As Broadway’s recovery from the pandemic shutdown gathers pace, Tony nominees have focused more on variety shows.
“Some Like It Hot,” a jazz-age show about two artists who witness a mob kill and dress up as women to escape the mob, earned the most nominations: 13. But it faces stiffer competition in the race for Best New Musical – Ticket. Buyers didn’t slam-dunk any contenders, and there doesn’t seem to be a consensus among industry insiders who make up the Tony voting pool.
The nominees for best new musical are wildly different from each other — the others include three that picked up nine nominations: “& Juliet,” which combines pop songs with an alternate story arc for Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers; “New York, New York,” a dance-driven tuner about a pair of young musicians searching for success and love in a postwar city; “Shakt” is a humorous folk comedy about a rural community facing a corn crisis. critical favorite “Kimberly Akimbo,” about a high school student with a life-changing genetic condition and a criminally dysfunctional family; It took eight nominations.
Sarah Bareilles, Jessica Chastain, Jodie Comer, Josh Groban, Sean Hayes, Samuel L. Jackson, Wendell Pierce and Ben Platt, as well as Broadway favorite Audra MacDonald, are among the popular artists nominated.
Competing in another prestigious category, for best drama, the nominees chose “Ain’t No Mo,” Jordan E. Cooper’s wild comedy that imagines the moment America decides to solve its racial problems and offers all black residents one-way tickets to Africa; “Between Riverside and Gracie, ” Stephen Atlee Gurkis’ drama about a retired police officer trying to hang on to his apartment; “The Cost of Living,” Martina Majok’s drama about care and disability; “Fat Ham,” a riff on James James’ “Hamlet,” set in the North Carolina backyard of a family that runs a barbecue restaurant. ; and “Leopoldstadt,” Tom Stoppard’s autobiographical drama about a European Jewish family before, during, and after World War II. Three of Tony’s nominated plays, “Between Riverside and Crazy,” “The Cost of Living” and “Fat Ham” already won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. have won the prize.
Of the 38 Tony-eligible plays and musicals this season, 27 received at least one nomination, 11 with no nominations. A highly recommended musical revival was “Sweeney Todd,” which had eight performances; A highly recommended theater revival is “A Doll’s House.”
For more news on the Tony Awards, check back here throughout the day, including nominees’ reaction, as well as reporters’ analysis and critics’ commentary.
