The Tony Awards Administration Committee met for the third time this season to determine award eligibility for 11 Broadway productions including School of Rock—The Musical, The Color Purple, Fiddler on the Roof, Noises Off, Our Mother’s Brief Affair, The Humans, Hughie, Eclipsed, Disaster!, Blackbird and She Loves Me.
The committee made the following determinations:
Alex Brightman will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical category for his performance in School of Rock—The Musical.
Jennifer Hudson will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical category for her performance in The Color Purple.
Jessica Hecht will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical category for her performance in Fiddler on the Roof.
Andrea Martin, Campbell Scott, Tracee Chimo, Daniel Davis, David Furr, Kate Jennings Grant, Megan Hilty, Rob McClure and Jeremy Shamos will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actress/Actor in a Featured Role in a Play categories for their respective performances in Noises Off.
Linda Lavin will be considered eligible in the Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play category for her performance in Our Mother’s Brief Affair.
Blackbird will be considered eligible in the Best Revival of a Play category.
Gavin Creel, Michael McGrath, Byron Jennings and Jane Krakowski will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actress/Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical categories for their respective performances in She Loves Me.
Items of note:
Scott Ellis, who was Tony-nominated in 1994 for staging She Loves Me for Roundabout Theatre Company, is eligible to be nominated for Best Direction of a Musical for his new staging of the Bock and Harnick musical comedy.
The Broadway debut of David Harrower’s intense drama Blackbird, which was produced by Manhattan Theatre Club Off-Broadway in 2007 starring Jeff Daniels and Alison Pill, has been deemed a revival by the committee. Joe Mantello, who directed the Off-Broadway premiere, also stages the Broadway production, which features Daniels now starring opposite Michelle Williams.
Danai Gurira’s acclaimed Eclipsed, which had its world premiere at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in 2009 (also under the direction of Liesl Tommy), is eligible to compete in the Best Play Category. It arrived on Broadway this season following a run at the Public Theater earlier this year.
Similarly, the Manhattan Theatre Club production of Richard Greenberg’s Our Mother’s Brief Affair, which starred Linda Lavin, is considered a new play by the Tony nominating committee. The play received its world premiere in 2009 at South Coast Repertory, where it was helmed by Pam MacKinnon. On Broadway, it is directed by MTC artistic director Lynne Meadow.
All other eligibility rulings were consistent with opening night billing. The official eligibility cut-off date is April 28 for all Broadway productions opening in the 2015-2016 season.
Hosted by Tony Award winner James Corden, The Tony Awards will air on CBS Sunday, June 12 beginning at 8 PM. This year’s ceremony will take place at the Beacon Theatre.
Visit TonyAwards.com.
