and some are pears and some are bananas and some are
peaches. I just feel very blessed to have had two works that matter to
me so much open at the same time, or open ever at all.”
Turning to the actors
On the male side, outstanding work was turned in by Darren Criss in
“Maybe Happy Ending,” Jonathan Groff in “Just in Time,” Tom Francis in
“Sunset Blvd.,” Jeremy Jordan in “Floyd Collins” and Andrew Durand in
“Dead Outlaw.”
Eyes will be on this season's “Succession” stars — Culkin and Sarah
Snook — hoping to join their old co-star Jeremy Strong with Tony love.
Strong won the leading actor award last year in a revival of “An Enemy
of the People.”
Snook is virtually a lock in the best actress in a play category,
playing all 26 roles in “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Her competition
likely will be Sadie Sink from “John Proctor Is the Villain,” Laura
Donnelly in “The Hills of California” and LaTanya Richardson Jackson
from “Purpose.”
Some Hollywood A-listers — Washington, Gyllenhaal and Clooney — could
make the lead actor in a play category, along with Cole Escola, who
wrote and starred in “Oh, Mary!” The fifth slot could go to Connor,
Parsons, Daniel Dae Kim in “Yellow Face” or Robert Downey Jr., who made
his Broadway debut in “McNeal.”
As for competition for McDonald, Scherzinger in “Sunset Blvd.,” Helen J
Shen from “Maybe Happy Ending,” Jasmine Amy Rogers in “Boop!” and Sutton
Foster from “Once Upon a Mattress” are strong candidates.
The Tony Awards will be handed out June 8 at Radio City Music Hall
during a telecast hosted by “Wicked” star and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo.
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