Tony Awards Nominations 2020 – The Complete List

Greg Evans
·6 min read

Slave Play, Sea Wall/A Life, Grand Horizons, The Inheritance and The Sound Inside will compete in the Tony Awards’ Best Play category, with Moulin Rouge!, Jagged Little Pill and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical up for Best Musical.

Such was the scaled back roster of eligible nominees that only one leading actor in a musical was nominated: Aaron Tveit of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, who gave a performance that surely would have stood up against any competition on a traditionally fuller list.

In the Best Revival of a Play category, Betrayal will compete with Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and A Soldier’s Play.

See below for complete list of nominees. Deadline will also be posting nominee reactions and an analysis of today’s nominations.

The nominations for the 2020 Tony Awards were announced virtually by actor James Monroe Iglehart. Eighteen productions were deemed eligible for Tony nominations this year, a fraction compared to last season’s 34, the slimmed-down roster due of course to Broadway’s COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.

When theaters went dark on March 12, the usual deluge of spring openings were postponed or canceled altogether. Three productions – the musicals Six, West Side Story and Girl from the North Country – had already begun preview performances but were not around long enough to accommodate the required number of Tony voters.

With the season’s three planned musical revivals – West Side Story, which had opened, and Company and Caroline, Or Change, which had not – ineligible, the category was eliminated this year.

Freestyle Love Supreme and David Byrne’s American Utopia chose not to invite voters, though both popular productions could be eligible for special awards.

A date for the actual Tony ceremony has not yet been announced, though some insiders are thinking December. The event almost certainly will be entirely virtual on a streaming platform rather than its longtime television broadcast berth on CBS.

The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

Nominations for the 2020 American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards

Best Play

Grand Horizons
Author: Bess Wohl
Producers: Second Stage Theater, Carole Rothman, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Mandy Greenfield

The Inheritance
Author: Matthew López

Sea Wall/A Life
Author: Simon Stephens & Nick Payne

Slave Play
Author: Jeremy O. Harris

The Sound Inside
Author: Adam Rapp

Best Musical

Jagged Little Pill

Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

Best Revival of a Play

Betrayal

Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Author: Terrence McNally

A Soldier’s Play
Author: Charles Fuller

Best Book of a Musical

Jagged Little Pill
Diablo Cody

Moulin Rouge! The Musical
John Logan

Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins

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

A Christmas Carol
Music: Christopher Nightingale

The Inheritance
Music: Paul Englishby

The Rose Tattoo
Music: Fitz Patton and Jason Michael Webb

Slave Play
Music: Lindsay Jones

The Sound Inside
Music: Daniel Kluger

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

Ian Barford, Linda Vista
Andrew Burnap, The Inheritance
Jake Gyllenhaal, Sea Wall/A Life
Tom Hiddleston, Betrayal
Tom Sturridge, Sea Wall/A Life
Blair Underwood, A Soldier’s Play

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

Joaquina Kalukango, Slave Play
Laura Linney, My Name is Lucy Barton
Audra McDonald, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Mary-Louise Parker, The Sound Inside

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

Aaron Tveit, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

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

Karen Olivo, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Elizabeth Stanley, Jagged Little Pill
Adrienne Warren, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

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

Ato Blankson-Wood, Slave Play
James Cusati-Moyer, Slave Play
David Alan Grier, A Soldier’s Play
John Benjamin Hickey, The Inheritance
Paul Hilton, The Inheritance

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

Jane Alexander, Grand Horizons
Chalia La Tour, Slave Play
Annie McNamara, Slave Play
Lois Smith, The Inheritance
Cora Vander Broek, Linda Vista

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

Danny Burstein, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Derek Klena, Jagged Little Pill
Sean Allan Krill, Jagged Little Pill
Sahr Ngaujah, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Daniel J. Watts, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

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

Kathryn Gallagher, Jagged Little Pill
Celia Rose Gooding, Jagged Little Pill
Robyn Hurder, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill
Myra Lucretia Taylor, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

Best Scenic Design of a Play

Bob Crowley, The Inheritance
Soutra Gilmour, Betrayal
Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol
Derek McLane, A Soldier’s Play
Clint Ramos, Slave Play

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Riccardo Hernández and Lucy Mackinnon, Jagged Little Pill
Derek McLane, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Mark Thompson and Jeff Sugg, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

Best Costume Design of a Play

Dede Ayite, Slave Play
Dede Ayite, A Soldier’s Play
Bob Crowley, The Inheritance
Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol
Clint Ramos, The Rose Tattoo

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Emily Rebholz, Jagged Little Pill
Mark Thompson, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Catherine Zuber, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Jiyoun Chang, Slave Play
Jon Clark, The Inheritance
Heather Gilbert, The Sound Inside
Allen Lee Hughes, A Soldier’s Play
Hugh Vanstone, A Christmas Carol

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Bruno Poet, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Justin Townsend, Jagged Little Pill
Justin Townsend, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best Sound Design of a Play

Paul Arditti & Christopher Reid, The Inheritance
Simon Baker, A Christmas Carol
Lindsay Jones, Slave Play
Daniel Kluger, Sea Wall/A Life
Daniel Kluger, The Sound Inside

Best Sound Design of a Musical

Jonathan Deans, Jagged Little Pill
Peter Hylenski, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Nevin Steinberg, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

Best Direction of a Play

David Cromer, The Sound Inside
Stephen Daldry, The Inheritance
Kenny Leon, A Soldier’s Play
Jamie Lloyd, Betrayal
Robert O’Hara, Slave Play

Best Direction of a Musical

Phyllida Lloyd, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Diane Paulus, Jagged Little Pill
Alex Timbers, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best Choreography

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Jagged Little Pill
Sonya Tayeh, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Anthony Van Laast, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

Best Orchestrations

Tom Kitt, Jagged Little Pill

Katie Kresek, Charlie Rosen, Matt Stine and Justin Levine, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Ethan Popp, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

The 18 eligible productions for nominations (10 new plays, four new musicals, four play revivals) were:

Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Sea Wall/A Life
Betrayal
The Height of the Storm
The Great Society
Slave Play
Linda Vista
The Rose Tattoo
The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical
The Sound Inside
Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
The Inheritance
A Christmas Carol
Jagged Little Pill
My Name is Lucy Barton
A Soldier’s Play
Grand Horizons

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