2016 Tony Award Nominations

This morning, Tuesday, May 3, Nikki M. James and Andrew Rannells announced the 2016 Tony Award Nominations live from the Paramount Hotel's Diamond Horseshoe in New York City. 

Productions that opened during the 2015 - 2016 Broadway Season on or before the April 28 cut-off date are eligible for Tony Awards this year. The 70th Annual Tony Awards, presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing,  will take place on June 12 at the Beacon Theatre.  The ceremony will be broadcast on CBS at 8/7c.  

Hamilton made history this year for most Tony nominations ever with 16, beating the previous record holders The Producers (2001) and Billy Elliot (2009) which received 15 each in their respective nomination years.. 

This year's Tony nominees are: 

Best Musical
Bright Star 
Hamilton
School of Rock - The Musical
Shuffle Along
Waitress

Best Play
Eclipsed
The Father
The Humans
King Charles III

Best Revival of a Musical
The Color Purple
Fiddler on the Roof
She Loves Me
Spring Awakening 

Best Revival of a Play
Arthur Miller's The Crucible 
Arthur Miller's The View from the Bridge
Blackbird
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Noises Off

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Laura Benanti, She Loves Me
Carmen Cusack, Bright Star
Cynthia Erivo, The Color Purple
Jessie Mueller, Waitress
Phlillipa Soo, Hamilton

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Alex Brightman, School of Rock - The Musical
Danny Burnstein, Fiddler on the Roof
Zachary Levi, She Loves Me
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Leslie Odom, Jr., Hamilton

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Jessica Lange, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Laurie Metcalf, Misery
Lupita Nyong'o, Eclipsed
Sophie Okonedo, Arthur Miller's The Crucible
Michelle Williams, Blackbird

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Gabriel Byrne, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Jeff Daniels, Blackbird
Frank Langella, The Father
Tim Pigott-Smit, King Charles III
Mark Strong, Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple
Renee Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton
Jane Krakowski, She Loves Me
Jennifer Simard, Disaster!
Adrienne Warren, Shuffle Along

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Daveed Diggs, Hamilton
Brandon Victor Dixon, Shuffle Along
Christopher Fitzgerald, Waitress
Jonathan Groff, Hamilton
Christopher Jackson, Hamilton

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Pascale Armand, Eclipsed
Megan Hilty, Noises Off
Jayne Houdyshell, The Humans
Andrea Martin, Noises Off
Saycon Sengbloh, Eclipsed

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Reed Birney, The Humans
Bill Camp, Arthur Miller's The Crucible
David Furr, Noises Off
Richard Goulding,King Charles III
Michael Shannon, Long Day's Journey Into Night

Best Direction of a Musical
Michael Arden, Spring Awakening
John Doyle, The Color Purple
Scott Ellis, She Loves Me
Thomas Kail, Hamilton
George C. Wolfe, Shuffle Along

Best Direction of a Play
Rupert Goold, King Charles III
Jonathan Kent, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Joe Mantello, The Humans
Liesl Tommy, Eclipsed
Ivo Van Hove, Arthur Miller's The View From the Bridge

Best Book of a Musical
Steve Martin, Bright Star
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Julian Fellowes, School of Rock - The Musical
George C. Wolfe, Shuffle Along

Best Original Score
Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, Bright Star
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Glenn Slater, School of Rock - The Musical
Sara Bareilles, Waitress

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Sheldon Harnick & Marshall W. Mason

Regional Theatre Award
Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn, NJ

Isabelle Stevenson Award
Brian Stokes Mitchell

Special Tony Award
National Endowment for the Arts
Miles Wilkin

Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre
Seth Gelblum
Joan Lader
Sally Ann Parsons


A full list of this year's nominees can be found here. 

Drama Desk Awards 2015

Live from Town Hall, the 60th annual Drama Desk Awards were hosted for the second year in a row by Tony and Drama Desk Award winner Laura Benanti.  The Drama desk awards are presented annually to honor outstanding achievement by professional theater artists on Broadway, off-Broadway, and off-off-Broadway.  Winners are decided by theater critics, journalists, editors, and publishers covering theater.

Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton and An American in Paris led nominations with 13 and 12 respectively.  The night's big winners were Hamilton, An American in Paris, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. 

Some of the night's performance highlights included "Hold Down the Fort" by Kate Baldwin and Conor Ryan from John & Jen, "Beautiful" by Luba Mason from Pretty Filthy, Judy Kuhn's rendition of "Come the Wild, Wild Weather" during the in memoriam, Lisa Howard singing "Jenny's Blues" from It Shoulda Been You. 

A partial list of winners can be found below, and a full list of winners can be found here. 

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Christian Borle, Something Rotten!

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Renee Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton

Unique Theatrical Experience
Queen of the Night

Outstanding Solo Performance
Benjamin Scheuer, The Lion

Outstanding Costume Design
Catherine Zuber, Gigi

Outstanding Set Design
Bob Crowley, An American in Paris

Outstanding Lighting Design
Paule Constable, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

Outstanding Sound Design of a Play
Ian Dickinson, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical
Nevin Steinberg, Hamilton

Outstanding Orchestrations
Christopher Austin, An American in Paris

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
K. Todd Freeman, Airline Highway

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Annaleigh Ashford, You Can't Take It With You

Outstanding Choreography
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris

Outstanding Director of a Play
Marianne Elliott, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

Outstanding Director of a Musical
Thomas Kail, Hamilton

Outstanding Actor in a Play
Alexander Sharp, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

Outstanding Actress in a Play
Helen Mirren, The Audience

Outstanding Revival of a Play
The Elephant Man

Outstanding Play
Simon Stephens, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime 

Outstanding Book of a Musical
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton

Outstanding Music
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton

Outstanding Lyrics
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Robert Fairchild, An American in Paris

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Kristin Chenoweth, On the 20th Century

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
The King and I

Outstanding Musical
Hamilton

2015 Tony Awards Nominations

This morning, Tuesday, April 28, Mary- Louise Parker and Bruce Willis announced the 2015 Tony Award Nominations live from the Paramount Hotel's Diamond Horseshoe in New York City. Parker, who is a Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner, will star in Heisenberg by Simon Stephens Off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club beginning in May. Willis is set to make this Broadway debut this fall in Misery, a new stage adaptation by William Goldman of the acclaimed Stephen King novel.

Productions that opened during the 2014 - 2015 Broadway Season on or before the April 23 cut-off date are eligible for Tony Awards this year. The 69th Annual Tony Awards, presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing,  will take place on June 7 at Radio City Music Hall.  The ceremony will be broadcast on CBS at 8/7c.  

This year's Tony nominees are: 

Best Musical
An American In Paris
Fun Home
Something Rotten!
The Visit

Best Play
The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-time
Disgraced
Hand to God 
Wolf Hall Parts One & Two

Best Revival of a Musical
The King and I 
On the Town
On the Twentieth Century

Best Revival of a Play
The Elephant Man
Skylight
This is Our Youth
You Can't Take it With You

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Kristin Chenoweth, On the Twentieth Century
Leanne Cope, An American in Paris
Beth Malone, Fun Home 
Kelli O'Hara, The King and I
Chita Rivera, The Visit

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Michael Cerveris, Fun Home
Robert Fairchild, An American In Paris
Brian d'Arcy James, Something Rotten!
Ken Watanabe, The King and I 
Tony Yazbeck, On the Town

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Geneva Carr, Hand to God
Helen Mirren, The Audience
Elisabeth Moss, The Heidi Chronicles
Carey Mulilgan, Skylight
Ruth Wilson, Constellations

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Steven Boyer, Hand to God
Bradley Cooper,The Elephant Man
Ben Miles, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Bill Nighy, Skylight
Alan Sharp, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Victoria Clark, Gigi
Judy Kuhn, Fun Home
Sydney Lucas, Fun Home
Ruthie Ann Miles, The King and I
Emily Skeggs, Fun Home

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Christian Borle, Something Rotten!
Andy Karl, On the Twentieth Century
Brad Oscar, Something Rotten!
Brandon Uranowitz, An American In Paris
Max von Essen, An American In Paris

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Annaleigh Ashford, You Can't Take It With You
Patricia Clarkson, The Elephant Man
Lydia Leonard, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Julie White, Airline Highway

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Matthew Beard, Skylight
K. Todd Freeman, Airline Highway
Richard McCabe, The Audience
Alessandro Nivola, The Elephant Man
Nathaniel Parker, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Micah Stock, It's Only a Play

Best Direction of a Musical
Sam Gold, Fun Home
Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten!
John Rando, On The Town
Bartlett Sher, The King and I
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris

Best Direction of a Play
Steven Daldry, Skylight
Marianne Elliott, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Scott Ellis, You Can't Take it With You
Jeremy Herrin, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Moritz von Suelpnagel, Hand to God

Best Book of a Musical
Craig Lucas, An American In Paris
Lisa Kron, Fun Home
Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell, Something Rotten!
Terrence McNally, The Visit

Best Original Score
Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron, Fun Home
Sting, The Last Ship
Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick, Something Rotten!
John Kander and Fred Ebb, The Visit

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Tommy Tune

Regional Theatre Award
Cleveland Play House, Cleveland, OH

Isabelle Stevenson Award
Stephen Schwartz

Special Tony Award
John Cameron Mitchell

Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre
Arnold Abramson
Adrian Bryan-Brown
Gene O'Donovan


A full list of this year's nominees can be found here. 

Drama Desk Awards 2014 -2015 Nominees

Drama Desk winners Judith Light (The Assembled Parties) and Jessie Mueller (Beautiful — The Carole King Musical) presented the 2014-2015 Drama Desk Awards nominations today live from 54 Below.  

The Drama Desk Awards are presented annually to honor outstanding achievement by professional theater artists on Broadway, off-Broadway, and off-off-Broadway. Winners are decided by theater critics, journalists, editors, and publishers covering theater.

This year, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton leads the pack with 13 nominations, followed closely by new Broadway musical An American in Paris with 12. See a partial list of nominees below, and a full list here. 

Outstanding Play
Clare Barron, You Got Older
Lisa D'Amour, Airline Highway
Anthony Giardina, The City of Conversation 
Stephen Adly Guirgis, Between Riverside and Crazy
Elizabeth Irwin, My Manãna Comes
Simon Stephens, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Jack Thorne, Let the Right One In 

Outstanding Musical
An American in Paris
Hamilton
Fly by Night
Pretty Filthy 
Something Rotten!
The Visit

Outstanding Revival of a Play
The Elephant Man
Fashions for Men
Ghosts
The Iceman Cometh
Tamburlaine the Great
The Wayside Motor Inn

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Into the Woods
The King and I
On the Town
On the Twentieth Century
Pageant
Side Show

Outstanding Actor in a Play
Reed Birney, I'm Gonna Pray for You So Hard
Bradley Cooper, The Elephant Man
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Between Riverside and Crazy
Ben Miles, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
Bill Pullman, Sticks and Bones
Alexander Sharp, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Outstanding Actress in a Play
Brooke Bloom, You Got Older
Kathleen Chalfant, A Walk in the Woods
Kristin Griffith, The Fatal Weakness 
Jan Maxwell, The City of Conversation
Helen Mirren, The Audience
Carey Mulligan, Skylight
Tonya Pinkins, Rasheeda Speaking

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Brian d'Arcy James, Something Rotten!
Robert Fairchild, An American in Paris
Jeremy Kushnier, Atomic
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Matthew Morrison, Finding Neverland
Ryan Silverman, Side Show 

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Kate Baldwin, John & Jen
Kristin Chenoweth, On the Twentieth Century
Leanne Cope, An American in Paris
Erin Davie, Side Show
Lisa Howard, It Shoulda Been You
Chita Rivera, The Visit

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
F. Murray Abraham, It's Only a Play 
Reed Birney, You Got Older
K. Todd Freeman, Airline Highway
Jonathan Hadary, Rocket to the Moon
Jason Butler Harner, The Village Bike
Jonathan Hogan, Pocatello
José Joaquin Perez, My Mañana Comes

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Annaleigh Ashford, You Can't Take It with You
Beth Dixon, The City of Conversation
Julie Halston, You Can't Take It with You
Paola Lázaro-Muñoz, To the Bone
Lydia Leonard, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
Julie White, Airline Highway

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Christian Borle, Something Rotten!
Peter Friedman, Fly by Night
Josh Grisetti, It Shoulda Been You
Andy Karl, On the Twentieth Century
Leslie Odom Jr., Hamilton
Brad Oscar, Something Rotten!
Max von Essen, An American in Paris

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Carolee Carmello, Finding Neverland 
Tyne Daly, It Shoulda Been You
Elizabeth A. Davis, Allegro
Renee Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton
Luba Mason, Pretty Filthy
Nancy Opel, Honeymoon in Vegas
Elizabeth Stanley, On the Town

Outstanding Director of a Play
Marianne Elliott, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Jeremy Herrin, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
Anne Kauffman, You Got Older
Lila Neugebauer, The Wayside Motor Inn
Austin Pendleton, Between Riverside and Crazy
Joe Tantalo, Deliverance
John Tiffany, Let the Right One In

Outstanding Director of a Musical
Carolyn Cantor, Fly by Night
Bill Condon, Side Show
John Doyle, The Visit
Thomas Kail, Hamilton
Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten!
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris

Outstanding Choreography
Joshua Bergasse, On the Town
Warren Carlyle, On the Twentieth Century
Steven Hoggett, The Last Ship
Austin McCormick, Rococo Rouge
Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten!
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris

Outstanding Music
Jason Robert Brown, Honeymoon in Vegas
Michael Friedman, The Fortress of Solitude
John Kander, The Visit
Dave Malloy, Ghost Quartet
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Sting, The Last Ship

Outstanding Lyrics
Jason Robert Brown, Honeymoon in Vegas
Fred Ebb, The Visit
Michael Friedman, The Fortress of Solitude
Karey Kirkpatrick & Wayne Kirkpatrick, Something Rotten!
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Benjamin Scheuer, The Lion 

Outstanding Book of a Musical
Hunter Bell & Lee Overtree, Found
Karey Kirkpatrick & John O'Farrell, Something Rotten!
Craig Lucas, An American in Paris
Terence McNally, The Visit
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Kim Rosenstock, Will Connolly, & Michael Mitnick, Fly by Night

Outstanding Music in a Play
Cesar Alvarez, An Octoroon
Danny Blackburn & Bryce Hodgson, Deliverance
Sean Cronin, Kill Me Like You Mean It
Bongi Duma, Generations
Freddi Price, The Pigeoning
Arthur Solari & Jane Shaw, Tamburlaine the Great

Outstanding Revue
Forbidden Broadway Comes Out Swinging! 
Just Jim Dale
Lennon: Through a Glass Onion
Lonesome Traveler

Outstanding Solo Performance
Christina Bianco, Application Pending
Jonny Donahoe, Every Brilliant Thing
Tom Dugan, Wiesenthal
Mona Golabek, The Pianist of Willesden Lane
Joely Richardson, The Belle of Amherst
Benjamin Scheuer, The Lion

Unique Theatrical Experience
Catch Me!
Everybody Gets Cake
The Human Symphony
Queen of the Night
A Rap Guide to Religion

The Drama Desk Awards ceremony will take place on May 31 at New York's Town Hall, with returning host Laura Benanti. 

Behind the Curtain with Alli Mauzey

Photo courtesy of Broadway.com

Alli Mauzey was most recently seen as Glinda in Wicked on Broadway. She's also known for her roles in Cry-Baby and Hairspray.  

After finishing her show in Garner, North Carolina,  Alli answered a few fun questions we had about music and her career. 

   

What is your favorite cast album or one that inspired you greatly?

I don't tend to listen to a lot of cast albums often.  As far as contemporary singer/songwriters go, I like Sara Barellies and Ben Folds. I tend to listen to them a lot.

If you could sing a duet with anyone who would it be and why?
So many to choose from but a singer who I greatly admire is Judy Kuhn.  I love the versatility of her voice.  I was first introduced to her through a friend of mine in school who had a copy of the Tony Awards when she performed on the show as both Cosette in Les Miz and in the musical Rags.  I was so impressed with her beautiful soprano in Les Miz and her "meaty" belt in Rags. Both equally stunning. I just think she can sing anything and I was instantly hooked. I was also so impressed with her acting.

What was it like working with so many different actresses in Wicked? How difficult was it to adjust to playing with a different Elphaba?
I've gotten to work with so many fantastic women. Some of which will be my friends for life. I found that as long as the Elphaba and myself were open to what we each brought to the table and that we were both committed to telling the story every night then all was good.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given or one that you would give to aspiring actors?

Hard work was always good advice.  I had a teacher that said sometimes someone who might not have things come as natural right away can pass up someone who does.  When things come easy and you get a lot of attention it's easy to rest on your laurels and become lazy while someone behind you is doing the work and continues to grow.  And I think this doesn't just apply to actors but any field.