“In the Heights,” the little barrio musical that brought a fresh salsa and hip-hop beat to Broadway, dominated the 2008 Tony Award nominations Tuesday, picking up 13, more than any other show.
But it was a day of other new faces, too, particularly in the best-musical category, where “Heights” will compete against diverse, high-spirited shows such as “Passing Strange,” “Cry-Baby” and “Xanadu.”
For Lin-Manuel Miranda, the star and composer of “In the Heights,” the nominations were a double treat. He received two (actor-musical and score) nominations for “Heights,” a slice of life look at the Latino residents of Upper Manhattan. The musical began last year off-Broadway before moving to the big time.
“It’s so much fun just doing the show — eight times a week,” Miranda said. “I’m doing what I love every day. So this is all just icing, gravy, whatever you put on the cake.”
Yet Stew, author and star of “Passing Strange,” the story of one man’s journey through sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, did Miranda two better. He received four nominations for the same show — actor, score, book and orchestrations of a musical. It’s the first time that’s happened since Elizabeth Swados received four nominations in 1978 for “Runaways.”
“I would have been happy with whatever they gave us because this whole experience has been so unprecedented for us as rock musicians,” said Stew, who is making his Broadway debut in “Passing Strange.”
“So we’re just surprised that we actually walk to work every day and the show’s still standing there. We’re surprised anytime we go on stage.”
Tradition was served by Lincoln Center Theater’s elegant revival of “South Pacific.” The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, first seen on Broadway nearly 60 years ago, received 11 nominations, including one for musical revival where its competition is “Gypsy,” “Sunday in the Park With George” and “Grease.”
As expected, “August: Osage County,” already a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, received a best-play nomination — and six others. Tracy Letts’ play about a dysfunctional Oklahoma family faces “The 39 Steps,” Patrick Barlow’s spoof of the Alfred Hitchcock film favorite; Conor McPherson’s “The Seafarer,” a Yuletide tale of a devilish poker game; and Tom Stoppard’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll,” a look at recent Czech history interspersed with a cavalcade of pop music.
There were a few starry names in the acting categories, most notably Patrick Stewart, Laurence Fishburne and S. Epatha Merkerson.
“There’s never been an actor who has had greater, brilliant support than I do from our other 17 actors,” said a jubilant Stewart, who plays the title character in “Macbeth,” imported from England’s Chichester Festival. “So in ... this fantastically creative environment, (director) Rupert (Goold) just set me free to explore this poor, sad, murderous madman and have as much fun with it as possible.”
Said Fishburne, now playing Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in the one-man show “Thurgood”: “I am totally, completely shocked and amazed by all of this. More than that, I am grateful and truly blessed that every night I get to play one of the most compelling and extraordinary men from the 20th century.”
Their competition for the actor-play prize include Ben Daniels, a scheming nobleman in “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”; Mark Rylance, a mild-mannered visitor to Paris in “Boeing-Boeing”; and Rufus Sewell, an accidental Czech dissident in “Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
“I started in the theater, so it’s a real honor for me to get the recognition from the theater community because it’s really where my roots are,” said Merkerson of her portrayal of a lonely housewife in a revival of William Inge’s “Come Back, Little Sheba.”
Merkerson faces Eve Best, the sexually provocative wife in “The Homecoming”; Kate Fleetwood, Stewart’s bloody helpmate in “Macbeth”; and two women from “August: Osage County,” Deanna Dunagan and Amy Morton, who play a combative mother and daughter.
Patti LuPone as a ferocious stage mother in “Gypsy” heads the list of nominees for the actress-musical prize. Others nominated include Kelli O’Hara as the sunny Nellie Forbush of “South Pacific”; Faith Prince, the unhappily married mother in “A Catered Affair”; Jenna Russell, the artist’s lover in “Sunday in the Park With George”; and Kerry Butler, a roller-skating Greek muse in “Xanadu.”
Besides Miranda and Stew, the actor-musical nominees are Paulo Szot, the French plantation owner in “South Pacific”; Daniel Evans, painter Georges Seurat in “Sunday in the Park With George”; and Tom Wopat, the resentful husband in “A Catered Affair.”
Yet some big-name actors were left out of the Tony mix — most notably Kevin Kline, Nathan Lane and James Earl Jones. Snubbed for a coveted best-musical slot were Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein,” Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” and “A Catered Affair.” Left without any nominations at all were the popular revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and the Mike Nichols-directed production of “The Country Girl.”
A special lifetime achievement Tony will go to Stephen Sondheim, with a special Tony awarded posthumously to orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett, who died in 1981. The regional theater Tony will go to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
The winners in 26 competitive categories will be announced June 15 in a three-hour CBS telecast from Radio City Music Hall.
TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS
Best Play
August: Osage County
Author: Tracy Letts
Producers: Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel, Ostar Productions, Jennifer Manocherian, The Weinstein Company, Debra Black/Daryl Roth, Ronald & Marc Frankel/Barbara Freitag, Rick Steiner/Staton Bell Group, The Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Rock 'n' Roll
Author: Tom Stoppard
Producers: Bob Boyett & Sonia Friedman Productions, Ostar Productions, Roger Berlind, Tulchin/Bartner, Douglas G. Smith, Dancap Productions, Jam Theatricals, The Weinstein Company, Lincoln Center Theater, The Royal Court Theatre London
The Seafarer
Author: Conor McPherson
Producers: Ostar Productions, Bob Boyett, Roy Furman, Lawrence Horowitz, Jam Theatricals, Bill Rollnick/Nancy Ellison Rollnick, James D'Orta, Thomas S. Murphy, Ralph Guild/Jon Avnet, Philip Geier/Keough Partners, Eric Falkenstein/Max OnStage, The National Theatre of Great Britain
The 39 Steps
Author: Patrick Barlow
Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Harold Wolpert, Julia C. Levy, Bob Boyett, Harriet Newman Leve/Ron Nicynski, Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley, Manocherian Golden Prods., Olympus Theatricals/Douglas Denoff, Marek J. Cantor/Pat Addiss, Huntington Theatre Company/Nicholas Martin/Michael Maso, Edward Snape for Fiery Angel Ltd.
Best Musical
Cry-Baby
Producer: Adam Epstein, Allan S. Gordon, ����lan V. McAllister, Brian Grazer, James P. MacGilvray, Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Anne Caruso, Adam S. Gordon, Latitude Link, The Pelican Group, Philip Morgaman, Andrew Farber/Richard Mishaan
In The Heights
Producers: Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller, Jill Furman, Sander Jacobs, Goodman/Grossman, Peter Fine, Everett/Skipper
Passing Strange
Producers: The Shubert Organization, Elizabeth Ireland McCann LLC, Bill Kenwright, Chase Mishkin, Barbara & Buddy Freitag, Broadway Across America, Emily Fisher Landau, Peter May, Boyett Ostar, Larry Hirschhorn, Janet Pailet/Steve Klein, Elie Hirschfeld/Jed Bernstein, Spring Sirkin/Ruth Hendel, Vasi Laurence/Pat Flicker Addiss, Wendy Federman/Jackie Barlia Florin, Joey Parnes, The Public Theater, The Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Producers: Robert Ahrens, Dan Vickery, Tara Smith/B. Swibel, Sarah Murchison/Dale Smith
Best Book of a Musical
Cry-Baby
Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan
In The Heights
Quiara Alegr����a Hudes
Passing Strange
Douglas Carter Beane
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Cry-Baby
Music & Lyrics: David Javerbaum & Adam Schlesinger
In The Heights
Music & Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda
The Little Mermaid
Music: Alan Menken
Lyrics: Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater
Passing Strange
Music: Stew and Heidi Rodewald
Lyrics: Stew
Best Revival of a Play
Boeing-Boeing
Producers: Sonia Friedman Productions, Bob Boyett, Act Productions, Matthew Byam Shaw, Robert G. Bartner, The Weinstein Company, Susan Gallin/Mary Lu Roffe, Broadway Across America, Tulchin/Jenkins/DSM, The Araca Group
The Homecoming
Producers: Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Jam Theatricals, Ergo Entertainment, Barbara & Buddy Freitag, Michael Gardner, Herbert Goldsmith Productions, Terry E. Schnuck, Harold Thau, Michael Filerman/Lynne Peyser, Ronald Frankel/David Jaroslawicz, Love Bunny Entertainment
Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Harold Wolpert, Julia C. Levy
Producers: Duncan C. Weldon & Paul Elliott, Jeffrey Archer, Bill Ballard, Terri & Timothy Childs, Rodger Hess, David Mirvish, Adriana Mnuchin, Emanuel Azenberg, BAM, The Chichester Festival Theatre
Best Revival of a Musical
Producers: Paul Nicholas and David Ian, Nederlander Presentations Inc., Terry Allen Kramer, Robert Stigwood
Producers: Roger Berlind, The Routh-Frankel-Baruch-Viertel Group, Roy Furman, Debra Black, Ted Hartley, Roger Horchow, David Ian, Scott Rudin, Jack Viertel
Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
Producers: Lincoln Center Theater, Andr���� Bishop, Bernard Gersten, Bob Boyett
Sunday in the Park with George
Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Harold Wolpert, Julia C. Levy, Bob Boyett, Debra Black, Jam Theatricals, Stephanie P. McClelland, Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley, Barbara Manocherian/Jennifer Manocherian, Ostar Productions, The Menier Chocolate Factory/David Babani
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Ben Daniels, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood
Mark Rylance, Boeing-Boeing
Rufus Sewell, Rock 'n' Roll
Patrick Stewart, Macbeth
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Eve Best, The Homecoming
Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County
Kate Fleetwood, Macbeth
S. Epatha Merkerson, Come Back, Little Sheba
Amy Morton, August: Osage County
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Daniel Evans, Sunday in the Park with George
Lin-Manuel Miranda, In The Heights
Stew, Passing Strange
Paulo Szot, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
Tom Wopat, A Catered Affair
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Kerry Butler, Xanadu
Patti LuPone, Gypsy
Kelli O'Hara, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
Faith Prince, A Catered Affair
Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park with George
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Bobby Cannavale, Mauritius
Raul Esparza, The Homecoming
Conleth Hill, The Seafarer
Jim Norton, The Seafarer
David Pittu, Is He Dead?
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Sinead Cusack, Rock 'n' Roll
Mary McCormack, Boeing-Boeing
Laurie Metcalf, November
Martha Plimpton, Top Girls
Rondi Reed, August: Osage County
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Daniel Breaker, Passing Strange
Danny Burstein, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
Robin De Jesus, In The Heights
Christopher Fitzgerald, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
Boyd Gaines, Gypsy
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
de'Adre Aziza, Passing Strange
Laura Benanti, Gypsy
Andrea Martin, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
Olga Merediz, In The Heights
Loretta Ables Sayre, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Peter McKintosh, The 39 Steps
Scott Pask, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Todd Rosenthal, August: Osage County
Anthony Ward, Macbeth
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
David Farley and Timothy Bird & The Knifedge Creative Network, Sunday in the Park with George
Anna Louizos, In The Heights
Robin Wagner, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
Michael Yeargan, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
Best Costume Design of a Play
Gregory Gale, Cyrano de Bergerac
Rob Howell, Boeing-Boeing
Katrina Lindsay, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Peter McKintosh, The 39 Steps
Best Costume Design of a Musical
David Farley, Sunday in the Park with George
Martin Pakledinaz, Gypsy
Paul Tazewell, In The Heights
Catherine Zuber, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Kevin Adams, The 39 Steps
Howard Harrison, Macbeth
Donald Holder, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Ann G. Wrightson, August: Osage County
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Ken Billington, Sunday in the Park with George
Howell Binkley, In The Heights
Donald Holder, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
Natasha Katz, The Little Mermaid
Best Sound Design of a Play
Simon Baker, Boeing-Boeing
Adam Cork, Macbeth
Ian Dickinson, Rock 'n' Roll
Mic Pool, The 39 Steps
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Acme Sound Partners, In The Heights
Sebastian Frost, Sunday in the Park with George
Scott Lehrer, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
Dan Moses Schreier, Gypsy
Best Direction of a Play
Maria Aitken, The 39 Steps
Conor McPherson, The Seafarer
Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County
Matthew Warchus, Boeing-Boeing
Best Direction of a Musical
Sam Buntrock, Sunday in the Park with George
Thomas Kail, In The Heights
Arthur Laurents, Gypsy
Bartlett Sher, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
Best Choreography
Rob Ashford, Cry-Baby
Andy Blankenbuehler, In The Heights
Christopher Gattelli, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
Dan Knechtges, Xanadu
Best Orchestrations
Jason Carr, Sunday in the Park with George
Alex Lacamoire & Bill Sherman, In The Heights
Stew & Heidi Rodewald, Passing Strange
Jonathan Tunick, A Catered Affair
