Curtains up, light the lights! Stars like Hugh Jackman, Jesse Williams and Rachel Dratch were among the performers honored when the 2022 Tony Award nominations were announced on Monday, May 9.
New musical A Strange Loop led the pack with 11 nominations, while the Michael Jackson musical, MJ, earned an impressive 10 nods. Jackman, 53, earned his second honor for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his work in The Music Man, which earned six nominations overall, including Best Revival of a Musical and best actress in a Musical for his costar, Sutton Foster.
“[Hugh] is a dream to work with. As talented as he is, he is [also] kind, generous and humble,” the Younger alum told Elle in March about her leading man. “He is everything that you hope he would be and more. He is a true partner. One of the greatest things that has happened with this whole experience is that I can now call him a friend. It is just a joy to play with him every day, have fun and make each other laugh.”
This is Foster’s seventh nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. She has previously won in 2002 and 2011 Thoroughly Modern Millie and Anything Goes, respectively.
Another star-studded production that racked up several Tony nominations in 2022 is Take Me Out, which centers on a baseball team dealing with the ramifications of their star player coming out as gay in the middle of the season. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Michael Oberholtzer and Jesse Williams were all nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, while the show itself was nominated for Best Revival of a Play.
Williams, who is making his Broadway debut in the leading role of Darren Lemming, joined Take Me Out shortly after leaving Grey’s Anatomy. “I was leaving a job that I’d been at and been comfortable in for some time. I didn’t want to be too comfortable,” he told Entertainment Weekly in March. “I wanted to do something very different. If I’m going to a make a shift, I want to make a shift with purpose. I wanted to do something that was really going to challenge me and scare me.”
He continued: “Baseball played a really integral part in my life — in my childhood and my upbringing and my connection to my father and my siblings — with metaphorical learnings about the game and life as a whole. But the [play’s] issues around identity and self-realization and discrimination and purpose, all of these themes were relevant. They not only strike a nerve with me as a human being, but are important and compelling for society to wrestle with.”
Many of the shows nominated were affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which shut down the Great White Way for over a year. While theaters have reopened their doors once again, the effects of COVID-19 are still impacting the Tony Awards and the shows that will be celebrated on the big night.
“Due to the challenges that Broadway has faced in recent weeks, and in an effort to allow nominators to see Tony eligible shows, we have decided to extend the deadline for eligibility requirements,” Charlotte St. Martin, president of The Broadway League, and Heather Hitchens, president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, announced in an April statement amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases and canceled performances.
The 2022 Tony Awards are expected to mark a return to tradition, following the scaled-down ceremony that took place in September 2021. This year’s event, hosted by newly-minted Oscar winner and Broadway veteran Ariana DeBose, will take place at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 12, in New York City, where the awards have been held for decades.
The 2022 Tony Awards will air on CBS on Sunday, June 12, at 8 p.m. ET. Keep scrolling to see the full list of nominees:
Best Musical
Girl From The North Country
MJ
Mr. Saturday Night
Paradise Square
SIX: The Musical
A Strange Loop
Best Play
Clyde’s
Hangmen
The Lehman Trilogy
The Minutes
Skeleton Crew
Best Revival of a Musical
Caroline, or Change
Company
The Music Man
Best Revival of a Play
American Buffalo
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
How I Learned to Drive
Take Me Out
Trouble in Mind
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Gabby Beans, The Skin of Our Teeth
LaChanze, Trouble in Mind
Ruth Negga, Macbeth
Deirdre O’Connell, Dana H.
Mary-Louise Parker, How I Learned to Drive
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Simon Russell Beale, The Lehman Trilogy
Adam Godley, The Lehman Trilogy
Adrian Lester, The Lehman Trilogy
David Morse, How I Learned to Drive
Sam Rockwell, American Buffalo
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Lackawanna Blues
David Threlfall, Hangmen
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Sharon D Clarke, Caroline, or Change
Carmen Cusack, Flying Over Sunset
Sutton Foster, The Music Man
Joaquina Kalukango, Paradise Square
Mare Winningham, Girl From The North Country
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Billy Crystal, Mr. Saturday Night
Myles Frost, MJ
Hugh Jackman, The Music Man
Rob McClure, Mrs. Doubtfire
Jaquel Spivey, A Strange Loop
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Uzo Aduba, Clyde’s
Rachel Dratch, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Kenita R. Miller, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Phylicia Rashad, Skeleton Crew
Julie White, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Kara Young, Clyde’s
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Alfie Allen, Hangmen
Chuck Cooper, Trouble in Mind
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Take Me Out
Ron Cephas Jones, Clyde’s
Michael Oberholtzer, Take Me Out
Jesse Williams, Take Me Out
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Uzo Aduba, Clyde’s
Rachel Dratch, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Kenita R. Miller, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Phylicia Rashad, Skeleton Crew
Julie White, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Kara Young, Clyde’s
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Matt Doyle, Company
Sidney DuPont, Paradise Square
Jared Grimes, Funny Girl
John-Andrew Morrison, A Strange Loop
A.J. Shively, Paradise Square
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Jeannette Bayardelle, Girl From The North Country
Shoshana Bean, Mr. Saturday Night
Jayne Houdyshell, The Music Man
L Morgan Lee, A Strange Loop
Patti LuPone, Company
Jennifer Simard, Company
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Matt Doyle, Company
Sidney DuPont, Paradise Square
Jared Grimes, Funny Girl
John-Andrew Morrison, A Strange Loop
A.J. Shively, Paradise Square
Best Direction of a Play
Lileana Blain-Cruz, The Skin of Our Teeth
Camille A. Brown, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Sam Mendes, The Lehman Trilogy
Neil Pepe, American Buffalo
Les Waters, Dana H.
Best Direction of a Musical
Stephen Brackett, A Strange Loop
Marianne Elliott, Company
Conor McPherson, Girl From The North Country
Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage, SIX: The Musical
Christopher Wheeldon, MJ
Best Book of a Musical
Girl From The North Country
Conor McPherson
MJ
Lynn Nottage
Mr. Saturday Night
Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel
Paradise Square
Christina Anderson, Craig Lucas & Larry Kirwan
A Strange Loop
Michael R. Jackson
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Flying Over Sunset
Music: Tom Kitt
Lyrics: Michael Korie
Mr. Saturday Night
Music: Jason Robert Brown
Lyrics: Amanda Green
Paradise Square
Music: Jason Howland
Lyrics: Nathan Tysen & Masi Asare
Six: The Musical
Music and Lyrics: Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss
A Strange Loop
Music & Lyrics: Michael R. Jackson
Best Choreography
Camille A. Brown, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Warren Carlyle, The Music Man
Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, SIX: The Musical
Bill T. Jones, Paradise Square
Christopher Wheeldon, MJ
Best Orchestrations
David Cullen, Company
Tom Curran, SIX: The Musical
Simon Hale, Girl From The North Country
Jason Michael Webb and David Holcenberg, MJ
Charlie Rosen, A Strange Loop
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Beowulf Boritt, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Michael Carnahan and Nicholas Hussong, Skeleton Crew
Es Devlin, The Lehman Trilogy
Anna Fleischle, Hangmen
Scott Pask, American Buffalo
Adam Rigg, The Skin of Our Teeth
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Beowulf Boritt and 59 Productions, Flying Over Sunset
Bunny Christie, Company
Arnulfo Maldonado, A Strange Loop
Derek McLane and Peter Nigrini, MJ
Allen Moyer, Paradise Square
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Beowulf Boritt and 59 Productions, Flying Over Sunset
Bunny Christie, Company
Arnulfo Maldonado, A Strange Loop
Derek McLane and Peter Nigrini, MJ
Allen Moyer, Paradise Square
Best Costume Design of a Play
Montana Levi Blanco, The Skin of Our Teeth
Sarafina Bush, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Emilio Sosa, Trouble in Mind
Jane Greenwood, Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite
Jennifer Moeller, Clyde’s
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Fly Davis, Caroline, or Change
Toni-Leslie James, Paradise Square
William Ivey Long, Diana, The Musical
Santo Loquasto, The Music Man
Gabriella Slade, SIX: The Musical
Paul Tazewell, MJ
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Joshua Carr, Hangmen
Jiyoun Chang, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Jon Clark, The Lehman Trilogy
Jane Cox, Macbeth
Yi Zhao, The Skin of Our Teeth
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Neil Austin, Company
Tim Deiling, SIX: The Musical
Donald Holder, Paradise Square
Natasha Katz, MJ
Bradley King, Flying Over Sunset
Jen Schriever, A Strange Loop
Best Sound Design of a Play
Justin Ellington, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Mikhail Fiksel, Dana H.
Palmer Hefferan, The Skin of Our Teeth
Nick Powell and Dominic Bilkey, The Lehman Trilogy
Mikaal Sulaiman, Macbeth
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Simon Baker, Girl From The North Country
Paul Gatehouse, SIX: The Musical
Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Company
Drew Levy, A Strange Loop
Gareth Owen, MJ
