Kron, Sondheim,
Bennett among queer Tony nominees

The Drowsy Chaperone, a parody of 1920s musicals, swept the board with 13 Tony award nominations on Tuesday, while big names such as Julia Roberts and Disney were shut out of Broadway's biggest honors. Alan Bennett's The History Boys was confirmed as favorite for Best Play with seven nominations.

The nominations for the U.S. theater version of the Oscars went largely as predicted by critics, though Oprah Winfrey's The Color Purple, based on the Alice Walker novel, made a surprisingly strong showing with 11 nominations. Its tally of 11 was more than the eight nominations for the critically acclaimed Jersey Boys, a jukebox musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, which is considered a joint favorite with The Drowsy Chaperone to win Best Musical. The Wedding Singer, a 1980s romp adapted from the Adam Sandler movie, was the fourth nomination for Best Musical and picked up a total of five nominations.

The Pajama Game led the list of revivals with nine nominations, including one for its star, Harry Connick Jr. The revival of Clifford Odets's Awake and Sing! gained eight nominations, including Best Revival of a Play and three featured actor nominations for members of its ensemble cast--Zoe Wanamaker, Mark Ruffalo, and Pablo Schreiber.

The biggest star of the season on Broadway, Oscar winner Julia Roberts, was not among those nominated as Best Actress in a Play. Her Broadway debut was panned by critics, but in a year with few outstanding female performances, there was speculation she could make the grade, particularly if organizers had hoped to tempt her to be a presenter at the ceremony on June 11. The nominees for best actress in a play were lesbian Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon for her role in Rabbit Hole, Kate Burton and Lynn Redgrave in the period comedy The Constant Wife, Judy Kaye in Souvenir, and out writer-performer Lisa Kron in Well.

The nominations for Best Play were The History Boys, Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore, which took five nominations, Rabbit Hole, and Shining City, whose star Oliver Platt was nominated for Best Actor. Up for Best Actor along with Platt are Ralph Fiennes for Faith Healer, Richard Griffiths for The History Boys, Zeljko Ivanek for The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, and David Wilmot for The Lieutenant of Inishmore.

Among the biggest losers were two of the biggest investors of the season--Hollywood studio giants Disney and Warner Bros., whose big-budget musicals Tarzan and Lestat were snubbed. Tarzan, based on the Disney movie with music by Phil Collins, picked up just one nomination, for Best Lighting Design, while the vampire musical Lestat, with music by Elton John, received two nominations, for Best Costumes and Best Supporting Actress, Carolee Carmello.

"It shows the integrity of the Tony award nomination process," said New York Post drama writer Michael Riedel. "They chose not to give a nomination to the biggest star in the world [Roberts], and they really stuck it to the most powerful producer on Broadway, Disney, by giving only one nomination, for lighting, which is really almost insulting." (Claudia Roberts, Reuters)

Here is a complete list of the 2006 Tony Awards nominees:

Best Play: The History Boys, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Rabbit Hole, Shining City

Best Musical: The Color Purple, The Drowsy Chaperone, Jersey Boys, The Wedding Singer

Best Book of a Musical: The Color Purple, Marsha Norman; The Drowsy Chaperone, Bob Martin and Don McKellar; Jersey Boys, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice; The Wedding Singer, Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre: The Color Purple, Music & Lyrics: Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, Stephen Bray; The Drowsy Chaperone, Music & Lyrics: Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison; The Wedding Singer, Music: Matthew Sklar, Lyrics: Chad Beguelin; The Woman in White, Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyrics: David Zippel

Best Revival of a Play: The Constant Wife, Edward Albee's Seascape, Faith Healer; Awake and Sing!

Best Revival of a Musical: The Pajama Game, Sweeney Todd, The Threepenny Opera

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play: Ralph Fiennes, Faith Healer; Richard Griffiths, The History Boys; Zeljko Ivanek, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial; Oliver Platt, Shining City; David Wilmot, The Lieutenant of Inishmore

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play: Kate Burton, The Constant Wife; Judy Kaye, Souvenir; Lisa Kron, Well; Cynthia Nixon, Rabbit Hole; Lynn Redgrave, The Constant Wife

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical: Michael Cerveris, Sweeney Todd; Harry Connick Jr., The Pajama Game; Stephen Lynch, The Wedding Singer; Bob Martin, The Drowsy Chaperone; John Lloyd Young, Jersey Boys

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical: Sutton Foster, The Drowsy Chaperone; LaChanze, The Color Purple; Patti LuPone, Sweeney Todd; Kelli O'Hara, The Pajama Game; Chita Rivera, Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play: Samuel Barnett, The History Boys; Domhnall Gleeson, The Lieutenant of Inishmore; Ian McDiarmid, Faith Healer; Mark Ruffalo, Pablo Schreiber, both for Awake and Sing!

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play: Tyne Daly, Rabbit Hole; Frances de la Tour, The History Boys; Jayne Houdyshell, Well; Alison Pill, The Lieutenant of Inishmore; Zoe Wanamaker, Awake and Sing!

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical: Danny Burstein, The Drowsy Chaperone; Jim Dale, The Threepenny Opera; Brandon Victor Dixon, The Color Purple; Manoel Felciano, Sweeney Todd; Christian Hoff, Jersey Boys

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical: Carolee Carmello, Lestat; Felicia P. Fields, The Color Purple; Megan Lawrence, The Pajama Game; Beth Leavel, The Drowsy Chaperone; Elisabeth Withers-Mendes, The Color Purple

Best Scenic Design of a Play: John Lee Beatty, Rabbit Hole; Bob Crowley, The History Boys; Santo Loquasto, Three Days of Rain; Michael Yeargan, Awake and Sing!

Best Scenic Design of a Musical: John Lee Beatty, The Color Purple; David Gallo, The Drowsy Chaperone; Derek McLane, The Pajama Game; Klara Zieglerova, Jersey Boys

Best Costume Design of a Play: Michael Krass, The Constant Wife; Santo Loquasto, A Touch of the Poet; Catherine Zuber, Edward Albee's Seascape; Catherine Zuber, Awake and Sing!

Best Costume Design of a Musical: Gregg Barnes, The Drowsy Chaperone; Susan Hilferty, Lestat; Martin Pakledinaz, The Pajama Game; Paul Tazewell, The Color Purple

Best Lighting Design of a Play: Paul Gallo, Three Days of Rain; Mark Henderson, Faith Healer; Mark Henderson, The History Boys; Christopher Akerlind, Awake and Sing!

Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Ken Billington and Brian Monahan, The Drowsy Chaperone; Howell Binkley, Jersey Boys; Natasha Katz, Tarzan; Brian MacDevitt, The Color Purple

Best Direction of a Play: Nicholas Hytner, The History Boys; Wilson Milam, The Lieutenant of Inishmore; Daniel Sullivan, Rabbit Hole; Bartlett Sher, Awake and Sing!

Best Direction of a Musical: John Doyle, Sweeney Todd; Kathleen Marshall, The Pajama Game; Des McAnuff, Jersey Boys; Casey Nicholaw, The Drowsy Chaperone

Best Choreography: Rob Ashford, The Wedding Singer; Donald Byrd, The Color Purple; Kathleen Marshall, The Pajama Game; Casey Nicholaw, The Drowsy Chaperone

Best Orchestrations: Larry Blank, The Drowsy Chaperone; Dick Lieb and Danny Troob, The Pajama Game; Steve Orich, Jersey Boys; Sarah Travis, Sweeney Todd

Special Tony Award: Sarah Jones for Bridge & Tunnel

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre: Harold Prince

Regional Theatre Tony Award: Intiman Theatre, Seattle