2023 Tony Awards nominations: Well, somebody’s perfect; ‘Some Like It Hot’ scorches with 13, non-binary actors J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell make history

Some Like It Hot, the musical re-imagining of the hit 1959 film from Billy Wilder that starred Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe, dominated the Tony Awards announcement this morning with 13 nominations, more than any other production.

The musical, about two band players in the 1920s on the run from the mob who disguise themselves as women and join a women’s band, earned nominations for Best Musical, Direction of a Musical, Best Book and Original Score of a Musical and four acting nods; two in lead actor (Christian Boyle and J. Harrison Ghee), Featured Actor in a Musical (Kevin Del Aguila) and Featured Actress in a Musical (NaTasha Yvette Williams).

Up next were & Juliet, Shucked and New York, New York, which scored nine nominations apiece and join eight-time nominee Kimberly Akimbo, the story of a teenager who has a medical condition that causes her to age rapidly, in the race for Best Musical. The revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford (both nominated) also earned eight nominations and the revival of Parade starring Tony winner Ben Platt (nominated again today) earned six.

Six nominations was the top count for three plays – The Jessica Chastain-led A Doll’s House, Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt, and the political satire Ain’t No Mo’. The nomination haul for Ain’t No Mo’ is especially bittersweet as the show closed after just 28 performances last winter. Chastain, already an Oscar winner and potential Emmy winner later this summer, is working on the T part of her EGOT and is an early favorite here.

Speaking of EGOT, the opening up of the Best Musical, Best Play and Revivals to all levels of producers has made EGOTing a little bit easier. Jennifer Hudson completed hers last year with her Tony win for A Strange Loop (she was among the 30+ credited producers) and this year, superstar Mariah Carey could add a Tony to her Grammy wins if Some Like It Hot prevails.

J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell made history as the first gender non-binary performers nominated for the Tony Awards, in Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical and Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical, respectively. In an interview Newell said they submitted here because “Everyone who does acting is an actor. That is genderless.”

With six nominees, this is the largest pool the Lead Actor in a Musical category has ever had, just two ceremonies after there was only one nominee here (Aaron Tviet for Moulin Rouge!) that resulted in the very awkward scenario where voters had to vote for Tviet to either win or lose (he won).

With the nomination for Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot, Bartlett Sher and Lincoln Center continue their streak; every show Sher has directed there has received a nomination in the top category but this is the first time he hasn’t received a corresponding nomination for Best Director.

Oversized categories were a hit this morning with several pushing outside of the normal five slots. This is the second year in a row that there has been a super-sized nomination count of six for Best Costume Design of a Musical. This is the first time there have been six nominees for Best Direction of a Play since 1975. With seven nominees, Lighting Design of a Play is not only the largest category this year, but the most nominees in a design category ever.

Some surprising snubs included Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, which was completely shut out, Olivier Award winner Life of Pi and Prima Facie earned five and four nods apiece, respectively, but both missed out on Best Play. August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson was shockingly only nominated for two awards (Revival of a Play and Featured Actor in a Play for Samuel L. Jackson), with Danielle Brooks, John David Washington and director LaTanya Richardson Jackson all missing the cut.

Double nominations, however, were the name of the game today in several technical categories like Best Choreography where Jennifer Weber was nominated for both & Juliet and KPOP while Ben & Max Ringham earned two nominations apiece in Sound Design of Play for A Doll’s House and Prima Facie.

Nominations were announced by Lea Michelle and Tony Award winner Myles Frost. The American Theatre Wing’s 75th Annual Tony Awards will take place at United Palace in New York City on Sunday evening, June 11, 2023 and stream live at 6:30p ET on PlutoTV and 8p ET on CBS and Paramount+. The show will be hosted by Ariana DeBose and produced by Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner of White Cherry Entertainment.

Here is the complete list of nominations.

Best Play

• Ain’t No Mo’
• Between Riverside and Crazy
• Cost of Living
• Fat Ham
• Leopoldstadt

Best Musical

• & Juliet
• Kimberly Akimbo
• New York, New York
• Shucked
• Some Like It Hot

Best Revival of a Play

• August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson
• A Doll’s House
• The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window
• Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog

Best Revival of a Musical

• Into the Woods
• Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot
• Parade
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best Book of a Musical

• & Juliet
  David West Read
• Kimberly Akimbo
  David Lindsay-Abaire
• New York, New York
  David Thompson & Sharon Washington
• Shucked
  Robert Horn
• Some Like It Hot
  Matthew López & Amber Ruffin

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

• Almost Famous
  Music: Tom Kitt
  Lyrics: Cameron Crowe & Tom Kitt
• Kimberly Akimbo
  Music: Jeanine Tesori Lyrics: David Lindsay-Abaire
• KPOP
  Music & Lyrics: Helen Park & Max Vernon
• Shucked
  Music and Lyrics: Brandy Clark & Shane McAnally
• Some Like It Hot
  Music: Marc Shaiman
  Lyrics: Scott Wittman & Marc Shaiman

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

• Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog
• Corey Hawkins, Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog
• Sean Hayes, Good Night, Oscar
• Stephen McKinley Henderson, Between Riverside and Crazy
• Wendell Pierce, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

• Jessica Chastain, A Doll’s House
• Jodie Comer, Prima Facie
• Jessica Hecht, Summer, 1976
• Audra McDonald, Ohio State Murders

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

• Christian Borle, Some Like It Hot
• J. Harrison Ghee, Some Like It Hot
• Josh Groban, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• Brian d’Arcy James, Into the Woods
• Ben Platt, Parade
• Colton Ryan, New York, New York

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

• Annaleigh Ashford, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• Sara Bareilles, Into the Woods
• Victoria Clark, Kimberly Akimbo
• Lorna Courtney, & Juliet
• Micaela Diamond, Parade

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

• Jordan E. Cooper, Ain’t No Mo’
• Samuel L. Jackson, August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson
• Arian Moayed, A Doll’s House
• Brandon Uranowitz, Leopoldstadt
• David Zayas, Cost of Living

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

• Nikki Crawford, Fat Ham
• Crystal Lucas-Perry, Ain’t No Mo’
• Miriam Silverman, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window
• Katy Sullivan, Cost of Living
• Kara Young, Cost of Living

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

• Kevin Cahoon, Shucked
• Justin Cooley, Kimberly Akimbo
• Kevin Del Aguila, Some Like It Hot
• Jordan Donica, Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot
• Alex Newell, Shucked

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

• Julia Lester, Into the Woods
• Ruthie Ann Miles, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• Bonnie Milligan, Kimberly Akimbo
• NaTasha Yvette Williams, Some Like It Hot
• Betsy Wolfe, & Juliet

Best Scenic Design of a Play

• Miriam Buether, Prima Facie
• Tim Hatley & Andrzej Goulding, Life of Pi
• Rachel Hauck, Good Night, Oscar
• Richard Hudson, Leopoldstadt
• Dane Laffrey & Lucy Mackinnon, A Christmas Carol

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

• Beowulf Boritt, New York, New York
• Mimi Lien, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• Michael Yeargan & 59 Productions, Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot
• Scott Pask, Shucked
• Scott Pask, Some Like It Hot

Best Costume Design of a Play

• Tim Hatley, Nick Barnes & Finn Caldwell, Life of Pi
• Dominique Fawn Hill, Fat Ham
• Brigitte Reiffenstuel, Leopoldstadt
• Emilio Sosa, Ain’t No Mo’
• Emilio Sosa, Good Night, Oscar

Best Costume Design of a Musical

• Gregg Barnes, Some Like It Hot
• Susan Hilferty, Parade
• Jennifer Moeller, Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot
• Clint Ramos & Sophia Choi, KPOP
• Paloma Young, & Juliet
• Donna Zakowska, New York, New York

Best Lighting Design of a Play

• Neil Austin, Leopoldstadt
• Natasha Chivers, Prima Facie
• Jon Clark, A Doll’s House Bradley King, Fat Ham
• Tim Lutkin, Life of Pi
• Jen Schriever, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
• Ben Stanton, A Christmas Carol

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

• Ken Billington, New York, New York
• Lap Chi Chu, Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot
• Heather Gilbert, Parade
• Howard Hudson, & Juliet
• Natasha Katz, Some Like It Hot
• Natasha Katz, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best Sound Design of a Play

• Jonathan Deans & Taylor Williams, Ain’t No Mo’
• Carolyn Downing, Life of Pi
• Joshua D. Reid, A Christmas Carol
• Ben & Max Ringham, A Doll’s House
• Ben & Max Ringham, Prima Facie

Best Sound Design of a Musical

• Kai Harada, New York, New York
• John Shivers, Shucked
• Scott Lehrer & Alex Neumann, Into the Woods
• Gareth Owen, & Juliet
• Nevin Steinberg, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best Direction of a Play

• Saheem Ali, Fat Ham
• Jo Bonney, Cost of Living
• Jamie Lloyd, A Doll’s House
• Patrick Marber, Leopoldstadt
• Stevie Walker-Webb, Ain’t No Mo’ Max Webster, Life of Pi

Best Direction of a Musical

• Michael Arden, Parade
• Lear deBessonet, Into the Woods
• Casey Nicholaw, Some Like It Hot
• Jack O’Brien, Shucked
• Jessica Stone, Kimberly Akimbo

Best Choreography

• Steven Hoggett, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• Casey Nicholaw, Some Like It Hot
• Susan Stroman, New York, New York
• Jennifer Weber, & Juliet
• Jennifer Weber, KPOP

Best Orchestrations

• Bill Sherman and Dominic Fallacaro, & Juliet
• John Clancy, Kimberly Akimbo
• Jason Howland, Shucked
• Charlie Rosen & Bryan Carter, Some Like It Hot
• Daryl Waters & Sam Davis, New York, New York

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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