Tony Awards nominations: ‘Stereophonic’ reaps record 13 bids, ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ and ‘The Outsiders’ are top tuners

David Buchanan
·4 min read

With the announcement of the Tony Awards nominations on April 30, we now know the shows and performers in contention for the 77th annual ceremony. The 60 members of the Tony nominating committee recognized 28 of the 36 eligible productions across 26 competitive categories.

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David Adjmi’s new play “Stereophonic” makes Tony Awards history with 13 nominations. This bests by one the previous record-holder “Slave Play” by Jeremy O. Harris, which earned 12 bids back in 2020. Its haul includes recognition for Best Play, Best Director (Daniel Aukin), five nominations for its performers (Will Brill, Juliana Canfield, Eli Gelb, Tom Pecinka and Sarah Pidgeon) and, rare for a dramatic work, Best Original Score for Will Butler and Best Orchestrations for Butler and Justin Craig.

“Hell’s Kitchen,” a loosely biographical work on the early life and featuring the music of Alicia Keys, leads all musicals and musical revivals with 13 nominations. In addition to a Best Musical nom, the show scored bids for four performers (lead Maleah Joi Moon, featured actresses Shoshana Bean and Kecia Lewis, featured actor Brandon Victor Dixon) as well as Best Director (Michael Greif).

“The Outsiders,” based on the book by S. E. Hinton and film by Francis Ford Coppola, overperformed expectations and is right behind “Hell’s Kitchen” with 12 nominations. It scored bids for Best Musical, Best Director (Danya Taymor), Best Musical Book and Original Score and for three performers (lead Brody Grant, featured actors Joshua Boone and Sky Lakota-Lynch). Other original shows that performed well include “Water for Elephants” with seven noms, “Suffs” with six, “Here Lies Love” and “Illinoise” with four, “Days of Wine and Roses,” “Lempicka” and “The Notebook” with three and “Back to the Future: The Musical” with two.

SEE Tony Awards nominations: Every show and performer in the running

The two musical revivals contending for the top honor are “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club” and “Merrily We Roll Along,” which earned nine and seven nominations, respectively. Despite negative critical reception, “Cabaret” performed well with bids for Best Musical Revival, four acting citations (Eddie Redmayne, Gayle Rankin, Bebe Neuwirth and Steven Skybell) and noms in design categories, though director Rebecca Frecknall did not receive recognition. “Merrily” is not far behind with noms for Best Musical Revival, Director (Maria Friedman), performers Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez and Daniel Radcliffe, and design categories.

Beyond “Stereophonic,” new plays “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” and “Mary Jane,” both productions of the Manhattan Theatre Club, did well with nominators, receiving five and four bids apiece. Unexpectedly, both shows broke through in the competitive Best Director category for Whitney White and Anne Kauffman, respectively. Manhattan Theatre Club’s “Prayer for the French Republic” also earned three nominations including Best Play and actress Betsy Aidem. Other plays with multiple bids include “Mother Play” with four and “Grey House” with two.

Play revival “Appropriate” leads all remountings with eight bids. Since this is the first time the show has been on Broadway, playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who is a two-time Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist, is nominated in the Best Revival category; it also earned recognition for performers Sarah Paulson and Corey Stoll and director Lila Neugebauer. Nipping at its heels is Kenny Leon’s staging of “Purlie Victorious” with six nominations and Amy Herzog’s adaptation of “An Enemy of the People,” for which she is recognized as playwright in the Best Revival category. “Doubt” also performed well with three nominations, all for its performers.

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