The 69th Annual Tony Award Nominations Announced

By Nora Dominick ’17/ Emertainment Monthly Assistant Stage Editor

This morning the 2015 Tony Award Nominations were announced at the Paramount Hotel in NYC. The event was hosted by Bruce Willis, who will make his Broadway debut this season in Misery, and Tony Award Winner Mary-Louise Parker. From categories like Best Musical to Best Leading Actor in a Play to Best Actress in a Musical this Tony Awards season is sure to be an interesting one.

Also announced this morning were the hosts of the 69th Annual Tony Awards. Stage and screen veterans Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming will take the reigns as host this year. Chenoweth has hosted the award ceremony before opposite Sean Hayes so she is no stranger to the dynamic duo. Cumming made his mark on the stage once again last season for his triumphant return to Cabaret as the Emcee. Chenoweth is currently starring on Broadway in On the Twentieth Century. Chenoweth and Cumming are sure to do a wonderful job and make the evening an enjoyable one. The

An American in Paris and Fun Home cleaned up big at this years nominations. Both brand new musicals scored twelve nominations in total including Best Musical. Both musicals were strong favorites going into the nominations and both dominated. Something Rotten! also cleaned up with a total of ten nominations while The King and I proved that revivals are still stronger than ever with a total of nine nominations.

Once again, the Best Actress in a Musical category seems to be a tough category. With Tony veterans Kristin Chenoweth, Chita Rivera and Kelli O’Hara snagging nominations and newcomers Beth Malone and Leanne Cope in the mix it will be interesting. Could this be the year that now six-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O’Hara snags her first ever Tony Award? This category is sure to be a tight race right down to the finish.

On the play side of things, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Skylight each received their fair share of nominations with eight, seven and six respectively. The tough category on the play side of things looks to be Best Actor in a Play. The category is filled to the brim with new talent including fan-favorite Alex Sharp for his incredible portrayal of Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper also snagged a nomination in this category for his incredible work in The Elephant Man.

This year seems to be dominated by a select few musicals and plays but who were some of the lone wolfs that snuck into categories. Elisabeth Moss snagged a well-deserved nomination for her work in The Heidi Chronicles while newcomer Micah Stock grabbed one for his work in the star-studded play, It’s Only a Play.  Gigi star and Broadway goddess Victoria Clark also received a nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Of course with every award show comes the snubs. This year some surprises were left out of the mix including some incredible fan-favorites. Finding Neverland didn’t receive a single nomination and for a show that looked very promising coming off of its successful world premiere at American Repertory Theater this was a bit of a surprise. Tyne Daly also didn’t get a nomination for her role in It Shoulda Been You, a role that earned her several nominations in other award show categories. Early hopefuls like Honeymoon in Vegas and Side Show also didn’t receive a single nomination, something that comes somewhat surprising in certain categories.

The following is a list of nominees for the 69th Annual Tony Awards:

Best Musical

An American in Paris

Fun Home

Something Rotten!

The Visit

Best Revival of a Musical

The King and I

On the Town

On the Twentieth Century

Best Leading Actor in a Musical

Michael Cerveris, Fun Home

Robert Farrchild, An American in Paris

Brian d’Arcy James, Something Rotten!

Ken Watanabe, The King and I

Tony Yazbeck, On the Town

Best Leading Actress in a Musical

Kristin Chenoweth, On the Twentieth Century

Leanne Cope, An American in Paris

Beth Malone, Fun Home

Kelli O’Hara, The King and I

Chita Rivera, The Visit

Best Featured Actor in a Musical

Christian Borle, Something Rotten!

Andy Karl, On the Twentieth Century

Brad Oscar, Something Rotten!

Brandon Uranowitz, An American in Paris

Max von Essen, An American in Paris

Best Featured Actress in a Musical

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics)

Best Book of  a Musical

Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell, Something Rotten!

Lisa Kron, Fun Home

Craig Lucas, An American in Paris

Terrence McNally, The Visit

Best Play

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Disgraced

Hand to God

Wolf Hall Parts One & Two

Best Revival of a Play

The Elephant Man

Skylight

This Is Our Youth

You Can’t Take It With You

Best Leading Actor in a Play

Steven Boyer, Hand to God

Bradley Cooper, The Elephant Man

Ben Miles, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two

Bill Nye, Skylight

Alex Sharp, The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time

Best Leading Actress in a Play

Geneva Carr, Hand to God

Helen Mirren, The Audience

Elisabeth Moss, The Heidi Chronicles

Carey Mulligan, Skylight

Ruth Wilson, Constellations

Best Featured Actor in a Play

Best Featured Actress in a Play

The Isabelle Stevenson Award will be presented to the composer Stephen Schwartz who is best known for his work on Godspell, Pippin and Wicked.

This year a Special Tony Award will be given to John Cameron Mitchell, who wrote the book of Hedwig and The Angry Inch and just completed a successful return to the revival.

For a complete list of the nominees visit www.tonyawards.com. The 69th Annual Tony Awards will be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall on June 7, 2015 at 8/9c on CBS.