George Clooney and Nicole Scherzinger have been nominated for their first Tonys this year while Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal have been snubbed.
The Oscar-winning actor was included in the leading actor in a play category for Good Night and Good Luck, an adaptation of the 2005 film which he also starred in and directed. The show received five nominations in total.
After winning an Olivier award for her performance during the West End run of Sunset Boulevard, Scherzinger is now heading up the category of leading actress in a musical. The show has seven nominations.
She faces competition from Audra McDonald, who has become the most Tony-nominated performer of all time with a nod for Gypsy. She has previously won six Tonys and has now been nominated for another five. Gypsy has six nominations
But the musicals out in the lead are the 90s dark comedy revival Death Becomes Her, robot romance Maybe Happy Ending and Buena Vista Social Club, inspired by the 1997 album and documentary. Each show has 10 nominations each.
The other nominees for best musical are Dead Outlaw and Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical, which has already won two Olivier awards.
McDonald and Scherzinger’s leading actress in a musical category also includes Death Becomes Her stars Jennifer Simard and Megan Hilty and Boop! The Musical’s Jasmine Amy Rogers.
The category for best leading actor in a musical is led by Just in Time’s Jonathan Groff, who won the award last year for Merrily We Roll Along. He’s been recognised for playing Bobby Darin in the just-opened show.
He will compete with Maybe Happy Ending’s Darren Criss, Dead Outlaw’s Andrew Durand, A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical’s James Monroe Iglehart, Floyd Collins’ Jeremy Jordan and Sunset Boulevard’s Tom Francis, who also won an Olivier award for his performance.
After winning an Olivier award for playing 26 characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Succession star Sarah Snook now leads the category for leading actress in a play. She is joined by John Proctor is the Villain’s Sadie Sink. Purpose’s LaTanya Richardson Jackson, The Hills of California’s Laura Donnelly and The Roommate’s Mia Farrow. This marks Farrow’s first Tony nomination while her co-star Patti LuPone was snubbed.
In Clooney’s category of leading actor in a play he is joined by Oh, Mary!’s Cole Escola, Stranger Things: The First Shadow’s Louis McCartney, Yellowface’s Daniel Dae Kim as well as Jon Michael Hill and Harry Lennix, two actors from Purpose.
The nominees for best play are English, The Hills of California, John Proctor is the Villain, Oh, Mary! and Purpose.
Other nominees include Sam Mendes for directing The Hills of California and Bob Odenkirk for featured role by an actor in a play for Glengarry Glen Ross.
There were notable snubs for the much-anticipated and controversially priced staging of Othello, which failed to receive recognition for its two stars Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. While the show broke box office records, there was backlash over tickets costing $921 and the production was met with mixed reviews. The Guardian’s Adrian Horton called it “a muddled affair”.
There were also no nominations for Romeo + Juliet stars Rachel Zegler and Kit Connor.
Other snubs this year include Robert Downey Jr for McNeal, Idina Menzel for Redwood and Kieran Culkin for Glengarry Glen Ross.
Last year saw music drama Stereophonic dominate with five major wins.
This year’s Tony awards will take place on 8 June with Cynthia Erivo hosting.
