2024 Tony Nominations: ‘Stereophonic,’ Breaks Play Record, Ties Musical ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ to Lead with 13 Each

Erik Anderson April 30, 2024

Two music artist-driven shows found themselves on the top of the Tony nominations this morning with the play Stereophonic and the musical Hell’s Kitchen earning 13 nominations each, including the top award and direction. Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Renée Elise Goldsberry, previous Tony Award winners themselves, announced the nominations on Tuesday morning.

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Mary Jane, Mother Play and Prayer for the French Republic join Stereophonic in Best Play while the Sufjan Stevens-based Illinoise, The Outsiders, Suffs and Water for Elephants go up against Hell’s Kitchen for best musical.

After a successful off-Broadway run last fall, Stereophonic opened on Broadway earlier this month to make the April 25 deadline and edged Slave Play’s record of 12 nominations from the pandemic-shortened 2019-2020 season.

Hell’s Kitchen managed four acting nods: Maleah Joi Moon for Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, Brandon Victor Dixon for Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical and two in Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, for Shoshana Bean and Kecia Lewis. Stereophonic‘s five acting nominations all came in the featured categories: Will Brill, Eli Gelb and Tom Pecinka in actor and Juliana Canfield and Sarah Pidgeon in actress.

The Outsiders, a musical adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s coming-of-age novel and the Francis Ford Coppola film of the same name, was right behind the nomination tally with 12, including best musical, direction of a musical and two acting nods.

Stars of stage and screen hit big with Daniel Radcliffe, Rachel McAdams, Jeremy Strong, Jessica Lange, Eddie Redmayne, Sarah Paulson, Amy Ryan and more all earning nominations today. It was the second nod for Lange, also an Oscar winner, and Redmayne already has both a Tony and an Oscar. This is the third nod for Ryan, who was a last minute replacement for Tyne Daly in Doubt: A Parable after Daly fell ill.

Multiple individual nominations were the name of the game this morning with several artists and artisans finding themselves with two or three nomination, often in the same category competing against themselves. Dede Ayite received three nominations, two for costume design for a play: Appropriate and Jaja’s African Hair Braiding and one for costume design for a musical for Hell’s Kitchen. Lighting designer Isabella Byrd earn nods for the play An Enemy of the People and the musical Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club.

The pair of Kelli O’Hara and Brian D’Arcy James earned dual nominations for their work and an alcoholic married couple coming apart at the seams in the musical adaptation of Days of Wine and Roses. O’Hara is an 8-time nominee and a winner for 2015’s The King and I. James is a five-time nominee.

The most notable snubs of the morning were the lavish adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, which earned a single nomination for costume design, and The Wiz, a high profile but not well liked revival of the 1970s cult classic musical was blanked completely. Individually, Roger Bar, Steve Carell and Michael Imperioli all missed the cut.

The 77th Tony Awards will be hosted by Ariana DeBose, her third go-round, and will be held in the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City on June 16. The broadcast will air on CBS and will stream on Paramount+.

Here is the complete list of nominations.

Best Play

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Mary Jane
Mother Play
Prayer for the French Republic
Stereophonic

Best Musical

Hell’s Kitchen
Illinoise
The Outsiders
Suffs
Water for Elephants

Best Revival of a Play

Appropriate
An Enemy of the People
Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

Best Revival of a Musical

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Gutenberg! The Musical!
Merrily We Roll Along
The Who’s Tommy

Best Direction of a Play

Daniel Aukin, Stereophonic
Anne Kauffman, Mary Jane
Kenny Leon, Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
Lila Neugebauer, Appropriate
Whitney White, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding

Best Direction of a Musical

Maria Friedman, Merrily We Roll Along
Michael Greif, Hell’s Kitchen
Leigh Silverman, Suffs
Jessica Stone, Water for Elephants
Danya Taymor, The Outsiders

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

William Jackson Harper, Uncle Vanya
Leslie Odom, Jr., Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
Liev Schreiber, Doubt: A Parable
Jeremy Strong, An Enemy of the People
Michael Stuhlbarg, Patriots

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

Betsy Aidem, Prayer for the French Republic
Jessica Lange, Mother Play
Rachel McAdams, Mary Jane
Sarah Paulson, Appropriate
Amy Ryan, Doubt: A Parable

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

Brody Grant, The Outsiders
Jonathan Groff, Merrily We Roll Along
Dorian Harewood, The Notebook
Brian d’Arcy James, Days of Wine and Roses
Eddie Redmayne, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

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

Eden Espinosa, Lempicka
Maleah Joi Moon, Hell’s Kitchen
Kelli O’Hara, Days of Wine and Roses
Maryann Plunkett, The Notebook
Gayle Rankin, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

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

Will Brill, Stereophonic
Eli Gelb, Stereophonic
Jim Parsons, Mother Play
Tom Pecinka, Stereophonic
Corey Stoll, Appropriate

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

Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Doubt: A Parable
Juliana Canfield, Stereophonic
Celia Keenan-Bolger, Mother Play
Sarah Pidgeon, Stereophonic
Kara Young, Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

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

Roger Bart, Back To The Future: The Musical
Joshua Boone, The Outsiders
Brandon Victor Dixon, Hell’s Kitchen
Sky Lakota-Lynch, The Outsiders
Daniel Radcliffe, Merrily We Roll Along
Steven Skybell, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

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

Shoshana Bean, Hell’s Kitchen
Amber Iman, Lempicka
Nikki M. James, Suffs
Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Monty Python’s Spamalot
Kecia Lewis, Hell’s Kitchen
Lindsay Mendez, Merrily We Roll Along
Bebe Neuwirth, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Best Book of a Musical

Hell’s Kitchen
Kristoffer Diaz

The Notebook
Bekah Brunstetter

The Outsiders
Adam Rapp and Justin Levine

Suffs
Shaina Taub

Water for Elephants
Rick Elice

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

Days of Wine and Roses
Music & Lyrics: Adam Guettel

Here Lies Love
Music: David Byrne and Fatboy Slim
Lyrics: David Byrne

The Outsiders
Music & Lyrics: Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance) and Justin Levine

Stereophonic
Music & Lyrics: Will Butler

Suffs
Music & Lyrics: Shaina Taub

Best Scenic Design of a Play

dots, Appropriate
dots, An Enemy of the People
Derek McLane, Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
David Zinn, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
David Zinn, Stereophonic

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

AMP featuring Tatiana Kahvegian, The Outsiders
Robert Brill and Peter Nigrini, Hell’s Kitchen
Takeshi Kata, Water for Elephants
David Korins, Here Lies Love
Riccardo Hernández and Peter Nigrini, Lempicka
Tim Hatley and Finn Ross, Back To The Future: The Musical
Tom Scutt, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Best Costume Design of a Play

Dede Ayite, Appropriate
Dede Ayite, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Enver Chakartash, Stereophonic
Emilio Sosa, Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
David Zinn, An Enemy of the People

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Dede Ayite, Hell’s Kitchen
Linda Cho, The Great Gatsby
David Israel Reynoso, Water for Elephants
Tom Scutt, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Paul Tazewell, Suffs

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Isabella Byrd, An Enemy of the People
Amith Chandrashaker, Prayer for the French Republic
Jiyoun Chang, Stereophonic
Jane Cox, Appropriate
Natasha Katz, Grey House

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Brandon Stirling Baker, Illinoise
Isabella Byrd, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Natasha Katz, Hell’s Kitchen
Bradley King and David Bengali, Water for Elephants
Brian MacDevitt and Hana S. Kim, The Outsiders

Best Sound Design of a Play

Justin Ellington and Stefania Bulbarella, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Leah Gelpe, Mary Jane
Tom Gibbons, Grey House
Bray Poor and Will Pickens, Appropriate
Ryan Rumery, Stereophonic

Best Sound Design of a Musical

M.L. Dogg and Cody Spencer, Here Lies Love
Kai Harada, Merrily We Roll Along
Nick Lidster for Autograph, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Gareth Owen, Hell’s Kitchen
Cody Spencer, The Outsiders

Best Choreography

Annie-B Parson, Here Lies Love
Camille A. Brown, Hell’s Kitchen
Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman, The Outsiders
Justin Peck, Illinoise
Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll, Water for Elephants

Best Orchestrations

Timo Andres, Illinoise
Will Butler and Justin Craig, Stereophonic
Justin Levine, Matt Hinkley and Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance), The Outsiders
Tom Kitt and Adam Blackstone, Hell’s Kitchen
Jonathan Tunick, Merrily We Roll Along

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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.