Tina Fey’s musical “Mean Girls,” which she adapted from her much-beloved and oft-quoted 2004 high school comedy movie, and the goofy undersea adaptation from the cartoon “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical” lead the 2018 Tony Award nominations with 12 nominations apiece it was announced early Tuesday morning.
A British revival of “Angels in America,” Tony Kushner’s monumental, two-part drama about AIDS, life and love during the 1980s, grabbed 11 nominations — the most for any play — 25 years after it first appeared on Broadway. The shimmering, grown-up musical “The Band’s Visit” also earned 11 nods.
Fey and her husband, Jeff Richmond, who wrote the “Mean Girls” music, both admitted they awaited the announcement with bated breath. “We’re new to this whole Broadway thing and this whole musical thing so it was hard to tell which way everything could swing,” Richmond said.
J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” franchise extended its magical touch to Broadway, with a two-part stage play featuring the bespectacled wizard earning 10 nominations, as did a revival of “My Fair Lady.” The two-part “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which picks up 19 years from where Rowling’s last novel left off and portrays Potter and his friends as grown-ups, won nine Olivier Awards in London before coming to the U.S. and bewitching critics and audiences alike. It now will face “The Children,” “Farinelli and The King,” “Junk” and “Latin History for Morons” for best new play.
Best new musical category is filled by “The Band’s Visit,” “Frozen,” ”Mean Girls” and “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical” (which had its world premiere in Chicago in 2016). Those musicals that failed to make the cut were the Hal Prince revue “Prince of Broadway,” the Jimmy Buffet musical “Escape to Margaritaville” and “Summer,” about disco diva Donna Summer.
Leslie Odom Jr. and Katharine McPhee announced the nominations in a live webcast from New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
Comedian Amy Schumer received a nomination for best actress in a play for her Broadway debut in the Steve Martin comedy “Meteor Shower.”
Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member Laurie Metcalf received a nomination for best actress in a featured role for her work in Edward Albee’s “Three Tall Women.” Chicago’s Jessie Mueller received a nomination for best actress in a leading role in a musical for “Carousel.” Veteran Chicago and Broadway director David Cromer received a nomination for best direction of a musical for “A Band’s Visit.”
This is Tony-winner Mueller’s fourth nomination but she said it never gets old. “It’s still exciting. It always feels different because every show means something different, and is very personal in its own way. I just keep thinking of all the happy faces I’m going to see tonight when I go to work,” she said.
Bruce Springsteen, whose solo show mixes songs and stories from his best-selling memoir “Born to Run” and has been banking over $2 million each week he’s onstage, will be granted a special, non-competitive Tony, along with John Leguizamo for “Latin History for Morons.”
Also announced, Broadway theater veterans Chita Rivera and Andrew Lloyd Webber will be honored Tony Awards for lifetime achievement.
The 72nd Annual Tony Awards will be presented on June 10 at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. The gala event, which will air live on CBS beginning at 7 p.m., will be hosted by Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban.
Here’s the complete list of nominations:
Best Play
The Children
Farinelli and The King,
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Junk
Latin History for Morons
Best Musical
The Band’s Visit
Frozen
Mean Girls
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
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 Revival of a Musical
My Fair Lady
Once On This Island
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Best Book of a Musical
The Band’s Visit
Frozen
Mean Girls
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Andrew Garfield, Angels in America
Tom Hollander, Travesties
Jamie Parker, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Mark Rylance, Farinelli and The King
Denzel Washington, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Glenda Jackson, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Condola Rashad, Saint Joan
Lauren Ridloff, Children of a Lesser God
Amy Schumer, Meteor Shower
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady
Joshua Henry, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Tony Shalhoub, The Band’s Visit
Ethan Slater, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady
Hailey Kilgore, Once On This Island
LaChanze, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
Katrina Lenk, The Band’s Visit
Taylor Louderman, Mean Girls
Jessie Mueller, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
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 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 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 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 Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Angels in America
The Band’s Visit
Frozen
Mean Girls
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Miriam Buether, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and The King
Christine Jones, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Santo Loquasto, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Ian MacNeil and Edward Pierce, Angels in America
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Dane Laffrey, Once On This Island
Scott Pask, The Band’s Visit
Scott Pask, Finn Ross & Adam Young, Mean Girls
Michael Yeargan, My Fair Lady
David Zinn, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Best Costume Design of a Play
Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and The King
Nicky Gillibrand, Angels in America
Katrina Lindsay, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Ann Roth, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Ann Roth, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes, Mean Girls
Clint Ramos, Once On This Island
Ann Roth, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
David Zinn, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Catherine Zuber, My Fair Lady
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 + 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 & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Tyler Micoleau, The Band’s Visit
Best Sound Design of a Play
Adam Cork, Travesties
Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Angels in America
Gareth Fry, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Tom Gibbons, 1984
Dan Moses Schreier, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Kai Harada, The Band’s Visit
Peter Hylenski, Once On This Island
Scott Lehrer, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Brian Ronan, Mean Girls
Walter Trarbach and Mike Dobson, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Best Direction of a Play
Marianne Elliott, Angels in America
Joe Mantello, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Patrick Marber, Travesties
John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
George C. Wolfe, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
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: The Musical
Steven Hoggett, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls
Justin Peck, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Best Orchestrations
John Clancy, Mean Girls
Tom Kitt, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Annmarie Milazzo & Michael Starobin, Once On This Island
Jamshied Sharifi, The Band’s Visit
Jonathan Tunick, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Contributing: Sun-Times staff reporter Miriam Di Nunzio