Tony Awards 2018: Complete list of nominations

Earlier today, the Tony Awards announced this year’s nominees. With just a small number of eligible shows, the surprises were few.

With a smaller-than-normal field of potential nominees, this group of Tony Awards nominees runs the spectrum of topics. From old school favorites to pop culture icons, American theater is experiencing a popularity boom.

Announced by Katherine McPhee (currently starring in Waitress) and Leslie Odom, Jr. (Tony Award winner for Hamilton), this year’s best of Broadway shows were celebrated. Anyone wishing for a Smash adaptation for next year’s Broadway season after seeing these two presenters together?

NEW YORK, NY – MAY 01: Actors Leslie Odom Jr. and Katharine McPhee speak onstage during the 2018 Tony Awards Nominations Announcement at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on May 1, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Jenny Anderson/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

While this year’s shows may not have the cultural significance of Hamilton or the emotional ties of Dear Evan Hansen, these offerings are bringing a wide variety of people into the theater seats. In their own way, this batch of Tony Awards nominees could have a bigger impact on theater than previous winners.

From the modernized ballet featured in Carousel to the colorful SpongeBob SquarePant’s undersea world, these shows have a wider age range appeal. More families are considering theater as a different form of entertainment.

Even more impressive is that theatergoers are willing to commit their time to seeing this year’s popular productions. Plays like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Angels in America run over the five-hour mark. These shows definitely take a commitment for theatergoers.

Below is a complete list of this year’s Tony Awards nominees.

Best Musical

The Band’s Visit
Frozen
Mean Girls
SpongeBob SquarePants, The Broadway Musical

Best Play

The Children
Farinelli and The King
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Junk
Latin History for Morons

Best Revival of a Musical

My Fair Lady
Once On This Island
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel

Best Revival of a Play

Angels in America
Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Lobby Hero
Travesties

Best Actress in a Musical

Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady
Hailey Kilgore, Once On This Island
LaChanze, Summer
Katrina Lenk, The Band’s Visit
Taylor Louderman, Mean Girls
Jessie Mueller, Carousel

Best Actor in a Musical

Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady
Joshua Henry, Carousel
Tony Shalhoub, The Band’s Visit
Ethan Slater, SpongeBob SquarePants

Best Actress in a Play

Glenda Jackson, Three Tall Women
Condola Rashad, Saint Joan
Lauren Ridloff, Children of a Lesser God
Amy Schumer, Meteor Shower

Best Actor in a Play

Andrew Garfield, Angels in America
Tom Hollander, Travesties
Jamie Parker, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Mark Rylance, Farinelli and the King
Denzel Washington, The Iceman Cometh

Best Book of a Musical

Frozen, Jennifer Lee
Mean Girls, Tina Fey
SpongeBob SquarePants, Kyle Jarrow
The Band’s Visit, Itamar Moses

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

Angels in America, Adrian Sutton
The Band’s Visit, David Yazbek
Frozen, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
Mean Girls, Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin
SpongeBob SquarePants, Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman, John Legend, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants, T.I., Domani and Lil’C

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

Ariana DeBose, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
Renée Fleming, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Lindsay Mendez, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Ashley Park, Mean Girls
Diana Rigg, My Fair Lady

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

Norbert Leo Butz, My Fair Lady
Alexander Gemignani, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Grey Henson, Mean Girls
Gavin Lee, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Ari’el Stachel, The Band’s Visit

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

Susan Brown, Angels in America
Noma Dumezweni, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Deborah Findlay, The Children
Denise Gough, Angels in America
Laurie Metcalf, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women

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

Anthony Boyle, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Michael Cera, Lobby Hero
Brian Tyree Henry, Lobby Hero
Nathan Lane, Angels in America
David Morse, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh

Best Scenic Design of a Play

Ian MacNeil and Edward Pierce, Angels in America
Santo Loquasto, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Miriam Buether, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and the King
Christine Jones, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Scott Pask, The Band’s Visit
Scott Pask, Finn Ross, and Adam Young, Mean Girls
Michael Yeargan, My Fair Lady
Dane Laffrey, Once On This Island
David Zinn, SpongeBob SquarePants

Best Costume Design of a Play

Nicky Gillibrand, Angels in America
Ann Roth, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Ann Roth, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and the King

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Neil Austin, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Paule Constable, Angels in America
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Paul Russell, Farinelli and The King
Ben Stanton, Junk

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Kevin Adams, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Jules Fisher, Peggy Eisenhauer, Once On This Island
Donald Holder, My Fair Lady
Brian MacDevitt, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel
Tyler Micoleau, The Band’s Visit

Best Direction of a Play

Best Direction of a Musical

Michael Arden, Once On This Island
David Cromer, The Band’s Visit
Tina Landau, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls
Bartlett Sher, My Fair Lady

Best Choreography

Christopher Gattelli, My Fair Lady
Christopher Gattelli, SpongeBob SquarePants
Steven Hoggett, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls
Justin Peck, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel

Best Orchestrations

John Clancy, Mean Girls
AnnMarie Milazzo and Michael Starobin, Once On This Island
Jonathan Tunick, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Tom Kitt, SpongeBob SquarePants
Jamshied Sharifi, The Band’s Visit

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre:

Andrew Lloyd Weber
Chita Rivera

Looking at the nominees in total, Mean Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants garnered the most nominations. While popular with families, Frozen only got three nominations. Like Wicked (also snubbed by the Tony Awards years ago), Frozen doesn’t need nominations to keep ticket sales up.

Overall, the majority of nominations were as expected and there weren’t any big surprises. Many people can already predict the expected or likely winners. Just don’t spoil any of the shows, especially the Harry Potter play, for other theater fans. There is always something magical about watching live theater.

The Tony Awards will air on June at 8:00 p.m. ET on CBS, held at the historic Radio City Music Hall in New York City.