The curtain’s inching up on the Tony Awards: A ceremony will be held on an as-yet-undetermined date in coordination with Broadway’s eventual reopening, but voters will finally be able to make their selections beginning March 1, Tony organizers tell Deadline.
Nominees for the 74th Annual Tony Awards were announced last October, with the 18 eligible productions reflecting the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season (the count usually numbers in the 30s). The 2020 Tony ceremony and CBS broadcast had originally been set for June 7 at New York’s Radio City Musical Hall, but of course was scuttled due to the Covid shutdown.
The voting period will run from March 1 to March 15. Although Broadway remains officially closed until June, most insiders don’t expect any stagings before fall at the earliest, with timing contingent on widespread Covid-19 vaccinations.
The March 12 theater closure preceded the official end of the Broadway season and the traditional late-April/early-May announcement of nominees, leaving open the question of whether the 18 productions that opened pre-pandemic would get their own awards ceremony or be melded into the following season’s nominations. In October, the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing announced the standalone roster of 2019-20 nominations (see the complete list below).
Nominated for Best Play are Slave Play, Sea Wall/A Life, Grand Horizons, The Inheritance and The Sound Inside, with Moulin Rouge!, Jagged Little Pill and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical up for Best Musical. In the Best Revival of a Play category, Betrayal will compete with Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and A Soldier’s Play.
The abbreviated season also resulted in one of the odder nominations in Tony history: Aaron Tveit of Moulin Rouge! The Musical is the sole entry in the Leading Actor in a Musical category.
When theaters went dark, three productions – the musicals Six, West Side Story and Girl from the North Country – had already begun performances but were not around long enough to accommodate the required number of Tony voters.
Among the scheduled productions that had not officially opened prior to the shutdown, and so are not eligible this year, were Tracy Letts’ The Minutes; the musical adaptation of Mrs. Doubtfire; director Sam Mendes’ The Lehman Trilogy; the Princess Di musical Diana; Company, the gender-switched revival of the classic Sondheim musical starring Katrina Lenk and Patti LuPone; Plaza Suite starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker; How I Learned To Drive, the Paula Vogel play starring Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse; David Mamet’s American Buffalo starring Laurence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell and Darren Criss; the Off Broadway transfer of New York Theatre Workshop’s musical Sing Street; the revival of Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jesse Williams and Patrick J. Adams; the revival of the Jeanine Tesori-Tony Kushner musical Caroline, or Change; Birthday Candles, the Noah Haidle play starring Debra Messing; Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? starring Laurie Metcalf and Rupert Everett.
Some of the scuttled shows were subsequently postponed, some canceled and some remain up in the air.
Two of the season’s most popular productions, Freestyle Love Supreme and David Byrne’s American Utopia, chose not to invite Tony voters, though both could be eligible for special awards.
The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.
Nominations for the 2020 American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards:
Best Play
Grand Horizons
Author: Bess Wohl
Producers: Second Stage Theater, Carole Rothman, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Mandy Greenfield
The Inheritance
Author: Matthew López
Sea Wall/A Life
Author: Simon Stephens & Nick Payne
Slave Play
Author: Jeremy O. Harris
The Sound Inside
Author: Adam Rapp
Best Musical
Jagged Little Pill
Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Best Revival of a Play
Betrayal
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Author: Terrence McNally
A Soldier’s Play
Author: Charles Fuller
Best Book of a Musical
Jagged Little Pill
Diablo Cody
Moulin Rouge! The Musical
John Logan
Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
A Christmas Carol
Music: Christopher Nightingale
The Inheritance
Music: Paul Englishby
The Rose Tattoo
Music: Fitz Patton and Jason Michael Webb
Slave Play
Music: Lindsay Jones
The Sound Inside
Music: Daniel Kluger
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 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 Musical
Aaron Tveit, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Karen Olivo, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Elizabeth Stanley, Jagged Little Pill
Adrienne Warren, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
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! The Musical
Derek Klena, Jagged Little Pill
Sean Allan Krill, Jagged Little Pill
Sahr Ngaujah, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
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! The Musical
Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill
Myra Lucretia Taylor, 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! The Musical
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! The Musical
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
Bruno Poet, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Justin Townsend, Jagged Little Pill
Justin Townsend, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Best Sound Design of a Play
Paul Arditti & 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
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! The Musical
Best Choreography
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Jagged Little Pill
Sonya Tayeh, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
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! The Musical
Ethan Popp, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical