The DrowsyChaperone, 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 ColorPurple, 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 JerseyBoys, 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 WeddingSinger, 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 RabbitHole, Kate Burton and Lynn Redgrave in the
period comedy The ConstantWife, Judy Kaye in Souvenir, and out
writer-performer Lisa Kron in Well.
The nominations
for Best Play were The HistoryBoys, Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant ofInishmore, which took five nominations, RabbitHole, and ShiningCity, whose star Oliver Platt was nominated for
Best Actor. Up for Best Actor along with Platt are
Ralph Fiennes for FaithHealer, Richard Griffiths for The HistoryBoys, Zeljko Ivanek for The Caine Mutiny
Court-Martial, and David Wilmot for The
Lieutenant ofInishmore.
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 ColorPurple, Marsha Norman; The DrowsyChaperone, Bob Martin and Don McKellar; JerseyBoys, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice; The WeddingSinger, 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, FaithHealer; Richard Griffiths, The HistoryBoys; Zeljko Ivanek, The Caine MutinyCourt-Martial; Oliver Platt, ShiningCity; David Wilmot, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Best Performance
by a Leading Actress in a Play: Kate Burton, The ConstantWife; Judy Kaye, Souvenir; Lisa Kron,
Well; Cynthia Nixon, RabbitHole; Lynn Redgrave, The Constant Wife
Best Performance
by a Leading Actor in a Musical: Michael Cerveris, SweeneyTodd; Harry Connick Jr., The PajamaGame; Stephen Lynch, The WeddingSinger; Bob Martin, The DrowsyChaperone; John Lloyd Young, Jersey Boys
Best Performance
by a Leading Actress in a Musical: Sutton Foster, The DrowsyChaperone; LaChanze, The ColorPurple; Patti LuPone, SweeneyTodd; Kelli O'Hara, The PajamaGame; Chita Rivera, Chita Rivera: The
Dancer's Life
Best Performance
by a Featured Actor in a Play: Samuel Barnett, The HistoryBoys; Domhnall Gleeson, The Lieutenant ofInishmore; Ian McDiarmid, FaithHealer; Mark Ruffalo, Pablo Schreiber, both
for Awake and Sing!
Best Performance
by a Featured Actress in a Play: Tyne Daly, RabbitHole; Frances de la Tour, The HistoryBoys; Jayne Houdyshell, Well; Alison
Pill, The Lieutenant ofInishmore; Zoe Wanamaker, Awake and Sing!
Best Performance
by a Featured Actor in a Musical: Danny Burstein, The DrowsyChaperone; Jim Dale, The ThreepennyOpera; Brandon Victor Dixon, The ColorPurple; Manoel Felciano, SweeneyTodd; Christian Hoff, Jersey Boys
Best Performance
by a Featured Actress in a Musical: Carolee Carmello,
Lestat; Felicia P. Fields, The ColorPurple; Megan Lawrence, The PajamaGame; Beth Leavel, The DrowsyChaperone; Elisabeth Withers-Mendes, The
Color Purple
Best Scenic
Design of a Play: John Lee Beatty, RabbitHole; Bob Crowley, The HistoryBoys; Santo Loquasto, Three Days ofRain; Michael Yeargan, Awake and Sing!
Best Scenic
Design of a Musical: John Lee Beatty, The ColorPurple; David Gallo, The DrowsyChaperone; Derek McLane, The PajamaGame; Klara Zieglerova, Jersey Boys
Best Costume
Design of a Play: Michael Krass, The ConstantWife; Santo Loquasto, A Touch of thePoet; Catherine Zuber, Edward Albee's
Seascape; Catherine Zuber, Awake and Sing!
Best Costume
Design of a Musical: Gregg Barnes, The DrowsyChaperone; Susan Hilferty, Lestat;
Martin Pakledinaz, The PajamaGame; Paul Tazewell, The Color Purple
Best Lighting
Design of a Play: Paul Gallo, Three Days ofRain; Mark Henderson, FaithHealer; Mark Henderson, The History Boys;
Christopher Akerlind, Awake and Sing!
Best Lighting
Design of a Musical: Ken Billington and Brian Monahan,
The DrowsyChaperone; Howell Binkley, JerseyBoys; Natasha Katz, Tarzan; Brian
MacDevitt, The Color Purple
Best Direction of
a Play: Nicholas Hytner, The HistoryBoys; Wilson Milam, The Lieutenant ofInishmore; Daniel Sullivan, Rabbit Hole;
Bartlett Sher, Awake and Sing!
Best Direction of
a Musical: John Doyle, SweeneyTodd; Kathleen Marshall, The PajamaGame; Des McAnuff, JerseyBoys; Casey Nicholaw, The Drowsy Chaperone
Best
Choreography: Rob Ashford, The WeddingSinger; Donald Byrd, The ColorPurple; Kathleen Marshall, The PajamaGame; Casey Nicholaw, The Drowsy Chaperone
Best
Orchestrations: Larry Blank, The DrowsyChaperone; Dick Lieb and Danny Troob, The PajamaGame; Steve Orich, JerseyBoys; 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