2022 Tony Awards: ‘A Strange Loop’ leads nominations with 11, Black creators highlight the season

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With the metaverse such a dominate force in film at the moment, theater was no slouch as A Strange Loop, Michael R. Jackson’s musical about a black gay man writing a musical about a black gay man writing a musical, dominated the nominations for the 75th Tony Awards, which were announced early Monday morning. The Pulitzer Prize-winning show earned a field best 11 nominations.

Right behind with 10 nominations apiece were MJ, a jukebox musical featuring the music of pop superstar Michael Jackson, and Paradise Square, a look at the Five Points area of Manhattan and the tensions that erupted in the violent Draft Riots of 1863. MJ, which faced scrutiny over its avoidance of Jackson’s child molestation charges and accusations, earned nominations for its star, Myles Frost, and for its director Christopher Wheeldon.

Stars filled out several acting slots, including Academy Award nominee Ruth Negga landing a Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for her work in the newly staged Macbeth, as well as Tony winner and Oscar nominee Hugh Jackman for beleaguered production of The Music Man. Jackman’s run was almost cut short after he and several cast members contracted COVID during rehearsals last December, including his Tony-winning co-star and nominee again today, Sutton Foster. Billy Crystal, Mary-Louise Parker, Phylicia Rashad, Sam Rockwell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jesse Williams also all earned nominations today.

But not all stars shined bright today. Beanie Feldstein’s much anticipated Broadway debut in long time coming revival of Funny Girl was met with largely mixed reviews and the Tony nominating committee rained on its parade almost entirely, with the show earning just a single nomination, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for Jared Grimes. Plaza Suite, the Neil Simon revival that stars real-life couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, earned just a single nod, for costumes. Daniel Craig, Laurence Fishburne and Debra Messing were also left on the outside looking in. Tony winner Katrina Lenk was expected to earn a nomination today for the gender-swapped version of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Company but that instead went to Carmen Cusack for Flying Over Sunset, an outside contender. Flying Over Sunset holds the strange distinction of being the first musical with a book written by James Lapine to get a nomination for Score but not for Lapine’s book.

The Lehman Trilogy, a drama about one of the financial institutions that helped spark the 2008 recession, received eight nominations, the most of any play. Clyde’s and Hangmen were next with five apiece and Skeleton Crew with three. Rounding out the Best Play nominees was The Minutes, which earned its only nod in the top category.

The Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play was overstuffed this morning, with a whopping seven slots. The Lehman Trilogy alone took up three, with Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Adrian Lester all making the cut in what had to be a tie or near tie scenario. Seven nominations is a record for this category… but it’s also a tie. It also happened at the twelfth Tony Awards in 1958 (and arguably in 1975, when there were six nominations but two actors shared a joint nomination, making seven nominees).

Featured Actor in a Play also saw multiple nominees from the same show as Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Michael Oberholtzer and Jesse Williams are all nominated for Take Me Out. The last time three men from the same play were nominated in this category, for Twelfth Night in 2014, one of them won: Mark Rylance.

The 2021-2022 season encompassed an unprecedented number of shows by Black creators and they weren’t left on the sidelines this morning. Two female directors in each Directing category earned nominations, including two women of color for Direction of a Play, Lileana Blain-Cruz for The Skin of Our Teeth and Camille A. Brown, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf.

Two of the five contenders for new play (Clyde’s, Skeleton Crew) were written by Black women. Three of the contenders for lead actress in a play (Gabby Beans, LaChanze, Ruth Negga) are Black, a Tony first, and so are half of the actors (Chuck Cooper, Ron Cephas Jones, Jesse Williams) in the six-person category for featured actor in a play.

In more history today, with her Best Featured Actress in a Musical nomination for A Strange Loop, L Morgan Lee becomes the first openly trans Tony nominee. Getting a nomination in the choreography category for a play is exceedingly rare, but with for colored girls… Camille A. Brown has now done it twice (after Choir Boy in 2019), the only person to do so.

Marianne Elliott is now one of only two women to be nominated for both Directing categories, the other being Phyllida Lloyd. If she wins, she would be the first woman to win in both categories.

There were 34 eligible shows, 15 of which debuted in April alone, 29 of which scored nominations. The nominations were chosen by a group of 29 people who saw all eligible shows and voted last Friday. In the next round of voting, a group of 650 have until June 10 to cast their ballots for their favorites.

The 75th Annual Tony Awards will be held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on June 12, will be broadcast live on CBS for the first time coast to coast and hosted by Academy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Ariana DeBose.

Here is the complete list of nominations.

Best Play
“Clyde’s”
“Hangmen”
“The Lehman Trilogy”
“The Minutes”
“Skeleton Crew”

Best Musical
“Girl From The North Country”
“MJ”
“Mr. Saturday Night”
“Paradise Square”
“Six: The Musical”
“A Strange Loop”

Best Revival of a Play
“American Buffalo”
“for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf”
“How I Learned to Drive”
“Take Me Out”
“Trouble in Mind”

Best Revival of a Musical
“Caroline, or Change”
“Company”
“The Music Man”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Simon Russell Beale, “The Lehman Trilogy”
Adam Godley, “The Lehman Trilogy”
Adrian Lester, “The Lehman Trilogy”
David Morse, “How I Learned to Drive”
Sam Rockwell, “American Buffalo”
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, “Lackawanna Blues”
David Threlfall, “Hangmen”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Gabby Beans, “The Skin of Our Teeth”
LaChanze, “Trouble in Mind”
Ruth Negga, “Macbeth”
Deirdre O’Connell, “Dana H.”
Mary-Louise Parker, “How I Learned to Drive”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Billy Crystal, “Mr. Saturday Night”
Myles Frost, “MJ”
Hugh Jackman, “The Music Man”
Rob McClure, “Mrs. Doubtfire”
Jaquel Spivey, “A Strange Loop”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Sharon D Clarke, “Caroline, or Change”
Carmen Cusack, “Flying Over Sunset”
Sutton Foster, “The Music Man”
Joaquina Kalukango, “Paradise Square”
Mare Winningham, “Girl From The North Country”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Alfie Allen, “Hangmen”
Chuck Cooper, “Trouble in Mind”
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, “Take Me Out”
Ron Cephas Jones, “Clyde’s”
Michael Oberholtzer, “Take Me Out”
Jesse Williams, “Take Me Out”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Uzo Aduba, “Clyde’s”
Rachel Dratch, “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive”
Kenita R. Miller, “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf”
Phylicia Rashad, “Skeleton Crew”
Julie White, “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive”
Kara Young, “Clyde’s”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Matt Doyle, “Company”
Sidney DuPont, “Paradise Square”
Jared Grimes, “Funny Girl”
John-Andrew Morrison, “A Strange Loop”
A.J. Shively, “Paradise Square”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Jeannette Bayardelle, “Girl From The North Country”
Shoshana Bean, “Mr. Saturday Night”
Jayne Houdyshell, “The Music Man”
L Morgan Lee, “A Strange Loop”
Patti LuPone, “Company”
Jennifer Simard, “Company”

Best Direction of a Play
Lileana Blain-Cruz, “The Skin of Our Teeth”
Camille A. Brown, “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf”
Sam Mendes, “The Lehman Trilogy”
Neil Pepe, “American Buffalo”
Les Waters, “Dana H.”

Best Direction of a Musical
Stephen Brackett, “A Strange Loop”
Marianne Elliott, “Company”
Conor McPherson, “Girl From The North Country”
Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage, “Six: The Musical”
Christopher Wheeldon, “MJ”

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Beowulf Boritt, “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive”
Michael Carnahan and Nicholas Hussong, “Skeleton Crew”
Es Devlin, “The Lehman Trilogy”
Anna Fleischle, “Hangmen”
Scott Pask, “American Buffalo”
Adam Rigg, “The Skin of Our Teeth”

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Beowulf Boritt and 59 Productions, “Flying Over Sunset”
Bunny Christie, “Company”
Arnulfo Maldonado, “A Strange Loop”
Derek McLane and Peter Nigrini, “MJ”
Allen Moyer, “Paradise Square”

Best Book of a Musical
“Girl From The North Country”
Conor McPherson

“MJ”
Lynn Nottage

“Mr. Saturday Night”
Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel

“Paradise Square”
Christina Anderson, Craig Lucas & Larry Kirwan

“A Strange Loop”
Michael R. Jackson

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics)
“Flying Over Sunset”
Music: Tom Kitt Lyrics: Michael Korie

“Mr. Saturday Night”
Music: Jason Robert Brown Lyrics: Amanda Green

“Paradise Square”
Music: Jason Howland
Lyrics: Nathan Tysen & Masi Asare

“Six: The Musical”
Music and Lyrics: Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss

“A Strange Loop”
Music & Lyrics: Michael R. Jackson

Best Costume Design of a Play

Montana Levi Blanco, The Skin of Our Teeth
Sarafina Bush, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf Emilio Sosa, Trouble in Mind
Jane Greenwood, Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite
Jennifer Moeller, Clyde’s

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Fly Davis, Caroline, or Change Toni-Leslie James, Paradise Square William Ivey Long, Diana, The Musical Santo Loquasto, The Music Man Gabriella Slade, SIX: The Musical
Paul Tazewell, MJ

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Joshua Carr, Hangmen
Jiyoun Chang, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf Jon Clark, The Lehman Trilogy
Jane Cox, Macbeth
Yi Zhao, The Skin of Our Teeth

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Neil Austin, “Company”
Tim Deiling, “Six: The Musical
Donald Holder, Paradise Square Natasha Katz, MJ
Bradley King, Flying Over Sunset Jen Schriever, A Strange Loop

Best Sound Design of a Play

Justin Ellington, “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Mikhail Fiksel, “Dana H.”
Palmer Hefferan, “The Skin of Our Teeth”
Nick Powell and Dominic Bilkey, “The Lehman Trilogy”
Mikaal Sulaiman, “Macbeth”

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Simon Baker, “Girl From The North Country”
Paul Gatehouse, “Six: The Musical”
Ian Dickinson for Autograph, “Company”
Drew Levy, “A Strange Loop”
Gareth Owen, “MJ”

Best Choreography
Camille A. Brown, “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf”
Warren Carlyle, “The Music Man”
Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, “Six: The Musical”
Bill T. Jones, “Paradise Square”
Christopher Wheeldon, “MJ”

Best Orchestrations
David Cullen, “Company”
Tom Curran, “Six: The Musical”
Simon Hale, “Girl From The North Country”
Jason Michael Webb and David Holcenberg, “MJ”
Charlie Rosen, “A Strange Loop”

Additional reporting by Dan Bayer.