麻豆影视

Skip to main content

'A Strange Loop' earns a leading 11 Tony Award nominations

This combination of three separate photos shows, from left, James Jackson, Jr., Jaquel Spivey, L. Morgan Lee during a performance of "A Strange Loop, " Brittney Mack during a performance of "Six," and Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster during a production of "The Music Man." Nominations for this year's Tony Awards will be announced on Monday, May 9. (Polk & Co. via AP, from left, Boneau/Bryan Brown via AP, O & M Co./DKC via AP) This combination of three separate photos shows, from left, James Jackson, Jr., Jaquel Spivey, L. Morgan Lee during a performance of "A Strange Loop, " Brittney Mack during a performance of "Six," and Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster during a production of "The Music Man." Nominations for this year's Tony Awards will be announced on Monday, May 9. (Polk & Co. via AP, from left, Boneau/Bryan Brown via AP, O & M Co./DKC via AP)
Share
NEW YORK -

鈥淎 Strange Loop,鈥 Michael R. Jackson's critically cheered theater meta-journey earned a leading 11 Tony Award nominations Monday as Broadway joined the national discussion of race by embracing an envelope-pushing Black-written and Black-led musical.

Jackson's 2020 Pulitzer Prize drama winner about a Black gay man writing a show about a Black gay man earned nods for best musical, best leading man in newcomer Jaquel Spivey and best featured actress for L Morgan Lee, who becomes the first openly transgender performer to be nominated for a Tony Award. The show also was nominated for scenic design, lighting, sound, orchestrations, Stephen Brackett's direction and John-Andrew Morrison for featured actor.

鈥淚 hoped my collaborators would be acknowledged. That actually, in a weird way, was much more exciting to me,鈥 Jackson told The Associated Press. 鈥淓ven if we hadn't gotten any nominations, I would have been disappointed, but I also would have known how powerful the show has been resonating with people.鈥

Playwright Lynn Nottage had two reasons to smile Monday morning: Her book for the Michael Jackson musical 鈥淢J鈥 was nominated for best book and her play 鈥淐lyde's鈥 got a nod for best play.

鈥淭his has been a historic season for a multitude of reasons. There's been a diversity of Black voices on Broadway in unprecedented numbers. Theater came back after being dark for almost two years and we made art while facing down COVID. And so this feels particularly good given all of the circumstances,鈥 Nottage said.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson of 鈥淢odern Family鈥 fame got a nomination for 鈥淭ake Me Out,鈥 as did Jesse Williams, the 鈥淕rey's Anatomy鈥 star making his Broadway debut. Williams thanked the audience for coming with him on a complex ride.

鈥淭his is my first time having this experience in the box, having experience on stage, and that fellowship, that dynamic, that partnership, that reliance we have with each other, that interplay with the audience is critical and something new to me. So it's a thrilling ride,鈥 Williams said.

Right behind 鈥淎 Strange Loop鈥 is a tie with 10 nominations each for 鈥淢J,鈥 a bio musical of the King of Pop stuffed with his biggest hits, and 鈥淧aradise Square,鈥 a musical about Irish immigrants and Black Americans jostling to survive in New York City around the time of the Civil War.

The rest of the best new musical category includes 鈥淪ix,鈥 the corrective feminist take on the six wives of England's Henry VIII, 鈥淕irl From the North Country,鈥 which uses the songs of Bob Dylan to weave a Depression-era story in the Midwest, and 鈥淢r. Saturday Night,鈥 a reworking of Billy Crystal's film about a bitter, old insult comic chasing a last laugh.

Two of the best play nominees are about economics - 鈥淪keleton Crew,鈥 Dominique Morisseau's play about blue-collar job insecurity in a Detroit auto stamping plant in 2008, and 鈥淭he Lehman Trilogy,鈥 Stefano Massini's play spanning 150 years about what led to the collapse of financial giant Lehman Brothers.

There's also 鈥淐lyde's,鈥 Nottage's play about a group of ex-cons trying to restart their lives at a truck stop diner, and 鈥淭he Minutes,鈥 Tracey Letts' depiction of a small-town city council meeting that exposes backstabbing, greed and the larger delusions in American history. 鈥淗angmen,鈥 Martin McDonagh's look at an executioner-turned-pub owner forced to grapple with his past when capital punishment is made illegal in the United Kingdom, also earned a best play nod.

One of its actors is Alfie Allen, making his Broadway debut and who got nominated as a featured actor. 鈥淚'm out having some pancakes, and I am having a lovely morning,鈥 he said. The 鈥淗angmen鈥 ensemble has been welcoming, he said, like a family: 鈥淓verybody was just so supportive of each other, and I'm still pinching myself a little bit. It's amazing.鈥

There were four musical revivals during the season, but only three got nominations: 鈥淭he Music Man鈥 which celebrates America's soul with a traveling con man in a small Iowa town starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, who each have two Tonys and were each nominated this time as well.

The two other entries in the musical revival category are 鈥淐aroline, Or Change,鈥 Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's show that explores America's racial, social and economic divisions in 1963 Louisiana, and 鈥淐ompany,鈥 Stephen Sondheim's exploration of a single person's conflicted feelings about commitment, this time with a gender-switching of the lead character. That left 鈥淔unny Girl,鈥 the classic American show starring Beanie Feldstein about the rise of a comic star of the Ziegfeld Follies, out of the running - it got only one nod, for Jared Grimes as best featured actor in a musical.

Grimes, a triple threat whose heroes include Sammy Davis Jr. and Gregory Hines and whose performance includes an electrifying tap dance number, took the traditionally white character Eddie Ryan and remade it as a young Black man.

鈥淓ddie Ryan is a big leap for us in the direction of just understanding that we can be everything and anything. We just need a chance,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 like to think that we're making good strides.鈥

Nominations for best play revival are 鈥淭rouble in Mind,鈥 Alice Childress' play about a Broadway play that explores the racial divide in the 1950s, 鈥淗ow I Learned to Drive,鈥 Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning memory play told by the survivor of childhood sexual abuse, starring two nominees: Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse and 鈥淎merican Buffalo,鈥 David Mamet's look at loyalty and greed set in a junk shop starring Laurence Fishburne, Darren Criss and Sam Rockwell, the latter the only actor in the play nominated.

The others are 鈥淭ake Me Out,鈥 Richard Greenberg's exploration of what happens when a baseball superstar comes out as gay, and 鈥渇or colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enough,鈥 playwright Ntozake Shange's exploration of Black womanhood. That work also made history: Camille A. Brown the first Black woman to direct and choreograph a Broadway play since 1955 earned nominations in both categories.

Brown noted the amazing amount of Black playwrights represented this season and wanted to acknowledge another Black woman in her category: Lileana Blain-Cruz, who was nominated for directing a revival of 鈥淭he Skin of Our Teeth.鈥

鈥淚'd love to see more Black female directors get opportunities to direct on Broadway, more people of color sharing stories and just for it to continue to expand,鈥 she said, on her way to celebrate with her mother.

The season - with a whopping 34 new productions - represents a full return to theaters after nearly two years of a pandemic-mandated shutdown. Many nominees talked about how they had worried theater might never return.

鈥淚'm just so grateful, and also just so happy that Broadway is alive and well,鈥 said Jennifer Simard, nominated for 鈥淐ompany.鈥 鈥淏ecause there was a minute there when I wasn't sure we'd be back after the pandemic. So I am so grateful.鈥

Neither Matthew Broderick nor his wife Sarah Jessica Parker earned nominations for a revival of 鈥淧laza Suite,鈥 but Patti LuPone got one for 鈥淐ompany鈥 and so did LaChanze for 鈥淭rouble in Mind.鈥 Ruth Negga earned a nomination for 鈥淢acbeth,鈥 but her co-star Daniel Craig came up empty. Tony-winner Phylicia Rashad got her first nomination in more than 15 years with 鈥淪keleton Crew鈥 and 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥 veteran Rachel Dratch earned a Tony nod in the feminist farce 鈥淧OTUS.鈥 One eye-raising decision was not to hand Katrina Lenk a nod for her work in 鈥淐ompany.鈥

The nominees for best actress in a musical nominees are Sharon D Clarke of 鈥淐aroline, Or Change,鈥 Foster in 鈥淭he Music Man,鈥 Joaquina Kalukango for 鈥淧aradise Square,鈥 Carmen Cusack in 鈥淔lying Over Sunset鈥 and Mare Winningham in 鈥淕irl From the North Country.鈥

Joining Spivey, Jackman and McClure in the best actor in a musical category are Crystal for 鈥淢r. Saturday Night鈥 and Myles Frost, whose King of Pop in 鈥淢J鈥 was a moonwalking triumph. The best actor in a play category is dominated by the three leads in 鈥淭he Lehman Trilogy鈥 - Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Adrian Lester. The rest are Morse, Rockwell, Ruben Santiago-Hudson in 鈥淟ackawanna Blues鈥 and David Threlfall from 鈥淗angmen.鈥

The Tony Awards will be held at Radio City Music Hall on June 12. The ceremony will air live on CBS and Paramount+ starting at 8 p.m. ET. Film and stage star Ariana DeBose will host.

------

National Writer Jocelynn Noveck contributed to this report.

Here's a list of select nominations for the 2022 Tony Awards, announced Monday:

Best Musical: "Girl From the North Country," "MJ," "Mr. Saturday Night," "Paradise Square," "Six: The Musical," "A Strange Loop"

Best Play: "Clyde's," "Hangmen," "The Lehman Trilogy," "The Minutes," "Skeleton Crew"

Best Revival of a Play: "American Buffalo," "How I Learned to Drive," "Take Me Out," "Trouble in Mind," "for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf"

Best Revival of a Musical: "The Music Man," "Company," "Caroline, or Change"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play: Simon Russell Beale, "The Lehman Trilogy"; Adam Godley, "The Lehman Trilogy"; Adrian Lester, "The Lehman Trilogy"; David Morse, "How I Learned to Drive"; Sam Rockwell, "American Buffalo"; Ruben Santiago-Hudson, "Lackawanna Blues"; David Threlfall, "Hangmen"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play: Gabby Beans, "The Skin of Our Teeth"; LaChanze, "Trouble in Mind"; Ruth Negga, "Macbeth"; Deirdre O'Connell, "Dana H."; Mary-Louise Parker, "How I Learned to Drive"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical: Billy Crystal, "Mr. Saturday Night"; Myles Frost, "MJ"; Hugh Jackman, "The Music Man"; Rob McClure, "Mrs. Doubtfire"; Jaquel Spivey, "A Strange Loop"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical: Sharon D Clarke, "Caroline, or Change"; Carmen Cusack, "Flying Over Sunset"; Sutton Foster, "The Music Man;" Joaquina Kalukango, "Paradise Square"; Mare Winningham, "Girl From the North Country"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical: Jeannette Bayardelle, "Girl From the North Country"; Shoshana Bean, "Mr. Saturday Night"; Jayne Houdyshell, "The Music Man"; L Morgan Lee, "A Strange Loop"; Patti LuPone, "Company"; Jennifer Simard, "Company"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical: Matt Doyle, "Company"; Sidney DuPont, "Paradise Square"; Jared Grimes, "Funny Girl"; John-Andrew Morrison, "A Strange Loop"; A.J. Shively, "Paradise Square"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play: Uzo Aduba, "Clyde's"; Rachel Dratch, "POTUS"; Kenita R. Miller, "for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf"; Phylicia Rashad, "Skeleton Crew"; Julie White, "POTUS"; Kara Young, "Clyde's"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play: Alfie Allen, "Hangmen"; Chuck Cooper, "Trouble in Mind"; Jesse Tyler Ferguson, "Take Me Out"; Ron Cephas Jones, "Clyde's"; Michael Oberholtzer, "Take Me Out"; Jesse Williams, "Take Me Out"

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

The British Columbia election campaign is set to officially start today, with Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin issuing the writ for the Oct. 19 vote.

A northern Ontario man is facing a $12,000 fine after illegally shooting a moose near the Batchawan River.

Unusual flippered feet are making their way into the Saint Lawrence River this weekend. Led by underwater explorer and filmmaker Nathalie Lasselin, volunteer divers are combing the riverbed near Beauharnois in Mont茅r茅gie to remove hundreds of tires that have been polluting the aquatic environment for decades.

A sea lion swam free after a rescue team disentangled it near Vancouver Island earlier this week.

Local Spotlight

Cole Haas is more than just an avid fan of the F.W. Johnson Wildcats football team. He's a fixture on the sidelines, a source of encouragement, and a beloved member of the team.

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man鈥檚 best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.