The 2007 Tony Award nominations were
announced yesterday by Broadway stars Jane Krakowski
and Taye Diggs at the Tony Awards Nomination Announcements
sponsored by IBM. The Tony Awards are presented by
the League of American Theatres and Producers and the
American Theatre Wing.
At the top the list of nominations was the musical
Spring Awakening with 11 nods. The Coast of Utopia
led all plays with 10 nominations. Grey Gardens garnered
10 nominations as well. Curtains received 8, and Legally
Blonde The Musical and Mary Poppins each received 7
nods.
In the over achievers department both Bob Crowley and
Melly Still were nominated for 3 Tony Awards in 3 different
categories in the same year. This is a feat only previously
achieved by Bob Fosse in 1976 for Book, Choreography
and Director of Chicago and Tommy Tune in 1983 for
Actor, Director and Choreography of My One and Only.
Several actors hit milestones this year. Angela Lansbury,
Frank Langella, Brian, O’Byrne, Swoosie Kurtz,
Dana Ivey and John Cullum each received their fifth
award nomination. Angela Lansbury and Audra McDonald
each hope to add a fifth award to their collections,
they are both four time Tony winners. With his fifth
nomination, John Cullum has more nominations than the
rest of the nominees combined in the category of Best
Featured Actor in a Musical. Brooks Ashmanskas, Christian
Borle, John Gallagher, Jr. and David Pittu are all
first time nominees.
“
It’s the little things you do together”… like
winning a Tony. There have been a few husbands and
wives who have had to share mantel space for their
combined Tony Awards: Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy;
Phyllis Newman and Adolph Green; Anne Bancroft and
Mel Brooks; Zoe Caldwell and Robert Whitehead; Bob
Fosse and Gwen Verdon. This year two more couples could
be added to that list. Christian Borle (Legally Blonde
The Musical) hopes to place his Tony next to wife,
Sutton Foster’s award for Thoroughly Modern Millie.
And husband and wife writing team, Laurence O’Keefe
and Nell Benjamin, hope to garner a matching set for
their work on Legally Blonde The Musical.
Could this be the year? That may be the question on
Jane Greenwood’s lips. The prolific designer
is the Susan Lucci of the Tony Awards. This year marks
her 15th nomination. She has yet to win the award.
She is nominated this year for her costume designs
for Heartbreak House.
Here is the list of nominees:
Best Play
The Coast of Utopia
Frost/Nixon
The Little Dog Laughed
Radio Golf
Best Musical
Curtains
Grey Gardens
Mary Poppins
Spring Awakening
Best Book of a Musical
Curtains Rupert Holmes & Peter Stone
Grey Gardens Doug Wright
Legally Blonde The Musical Heather Hach
Spring Awakening Steven Sater
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for
the Theatre
Curtains Music: John Kander
Lyrics: Fred Ebb, John Kander & Rupert Holmes
Grey Gardens Music: Scott Frankel
Lyrics: Michael Korie
Legally Blonde The Musical Music & Lyrics: Laurence O’Keefe & Nell
Benjamin
Spring Awakening Music: Duncan Sheik
Lyrics: Steven Sater
Best Revival of a Play
Inherit the Wind
Journey’s End
Talk Radio
Translations
Best Revival of a Musical
The Apple Tree
A Chorus Line
Company
110 in the Shade
Best Special Theatrical Event
Jay Johnson: The Two and Only
Kiki & Herb Alive on Broadway
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Boyd Gaines Journey’s End
Frank Langella Frost/Nixon
Brian F. O’Byrne The Coast of Utopia
Christopher Plummer Inherit the Wind
Live Schreiber Talk Radio
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Eve Best A Moon for the Misbegotten
Swoosie Kurtz Heartbreak House
Angela Lansbury Deuce
Vanessa Redgrave The Year of Magical Thinking
Julie White The Little Dog Laughed
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Michael Cerveris LoveMusik
Raul Esparza Company
Jonathan Groff Spring Awakening
Gavin Lee Mary Poppins
David Hyde Pierce Curtains
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Laura Bell Bundy Legally Blonde The Musical
Christine Ebersole Grey Gardens
Audra McDonald 110 in the Shade
Debra Monk Curtains
Donna Murphy LoveMusik
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Anthony Chisholm Radio Golf
Billy Crudup The Coast of Utopia
Ethan Hawke The Coast of Utopia
John Earl Jelks Radio Golf
Stark Sands Journey’s End
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Jennifer Ehle The Coast of Utopia
Xanthe Elbrick Coram Boy
Dana Ivey Butley
Jan Maxwell Coram Boy
Martha Plimpton The Coast of Utopia
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Brooks Ashmanskas Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
Christian Borle Legally Blonde The Musical
John Cullum 110 in the Shade
John Gallagher, Jr. Spring Awakening
David Pittu LoveMusik
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Charlotte d’Amboise A Chorus Line
Rebecca Luker Mary Poppins
Orfeh Legally Blonde The Musical
Mary Louise Wilson Grey Gardens
Karen Ziemba Curtains
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Bob Crowley & Scott Pask The Coast of Utopia
Jonathan Fensom Journey’s End
David Gallo Radio Golf
Ti Green & Melly Still Coram Boy
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Bob Crowley Mary Poppins
Christine Jones Spring Awakening
Anna Louizos High Fidelity
Allen Moyer Grey Gardens
Best Costume Design of a Play
Ti Green & Melly Still Coram Boy
Jane Greenwood Heartbreak House
Santo Loquasto Inherit the Wind
Catherine Zuber The Coast of Utopia
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes Legally Blonde The Musical
Bob Crowley Mary Poppins
Susan Hilferty Spring Awakening
William Ivey Long Grey Gardens
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Paule Constable Coram Boy
Brian MacDevitt Inherit the Wind
Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner & Natasha Katz The Coast of Utopia
Jason Taylor Journey’s End
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kevin Adams Spring Awakening
Christopher Akerlind 110 in the Shade
Howard Harrison Mary Poppins
Peter Kaczorowski Grey Gardens
Best Direction of a Play
Michael Grandage Frost/Nixon
David Grindley Journey’s End
Jack O’Brien The Coast of Utopia
Melly Still Coram Boy
Best Direction of a Musical
John Doyle Company
Scott Ellis Curtains
Michael Greif Grey Gardens
Michael Mayer Spring Awakening
Best Choreography
Rob Ashford Curtains
Matthew Bourne & Stephen Mear Mary Poppins
Bill T. Jones Spring Awakening
Jerry Mitchell Legally Blonde The Musical
Best Orchestrations
Bruce Coughlin Grey Gardens
Duncan Sheik Spring Awakening
Jonathan Tunick LoveMusik
Jonathan Tunick 110 in the Shade
Regional Theater Tony Award
Alliance Theater
Atlanta, GA
In the “egregiously overlooked” category were Legally Blonde The
Musical which failed to receive a Best Musical nomination; acting nominations
for stage veterans Marian Seldes, Kevin Spacey and Kristen Chenoweth (in a role
which earned the Tony for Barbara Harris in 1967, beating out Lotte Lenya (Cabaret)
and Mary Martin (I Do, I Do)) and the old and the new from Messieurs Boublil
and Schönberg. Both the revival of Les Misérables and their new work,
The Pirate Queen, were shut out.
The 2007 Tony Awards will be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall on CBS,
Sunday, June 10th, 8:00pm (ET).
