Laurie Metcalf, “Tootsie” lead Chicago pack for 2019 Tony Awards nominations

The 2019 Tony Awards will have some prominent Chicagoans and productions that originated in Chicago vying for the coveted recognition.

The theater world was up early Tuesday morning as Bebe Neuwirth and Brandon Victor Dixon announced the nominations in New York City.

Among the top eight categories, Chicago artists, as well as productions that had their pre-Broadway world premieres in Chicago, include:

• “Tootsie,” a best musical nominee

• Santino Fontana, up for best actor in a leading role, musical, for his role as Michael Dorsey in “Tootsie”

• Scott Ellis, nominated for best director, musical, for “Tootsie”

• Stephanie J. Block, in the running for best actress in leading role, musical, for her role as Star in “The Cher Show”

• Bob Mackie, nominated for best costumes, musical, for “The Cher Show”

• Elaine May (“The Waverly Gallery”) and Laurie Metcalf (“Hillary and Clinton”), both in contention for best actress in a leading role, play.

• DePaul grad and Oscar winner (“Moonlight”) Tarell Alvin McCraney, whose “Choir Boy” earned three nominations

In all, “Tootsie” (inspired by the 1982 Dustin Hoffman film), which opened in Chicago for a two-week pre-Broadway world premiere last September at the Cadillac Palace, received 11 nods, including best book of a musical, original score, Andy Grotelueschen (featured role in a musical), Lilli Cooper and Sarah Stiles (both for featured role in a musical), William Ivey Long (costumes) and Denis Jones (choreography).

“The Cher Show” opened in Chicago for a monthlong, pre-Broadway world premiere run in June at the former Oriental Theatre. The musical’s three nominations also included one for lighting design.

“Hillary and Clinton,” the Lucas Hnath-penned play starring Metcalf (also a Steppenwolf ensemble member), premiered in 2016 at the Victory Gardens Theater. (It’s directed on Broadway by Rockford native Joe Mantello). The play is set in an alternate universe and tells a story centering on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. If she wins the Tony this year, Metcalf will make history as the first person to win acting Tonys three years consecutively. (She won in 2018’s “Three Tall Women” and “A Doll’s House, Part 2” in 2017).

Also nominated in the category is the legendary Elaine May, for her role in “The Waverly Gallery.” May returned to Broadway after a five-decades absence to star in the Kenneth Lonergan “memory play” about a grandson watching his grandmother succumb to Alzheimer’s. May was one of the founders of the Chicago improvisational troupe known as the Compass Players at the University of Chicago opposite Mike Nichols in the mid-1950s. May’s co-stars in the play include Chicagoan David Cromer (whose work has been featured at Writers Theatre and the Goodman Theatre) and Steppenwolf ensemble member Joan Allen.

Rockford native Marin Mazzie will receive a posthumous Tony for her leadership and advocacy as she battled ovarian cancer. Mazzie, a familiar sight on Chicago’s stages, died last year at age 57 from the illness, which she battled for nearly three years. She previously received Tony nominations for her work in “Passion,” “Ragtime” and “Kiss Me, Kate.”

Over all, “Hadestown,” singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell’s Broadway debut, leads the Tony Award nominations with 14 nods, followed by “Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations” and the aforementioned “Tootsie,” with 11.

The adult “Hadestown,” which intertwines the myths of Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone, elbowed aside more familiar names, including a stage adaptation of “Beetlejuice,” which got a best musical nod.

Here’s the full list of nominations:

Best Book of a Musical

Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Dominique Morisseau

Beetlejuice

Scott Brown & Anthony King

Hadestown

Anaïs Mitchell

The Prom

Bob Martin & Chad Beguelin

Tootsie

Robert Horn

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

Be More Chill

Music & Lyrics: Joe Iconis

Beetlejuice

Music & Lyrics: Eddie Perfect

Hadestown

Music & Lyrics: Anaïs Mitchell

The Prom

Music: Matthew Sklar

Lyrics: Chad Beguelin

To Kill a Mockingbird

Music: Adam Guettel

Tootsie

Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek

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

Paddy Considine, The Ferryman

Bryan Cranston, Network

Jeff Daniels, To Kill a Mockingbird

Adam Driver, Burn This

Jeremy Pope, Choir Boy

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

Annette Bening, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons

Laura Donnelly, The Ferryman

Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery

Janet McTeer, Bernhardt/Hamlet

Laurie Metcalf, Hillary and Clinton

Heidi Schreck, What the Constitution Means to Me

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

Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom

Derrick Baskin, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Alex Brightman, Beetlejuice

Damon Daunno, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Santino Fontana, Tootsie

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

Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show

Caitlin Kinnunen, The Prom

Beth Leavel, The Prom

Eva Noblezada, Hadestown

Kelli O’Hara, Kiss Me, Kate

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

Bertie Carvel, Ink

Robin De Jesús, The Boys in the Band

Gideon Glick, To Kill a Mockingbird

Brandon Uranowitz, Burn This

Benjamin Walker, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons

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

Fionnula Flanagan, The Ferryman

Celia Keenan-Bolger, To Kill a Mockingbird

Kristine Nielsen, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Julie White, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Ruth Wilson, King Lear

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

André De Shields, Hadestown

Andy Grotelueschen, Tootsie

Patrick Page, Hadestown

Jeremy Pope, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Ephraim Sykes, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

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

Lilli Cooper, Tootsie

Amber Gray, Hadestown

Sarah Stiles, Tootsie

Ali Stroker, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Mary Testa, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Best Scenic Design of a Play

Miriam Buether, To Kill a Mockingbird

Bunny Christie, Ink

Rob Howell, The Ferryman

Santo Loquasto, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Jan Versweyveld, Network

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Robert Brill and Peter Nigrini, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Peter England, King Kong

Rachel Hauck, Hadestown

Laura Jellinek, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

David Korins, Beetlejuice

Best Costume Design of a Play

Rob Howell, The Ferryman

Toni-Leslie James, Bernhardt/Hamlet

Clint Ramos, Torch Song

Ann Roth, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Ann Roth, To Kill a Mockingbird

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Michael Krass, Hadestown

William Ivey Long, Beetlejuice

William Ivey Long, Tootsie

Bob Mackie, The Cher Show

Paul Tazewell, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Neil Austin, Ink

Jules Fisher + Peggy Eisenhauer, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Peter Mumford, The Ferryman

Jennifer Tipton, To Kill a Mockingbird

Jan Versweyveld and Tal Yarden, Network

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Kevin Adams, The Cher Show

Howell Binkley, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Bradley King, Hadestown

Peter Mumford, King Kong

Kenneth Posner and Peter Nigrini, Beetlejuice

Best Sound Design of a Play

Adam Cork, Ink

Scott Lehrer, To Kill a Mockingbird

Fitz Patton, Choir Boy

Nick Powell, The Ferryman

Eric Sleichim, Network

Best Sound Design of a Musical

Peter Hylenski, Beetlejuice

Peter Hylenski, King Kong

Steve Canyon Kennedy, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Drew Levy, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz, Hadestown

Best Direction of a Play

Rupert Goold, Ink

Sam Mendes, The Ferryman

Bartlett Sher, To Kill a Mockingbird

Ivo van Hove, Network

George C. Wolfe, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Best Direction of a Musical

Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown

Scott Ellis, Tootsie

Daniel Fish, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Des McAnuff, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Casey Nicholaw, The Prom

Best Choreography

Camille A. Brown, Choir Boy

Warren Carlyle, Kiss Me, Kate

Denis Jones, Tootsie

David Neumann, Hadestown

Sergio Trujillo, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Best Orchestrations

Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose, Hadestown

Simon Hale, Tootsie

Larry Hochman, Kiss Me, Kate

Daniel Kluger, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Harold Wheeler, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Recipients of Awards and Honors in Non-competitive Categories

—Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater

Rosemary Harris

Terrence McNally

Harold Wheeler

—Special Tony Awards

Marin Mazzie

Sonny Tilders and Creature Technology Company

Jason Michael Webb

The 73rd Annual Tony Awards will air at 7 p.m. June 9 on CBS. James Corden hosts.

Contributing: Associated Press