‘Mean Girls,’ ‘SpongeBob,’ ‘Angels in America’ lead 2018 Tony Award nominations

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