Inspired by Alicia Keys’ musical “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Stereophonic” earned a Tony nomination

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”).

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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.