The 2010-2011 season may be remembered as the year of the director-choreographer, with Rob Ashford (How to Succeed...), Kathleen Marshall (Anything Goes), Susan Stroman (The Scottsboro Boys) and Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon) each garnering nominations in the Best Direction of a Musical and Best Choreography categories. Nicholaw shared his directorial nomination with co-director and Book of Mormon co-author Trey Parker.
Sound designer Brian Ronan picked up dual nominations for The Book of Mormon and Anything Goes; while orchestrator Larry Hochman was recognized for Best Orchestrations for The Scottsboro Boys as well as The Book of Mormon, an honor he shares with Stephen Oremus.
Five-time Tony Award-winning costume designer Catherine Zuber also nabbed nominations for her period costumes for Born Yesterday and How to Succeed, bringing her to a total of ten Tony nominations to date.
One dual nomination many theatre insiders were expecting was for Mark Rylance, who earned a Best Actor in a Play nomination for Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem, but didn't catch the Tony Nominating Committee's eye for his unanimously praised performance in the revival of David Hirson's La Bête.
Click here to read Playbill.com's list of 2011 Tony Award nominees.