Taking a little bit of a deviation from what I usually talk about on this blog to focus on something that I truly love with all of my heart (even though I do not have the means to see everything) let’s talk about Broadway! The 2023 Tony Award Nominations were announced on Tuesday, May 2nd and I wanted to create this post to just give a brief description of all of the plays and musicals that have been nominated for something. A lot of people are either not super familiar with Broadway or do not have the easily accessible opportunity to see everything that gets released during the season. So if you have even a little interest in theater or just want to watch another awards show and know a little something about the nominations, this is the post for you!
Musical Nominations
& Juliet — a new jukebox musical that focuses on the question: what would have happened to Juliet if she did not take the poison to kill herself at the end of “Romeo and Juliet”, with a focus on the characters of William Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway.
Nominations:
-Best New Musical
-Best Book of a Musical (David West Read)
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Lorna Courtney)
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Betsy Wolfe)
-Best Costume Design of a Musical (Paloma Young)
-Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Howard Hudson)
-Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Gareth Owen)
-Best Choreography (Jennifer Weber)
-Best Orchestrations (Bill Sherman and Dominic Fallacaro)
Kimberly Akimbo — Kimberly has a condition that causes her to age at a rapid pace, and how that condition causes tension and secrets between her family members, even though she is the one that looks like an elderly woman at only 17!
Nominations:
-Best New Musical
-Best Book of a Musical (David Lindsay-Abaire)
-Best Original Score Written for the Theatre (Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire)
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Victoria Clark)
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Justin Cooley)
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Bonnie Milligan)
-Best Direction of a Musical (Jessica Stone)
-Best Orchestrations (John Clancy)
New York, New York — Based on the Martin Scorsese film of the same name, a group of young creatives living in the city that never sleeps as they try to make a new musical for Broadway.
Nominations:
-Best New Musical
-Best Book of a Musical (David Thompson and Sharon Washington)
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Colton Ryan)
-Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Beowulf Boritt)
-Best Costume Design of a Musical (Donna Zakowska)
-Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Ken Billington)
-Best Sound Design of a Musical (Kai Harada)
-Best Choreography (Susan Stroman)
-Best Orchestrations (Daryl Walters and Sam Davis)
Shucked — After having to postpone their wedding due to a corn crop shortage, Maize and Beau leave their small Midwestern town to find answers on how to save the county’s corn.
Nominations:
-Best New Musical
-Best Book of a Musical (Robert Horn)
-Best Original Score Written for the Theatre (Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally)
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Kevin Cahoon)
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Alex Newell)
-Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Scott Pask)
-Best Sound Design of a Musical (John Shivers)
-Best Direction of a Musical (Jack O’Brien)
-Best Orchestrations (Jason Howland)
Some Like It Hot — Based on the Billy Wilder movie of the same name, two jazz musicians are forced to flee and disguise themselves after accidentally witnessing a mob attack.
Nominations:
-Best New Musical
-Best Book of a Musical (Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin)
-Best Original Score Written for the Theatre (Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman)
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Christian Borle)
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (J. Harrison Ghee)
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Kevin Del Aguila)
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (NaTasha Yvette Williams)
-Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Scott Pask)
-Best Costume Design of a Musical (Gregg Barnes)
-Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Natasha Katz)
-Best Direction of a Musical (Casey Nicholaw)
-Best Choreography (Casey Nicholaw)
-Best Orchestrations (Charlie Rosen and Bryan Carter)
Camelot — A modern take on the story of King Arthur, a young King longs for a just society but he cannot have that due to what Queen Guenevere has done behind his back with the loyal knight, Sir Lancelot.
Nominations:
-Best Revival of a Musical
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Jordan Donica)
-Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Michael Yeargan and 59 Productions)
-Best Costume Design of a Musical (Jennifer Moeller)
-Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Lap Chi Chu)
Into the Woods — Combining some of your favorite Brothers Grimm fairy tales, we follow an intertwining story with Cinderella, Jack and the Bean Stalk, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood as they help fulfill the Baker and his Wife’s dream of having a baby.
Nominations:
-Best Revival of a Musical
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Brian D’Arcy James)
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Sara Bareilles)
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Julia Lester)
-Best Sound Design of a Musical (Scott Lehrer and Alex Neumann)
-Best Direction of a Musical (Lear deBessonet)
Parade — Based on real events, Jewish factory worker, Leo Frank, is accused of raping and murdering a young girl in 1913 and the media attention it got gave raise to antisemitism in Georgia, leading to the revival of the KKK and the creation of the Anti-Defamation League.
Nominations:
-Best Revival of a Musical
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Ben Platt)
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Micaela Diamond)
-Best Costume Design of a Musical (Susan Hilferty)
-Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Heather Gilbert)
-Best Direction of a Musical (Michael Arden)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street — Benjamin Barker, now under the moniker of Sweeney Todd, has returned to London searching for the judge that wrongly framed him and assaulted his wife.
Nominations:
-Best Revival of a Musical
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Josh Groban)
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Annaleigh Ashford)
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Ruthie Ann Miles)
-Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Mimi Lien)
-Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Natasha Katz)
-Best Sound Design of a Musical (Nevin Steinberg)
-Best Choreography (Steven Hoggett)
KPOP — Global superstars in the genre of KPOP put everything on the line for a special one-night event, but it may not turn out the way it is supposed to due to the struggles of the entertainment industry.
Nominations:
-Best Original Score Written for the Theatre (Helen Park and Max Vernon)
-Best Costume Design of a Musical (Clint Ramos and Sophia Choi)
-Best Choreography (Jennifer Weber)
Almost Famous — Based on the movie of the same name, a teenager hits it big when they become a journalist for Rolling Stone in the 70s.
Nominations:
-Best Original Score Written for the Theatre (Tom Kitt and Cameron Crowe)
Play Nominations
Ain’t No Mo’ — Told in the style of sketch comedy skits, set in an alternative present-day America in which the government has created a program to buy every African American a one-way ticket to Africa.
Nominations:
-Best New Play
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (Jordan E. Cooper)
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Crystal Lucas-Perry)
-Best Costume Design of a Play (Emilio Sosa)
-Best Sound Design of a Play (Jonathan Deans and Taylor Williams)
-Best Direction of a Play (Stevie Walker-Webb)
Between Riverside and Crazy — An ex-cop and his recently paroled son, after losing the matriarch of their family, try to hold on to their rent-stabilized apartment on Riverside Drive.
Nominations:
-Best New Play
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Stephen McKinley Henderson)
Cost of Living — Two pairs of individuals — a trucker and his ex-wife who has been paralyzed and an arrogant man with cerebral palsy with his new caregiver — discover how privilege plays into the life of being an American and how it varies from person to person.
Nominations:
-Best New Play
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (David Zayas)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Katy Sullivan)
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Kara Young)
-Best Direction of a Play (Jo Bonney)
Fat Ham — A modern-day take on “Hamlet”, Juicy — a Black queer man — while at a barbeque in the South, comes face-to-face with the ghost of his father who wants his son to avenge his murder.
Nominations:
-Best New Play
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Nikki Crawford)
-Best Costume Design of a Play (Dominique Fawn Hill)
-Best Lighting Design of a Play (Bradley King)
-Best Direction of a Play (Saheem Ali)
Leopoldstadt — Set during the first half of the 20th century in Vienna, a well-off Jewish family has fled riots in the East, covering a course of five different years in five acts.
Nominations:
-Best New Play
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (Brandon Uranowitz)
-Best Scenic Design of a Play (Richard Hudson)
-Best Costume Design of a Play (Brigitte Reiffenstuel)
-Best Lighting Design of a Play (Neil Austin)
-Best Direction of a Play (Patrick Marber)
The Piano Lesson — A choice of what to do with a piano causes a riff between brother and sister as they have very different ideas on the piano’s fate.
Nominations:
-Best Revival of a Play
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (Samuel L. Jackson)
A Doll’s House — Keeping a financial secret from her husband, Nora Helmer appears to have the perfect life but that is just one of the faces she is hiding behind.
Nominations:
-Best Revival of a Play
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (Jessica Chastain)
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (Arian Moayed)
-Best Lighting Design of a Play (Jon Clark)
-Best Sound Design of a Play (Ben and Max Ringham)
-Best Direction of a Play (Jamie Lloyd)
The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window — Sidney and Iris are struggling in their marriage in New York as being creatives has not seemed to work out for them, but the world around them is causing them to rethink their political ideals.
Nominations:
-Best Revival of a Play
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Miriam Silverman)
Topdog/Underdog — Abandoned by their parents when they were teenagers, brothers Lincoln and Booth are now in their 30s trying to get out of poverty with the skills they learned living on their own.
Nominations:
-Best Revival of a Play
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II)
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play (Corey Hawkins)
Good Night, Oscar — Oscar Levant is the special guest comedian on an 1958 episode of “The Tonight Show” with host Jack Paar.
Nominations:
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play (Sean Hayes)
-Best Scenic Design of a Play (Rachel Hauck)
-Best Costume Design of a Play (Emilio Sosa)
Death of a Salesman — Told through memories, dreams and arguments, Willy Loman is disappointed with his life as a traveling salesman and seems to be slipping away from reality.
Nominations:
-Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play (Wendell Pierce)
-Best Lighting Design of a Play (Jen Schriever)
Prima Facie — Working here way up from nothing, Tessa is a successful barrister (lawyer), but after unfortunate events, she is forced to confront the one thing she has come to love so much.
Nominations:
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (Jodie Comer)
-Best Scenic Design of a Play (Miriam Buether)
-Best Lighting Design of a Play (Natasha Chivers)
-Best Sound Design of a Play (Ben and Max Ringham)
Summer, 1976 — One summer causes an unlikely duo to form a friendship, showing us how much one small moment can impact the rest of our lives.
Nominations:
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (Jessica Hecht)
Ohio State Murders — While returning to her old college to be a guest speaker, Suzanne Alexander discovers a dark and violent mystery.
Nominations:
-Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (Audra McDonald)
Life of Pi — Sixteen-year-old Pi is left stranded in the ocean after escaping from a sinking ship with his only partner being a tiger.
Nominations:
-Best Scenic Design of a Play (Tim Hatley and Andrzej)
-Best Costume Design of a Play (Tim Hatley, Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell)
-Best Lighting Design of a Play (Tim Lutkin)
-Best Sound Design of a Play (Carolyn Downing)
-Best Direction of a Play (Max Webster)
A Christmas Carol — After being an ungrateful person, Scrooge is shown what his selfish ways would be like as ghosts from his past, present and future take him on a life-changing night.
Nominations:
-Best Scenic Design of a Play (Dane Laffrey and Lucy Mackinnon)
-Best Lighting Design of a Play (Ben Stanton)
-Best Sound Design of a Play (Joshua D. Reid)
Catch the Tony Awards on June 11th at 8:00 EST on CBS and Paramount+