Kinky Boots leads the pack

The musical Kinky Boots, with the score by pop star Cyndi Lauper, on Tuesday earned 13 nominations for the Tony Awards, leading the field for Broadway’s highest honour, closely followed by British import Matilda, which received 12.

Matilda earned nominations for best book, score and for Matthew Warchus’ directing

Both shows were nominated for best musical, along with Bring it On and A Christmas Story. Lauper was nominated for best score along with book writer Harvey Fierstein and three members of the show’s cast.

Hollywood star Tom Hanks was nominated for best actor in his Broadway debut in the Nora Ephron play Lucky Guy, which received six nominations, including a best play nomination for Ephron, the writer and film director who died in June.

Also nominated for best play were The Assembled Parties, The Testament of Mary and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.

A revival of Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy led play nominations with eight, including director Bartlett Sher.

Several Hollywood stars, including Cicely Tyson, Laurie Metcalf, Holland Taylor and David Hyde Pierce also won nominations for acting in plays.

Taylor earned a nomination for her portrayal of former Texas Governor Ann Richards in Ann but Bette Midler was left out for her star turn as agent Sue Mengers in I’ll Eat You Last.

Another glaring omission was one of the season’s biggest box-office hits, Motown the Musical, about the record label founded by Berry Gordy, in the best musical category. The show received only four nominations, including one for actress Valisia LeKae who plays Diana Ross.

Other top-nominated shows included the first Broadway revival of the 1970s hit Pippin, which took 10 nominations, and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, which received nine nods. Both were cited for best revival of a musical, along with Annie and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

The other best revival of a play nominees included Orphans, The Trip to Bountiful and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which won nominations for lead actors Tracy Letts and Amy Morton.

The strong showing by Kinky Boots, an adaptation of a little-seen British movie about a struggling shoe factory that reinvents itself by making boots for drag queens, was a surprise to many who expected the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Roald Dahl’s Matilda, an Olivier-Award winner in London, to dominate.

Boots received nominations for Fierstein, director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell and both male leads, Stark Sands and Billy Porter, in addition to several technical awards.

Matilda earned nominations for best book, score and for Matthew Warchus’ directing. Three cast members were also nominated, notably actor Bertie Carvel, who plays the fearsome school headmistress in the ecstatically reviewed show.

The nominations were announced by Sutton Foster and Jesse Tyler Ferguson. The awards will be presented on June 9 at Radio City Music Hall.

Tony Awards nominations

Best musical:
Bring It On
A Christmas Story
Kinky Boots
Matilda

Best play:
The Assembled Parties by Richard Greenberg
Lucky Guy by Nora Ephron
The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang

Best revival of a play:
Golden Boy
Orphans
The Trip to Bountiful
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Best revival of a musical:
Annie
The Mystery of Edwin
Drood Pippin
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella

Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play:
Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy
Nathan Lane, The Nance
Tracy Letts, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
David Hyde Pierce, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Tom Sturridge, Orphans

Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a play:
Laurie Metcalf, The Other Place
Amy Morton, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Kristine Nielsen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Holland Taylor, Ann
Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful

Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical:
Bertie Carvel, Matilda
Rob McClure, Chaplin
Santino Fontana, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Billy Porter, Kinky Boots
Stark Sands, Kinky Boots

Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical:
Stephanie J. Block, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Carolee Carmello, Scandalous
Valisia LeKae, Motown the Musical
Patina Miller, Pippin
Laura Osnes, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella

Top nominated show:
Kinky Boots –13 nominations
Matilda –12 nominations
Pippin – 10 nominations
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella – nine nominations
Golden Boy – eight nominations
Lucky Guy – six nominations
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike – six nominations