2006-2007 Tony Nominations Announced; Spring Awakening Garners 11 Noms

By Andrew Gans
May 15, 2007

The 2006-2007 Tony Award nominations were announced May 15 by Tony Award winner Jane Krakowski and former Rent star Taye Diggs at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Spring Awakening, the new musical that was a hit Off-Broadway before opening on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, garnered 11 Tony nominations, the most of any show of the season. Both the Tom Stoppard trilogy, The Coast of Utopia, and the new musical Grey Gardens received 10 nominations a piece.

Other shows that fared well include the Kander-Ebb-Rupert Holmes musical Curtains (eight nominations), the movie-turned-musical Legally Blonde (seven nominations), the new Disney musical Mary Poppins (seven nominations), the British import Coram Boy (six nominations), the revival of Journey's End (six nominations) and the Roundabout's revival of 110 in the Shade (five nominations).

There were several theatre folk who received multiple nominations: Both Bob Crowley and Melly Still received three nominations apiece. Crowley was nommed for Best Scenic Design of a Play for Coast of Utopia (with Scott Pask), Best Scenic Design of a Musical for Mary Poppins and Best Costume Design of a Musical for Mary Poppins. Still received nominations for Best Direction of a Play (Coram Boy), Best Scenic Design of a Play (with Ti Green for Coram Boy) and Best Costume Design of a Play (also with Ti Green for Coram Boy). The Spring Awakening creators also fared well: Steven Sater received nominations for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score, while Duncan Sheik was nominated for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations. Jonathan Tunick received two Best Orchestrations Tony nominations: for LoveMusik and 110 in the Shade. Brian MacDevitt was also a double-nominee in the same category: He received Best Lighting Design of a Play nominations for Inherit the Wind and The Coast of Utopia (the latter with Kenneth Posner and Natasha Katz). And, Rupert Holmes, who won two Tonys for his work on The Mystery of Edwin Drood, was nominated in two categories for Curtains: Best Book of a Musical (with Peter Stone) and Best Original Score (with John Kander and Fred Ebb).

Notable omissions include Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth, who did not receive a Best Leading Actress in a Musical nomination for her acclaimed performance in The Apple Tree; stage veteran Marian Seldes, who failed to receive a nomination for her work in Deuce, although her co-star Angela Lansbury did; multiple Tony winner Harold Prince, who was not nominated for his direction of LoveMusik; Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey, who did not receive a nomination for his performance in A Moon for the Misbegotten; and the exclusion of Legally Blonde from the Best Musical category.

Nominees for the 61st Annual Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards follow:

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
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 and Nell Benjamin

Spring Awakening
Music: Duncan Sheik
Lyrics: Steven Sater

Best Revival of a Play
Inherit the Wind
Jouney'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
Brían F. O’Byrne, The Coast of Utopia
Christopher Plummer, Inherit the Wind
Liev 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
Raúl 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 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 and 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

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 and 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 and 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, and 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

Regional Theatre Tony Award
Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, GA

The number of nominations each show received follows:
Spring Awakening - 11
The Coast of Utopia - 10
Grey Gardens - 10
Curtains - 8
Legally Blonde The Musical - 7
Mary Poppins - 7
Coram Boy - 6
Journey's End - 6
110 in the Shade - 5
Inherit the Wind - 4
LoveMusik - 4
Radio Golf - 4
Company - 3
Frost/Nixon - 3
A Chorus Line - 2
Heartbreak House - 2
The Little Dog Laughed - 2
Talk Radio - 2
The Apple Tree - 1
Butley - 1
Deuce - 1
High Fidelity - 1
Jay Johnson: The Two and Only! - 1
Kiki and Herb Alive on Broadway - 1
Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me - 1
A Moon for the Misbegotten - 1
Translations - 1
The Year of Magical Thinking - 1

This 2007 Tony Award Nominating Committee included Victoria Bailey, Joe Benincasa, Susan Birkenhead, Edward Burbridge, Robert Callely, Ben Cameron, Betty Corwin, John Dias, Mercedes Ellington, Sue Frost, Joanna Gleason, Andrew Jackness, Betty Jacobs, Robert Kamlot, Todd London, Jon Nakagawa, Lynn Nottage, Gilbert Parker, Jonathan Reynolds, Steven Suskin, Jac Venza, Tom Viola, and Franklin Weissberg.

The 61st Annual Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards — saluting the best of the Broadway theatre season — will be presented June 10 at Radio City Music Hall. A host has yet to be named.

The Tony Awards are presented by Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of the League of American Theatres and Producers and the American Theatre Wing.

Visit www.tonyawards.com for more information.