NEW YORK (AP) – Two Broadway shows celebrating the early days of sound creation – the musical “Hell’s Kitchen” powered by the songs of Alicia Keys and the play “Stereophonic” about a Nineteen Seventies rock band on the cusp of stardom – each won top honors Tuesday with 13 nominations Tony Awards – this list also included a record number of girls nominated for best director.

A complete of 28 shows earned a minimum of a Tony nod, including the musical “The Outsiders,” an adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s beloved novel and Francis Ford Coppola film, which earned 12 nominations; the star-studded revival of “Cabaret” starring Eddie Redmayne, scoring nine; and “Appropriate,” a moving play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins about a family reunion in Arkansas during which everyone has conflicting motivations and grievances, won a total of eight.

The nominations meant breaking Tony’s record for most ladies mentioned in a single season. The 2022 Tony Awards broke the record for most ladies nominated for steering, with a total of 4 in each the musical and theater categories. Only 10 women have won the director’s crown.

This 12 months, three women received nominations for best director – Lila Neugebauer (“Suitable”), Anne Kauffman (“Mary Jane”) and Whitney White (“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”) – and the musical category received 4 nominations – Maria Friedman (” Let’s Roll”), Leigh Silverman (“Suffs”), Jessica Stone (“Water for Elephants”) and Danya Taymor (“The Outsiders”).

“One thing I feel is that it’s starting to seem less extraordinary, which is great news,” Stone said after her nomination. “We are directors, not women directors. I’m noticing this more and more and it’s a great thing to think about. It’s a wonderful place.”

Rachel McAdams, making her Broadway debut in “Mary Jane,” earned a nomination for best actress in a play, while “Succession” star Jeremy Strong received his first-ever nomination for the revival of “An Enemy of the People” and Liev Schreiber of “Ray Donovan” fame won one for his starring role in “Doubt.” Jessica Lange in “Mother Play,” Sarah Paulson in “Appropriate” and Amy Ryan, who joined the last-minute revival of “Doubt,” also earned nominations for best actress in a play.

“The Big Bang Theory” star Jim Parsons earned a nod in a supporting role for “Mother Play,” and Daniel Radcliffe, in his fifth Broadway show, a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along,” earned his first nomination.

Redmayne, in his second Broadway show, was named Outstanding Leading Actor in a Musical, together with Brian d’Arcy James for “Days of Wine and Roses,” Brody Grant for “The Outsiders,” Jonathan Groff for “Merrily We Roll Along” and 73-year-old Dorian Harewood in “The Notebook”, an adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ romantic tearjerker. Harewood, in its first Broadway show in 46 years, earned its first Tony nomination.

It was one among three nominations for “The Notebook,” however the musical’s composer, Ingrid Michaelson, didn’t receive a nomination, nor did Barry Manilow for “Harmony.” Former Arcade Fire member Will Butler was expected to get a nod for his rating for “Stereophonic,” and he did.

Redmayne’s “Cabaret” co-star Gayle Rankin earned a nomination for best actress in a musical, as did Eden Espinosa in “Lempicka,” Maleah Joi Moon in “Hell’s Kitchen,” Kelli O’Hara in “Days of Wine and Roses” and 71 -year-old Maryann Plunkett, who plays the older wife within the series “The Notebook”.

Steve Carell didn’t earn a nod in his Broadway debut within the poorly received revival of the classic “Uncle Vanya,” but star producers who did earn Tony nods include Keys, Angelina Jolie (for “The Outsiders”) and Hillary Rodham Clinton ( for “The Outsiders”) “Enough”).

Featured Stories

The best recent musical crown will likely be a battle between “Hell’s Kitchen,” “The Outsiders,” the dance-heavy, dialogue-free stage adaptation of Sufjan Stevens’ 2005 album “Illinois,” “Suffs,” based on early Twentieth-century American suffragists, and “Water for Elephants.” , which mixes Sara Green’s 2006 bestseller with circus elements.

In Best New Play, Tony will pair “Stereophonic” with “Mother Play,” Paula Vogel’s play about a mother and her children from 1964 to the twenty first century; “Mary Jane” – a humanistic portrait of a divorced mother of a boy with health problems, performed by Amy Herzog; “A Prayer for the French Republic” – an in depth family comedy-drama by Joshua Harmon that touches on the topics of Zionism, religious fervor and anti-Semitism; and “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” a comedy by Jocelyn Bioh in regards to the lives of West African women working in a salon.

Actor-turned-producer Lamar Richardson had plenty to smile about Tuesday. He helped produce recent reboots of “The Wiz,” “Merrily We Roll Along” and “Appropriate.”

“I really think this is Broadway at its best,” he said. “There really is something for everyone. It’s the quintessential jukebox musical. There is a niche moving three-player game. I think it’s really a smorgasbord of what Broadway can offer, and showcasing that is obviously still a major player in the arts scene. And it will remain so.”

A spring flood of recent shows – this 12 months 14 shows opening in 11 days – is just not unusual nowadays as producers hope to maintain their work fresh in voters’ minds ahead of the June 16 Tony Awards ceremony.

This season featured several premieres, corresponding to “Here Lies Love,” which featured the primary all-Filipino forged on Broadway and earned 4 nominations, including best original rating for David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim. Seven actors with overt autism starred in “How to Dance in Ohio,” the primary Broadway show that did not win Tony over.

Oscar winner and Tony nominee Ariana DeBose, who hosted the ceremony in 2023 and 2022, will return this 12 months to supply and choreograph the opening theme song.

This 12 months’s location – the David H. Koch Theater – is the house of the New York City Ballet, positioned in the identical sprawling constructing complex because the Lincoln Square Theater that houses the Beaumont Theater on Broadway.

Like last 12 months, the three-hour primetime special will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ from 8:00-11:00 p.m. EDT/5:00-8:00 p.m. PDT with a pre-show on Pluto TV and where the Tony Awards were presented .

This 12 months’s Broadway performance – roughly $1.4 billion in gross revenue and 11.1 million admissions – is barely lower than the 2022-2023 season, representing a revenue decline of roughly 4% and a 1% decline in admissions.

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers’ championship hopes got here to an abrupt end on April 29. However, the 108-106 loss in Game 5 of the first-round playoff series was overshadowed by a verbal exchange between James and an off-court brawler.

Multiple videos of the exchange appeared on social media, showing a frustrated James.

“They (referees) are f***ing terrible,” James appeared to say as his frustration took over within the second half. He believed the Nuggets player had committed a foul and was upset that the officials didn’t blow the whistle.

His comment about officiating the game appeared to prompt the fan in query to make use of tearful gestures to mock the basketball icon. James saw the fan’s gesture after which startled her, causing her to flinch.

The woman then decided to repeat the insult, shouting, “You’re a crybaby.”

The video later shows James smiling as he mocks the fan on the basketball court and apparently accuses her of being a “terrible ass.”

The NBA, greater than some other major skilled sport within the U.S., gives fans close access to its players. Courtside seating places fans just just a few feet away from athletes, and players sometimes interact with fans before, during and after games. But close access also has its disadvantages.

A tense moment between James and a Nuggets fan sparked a fury of reactions.

“LeBron is being ridiculed by Karens now. That’s how far he’s fallen. All this to maintain attempting to catch Jordan. “This is embarrassing,” one person wrote on X

“That fake foul changed the entire dynamic of the game.” – said one other person. Third added“If it was Draymond, he would have been suspended.”

James has handled loads of hecklers throughout his 21-year NBA profession. Security needed to intervene during halftime of a match on January 24, 2023, when a fan began yelling at James.

“Hey Bron! Hey, Bron!” said the person, who apparently had seats on the ground. “You higher get your act together! With that receding hairline!

He continued: “Look, he’s crazy! Look at him! You sick!”

James scored 30 points in Game 5 of the Western Conference first round because the Lakers lost one other playoff series to the defending NBA champions. The Nuggets eliminated Los Angeles last season within the Western Conference Finals.

The Lakers’ offseason will likely be filled with uncertainty. Although James has played for the purple and gold for the past six years, he was undecided about his future plans with the team following their recent playoff exit.

“I’m not going to answer that question,” James told reporters after being asked if he thought he had played his last game for the Lakers.

He also said he “didn’t put much thought into the factors he would consider when considering a decision regarding his future in the NBA.” “Obviously sooner or later I’ll meet with Rich, my agent, meet with my family and see what’s best for my profession. We will exceed this when essential.

A couple of hours before the start of the Knicks-76ers series, I texted Marc Lamont Hill. I asked, “Do you want to bet on this series or are you (not a real man)?” There aren’t any other options.” (We’ve been boyfriends for a very long time, so we argue with one another sometimes.) He asked, “What are the stakes?” I said, “$100 plus, go on the Internet and tell me I’m smarter than you. Not smarter than you at basketball. Just smarter than you. For some reason he decided to make a bet. Maybe I actually am smarter than him.

Hill is an avid Philadelphia sports fan. You can have seen him sitting in the front row at Sixers games. He is considered one of the most famous individuals who commonly goes to Sixers games. You might say, but wait, Hill is not that famous. You’d be right. It was a dig. Also, like Kendrick, he wears size 7 shoes. Let’s proceed.

If you might be a bettor, you like seeing people betting wholeheartedly. And should you like trolling people, there’s nothing higher than teasing a person when his team’s season is coming to an end. It hurts when your teams lose. I like to make this pain worse.

Hill hates when his teams lose. So as soon as his team gets eliminated, I show up on his phone and say some silly shit. One time, right when his team was losing, I texted, “I’m sorry for your loss.” He immediately wrote back: “You are a monster.” We are friends, I promise.

We have not bet on the Knicks and Sixers before because the Knicks have been garbage for many of the last twenty years, but we did bet on the Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants. He will bet on any team that has Philadelphia in its name. I believe I’ve probably taken a number of meals out of his kid’s mouths over the last decade. #Kanyeshrug.

Of course, we don’t place bets and remain silent. What’s so funny about that? If my white male friends and I are betting on a sporting event, I stay quiet and polite until it’s throughout. But in Hill’s case, or really any black friend’s case, if we’re betting on something, it means I’ve mainly paid for the right to troll you so long as my team wins. You cannot turn me off since you’re bored with hearing my mouth. That was the point of putting money on the line. You cannot ignore a person while you owe him money, and while you lose a bet, it’s technically the same as him owing you money. I do not make the rules.

Featured Stories

Considering Hill mainly owes me money, he has to listen to me tell him how bad his favorite team is and the way silly he was to bet money on it. I like this part. It’s not enough to win the bet, you furthermore may have to discover a place to tell your friend that he was an idiot for putting the bet.

Consider this essay as one other example of all this. I’m trolling Hill at the moment. On Grio.com. I tell him his team is on the brink of losing and he cannot trust the process. If you’re thinking that I’ve been disrespectful in the press, you must see what I tell him in my text messages. You know he’s a real friend when you’ll be able to talk wildly and meanly to one another and it’s all love. It’s me and Hill. My brother called me a monster and I laughed.

Either way, the Knicks are on the cusp of ending off the Sixers, and I’m here dunking on Hill. In the immortal words of Ice Cube, today is a fantastic day. The thing is, I’m not a Knicks fan. I hate their owner, James Dolan, who some people think he’s worst owner in sports. It was also called “stupidest owner in sports” I am unable to support him. There’s just one thing I’ll put aside my hatred for Dolan for, and that’s the likelihood to troll Dr. Hill. Can you think it – I’d reasonably Dolan be blissful than Hill. I hate Dolan and I like Hill, but still. True friends don’t desire the other person to be blissful in sports.

Hill will owe me $100. Please support his bookstore, Uncle Bobbyso that he has enough money to pay me.

Tonight, after the Knicks win, please go to Hill’s Instagram page and look out for the video where Hill says Touré is smarter than Hill. I do know him. He’s going to post it on his story so it goes away. All right. I will repost it on my grid. It will live there ceaselessly.