By SHARON EBERSON
The 2024 Tony Award nominations were announced today, with many shows having opened just this month to earn consideration. The mad scramble for Tonys voters included shows that are multiple nominees, including best musical nods for Hell’s Kitchen, The Outsiders, Illinoise and Suffs.
In fact, only Water for Elephants among the top musical nominees opened earlier. The musical features a book by Rick Elice and, in their Broadway debut, music and lyrics by PigPen Theatre Co. – seven artists who began creating their unique brand of theater, music, stagecraft and film as freshmen at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in 2007. The artists of PigPen – Alex Falberg, Arya Shahi, Ben Ferguson, Curtis Gillen, Daniel Weschler, Matt Nuernberger and Ryan Melia – performed their musical The Old Man and the Old Moon at City Theatre in 2017.
Water for Elephants earned seven nominations. The top vote-getters were musicals Hell’s Kitchen and Stereophonic, with 13 each, followed by The Outsiders (12), Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (9), Appropriate (8) and Merrily We Roll Along and Water for Elephants (7).
Among nominees with Pittsburgh ties, Tony Award winner and CMU alum Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton’s Aaron Burr) was nominated as lead actor in a play, for the revival of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch.
Two Carnegie Mellon alums, Will Brill and Sarah Pidgeon, were nominated as best featured actor and actress, respectively, for their roles in the play Stereophonic.
Leigh Silverman, a1996 School of Drama alumna, was nominated as best director for the musical Suffs, and playwright Joshua Harmon, who received his MFA from the School of Drama, was nominated for best play, Prayer for the French Republic.
Producer Jamie deRoy, Class of ’67, received five nominations: revival of a musical for Cabaret, Gutenberg! The Musical!, Merrily We Roll Along and The Who’s Tommy, as well as for the play Stereophonic. Hamilton costume designer Paul Tazewell, who was an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon, earned his ninth nomination for Suffs.
The nominations were announced by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Renee Elise Goldsberry, the Tony winner who and alumna of CMU’s College of Fine Arts, who will be awarded a 2024 Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree at the commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 12.
The 2024 Tony Awards will be broadcast live from the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City on Sunday, June 16, 2024. It will be the first time that the Tonys will take place on the Lincoln Center campus.
BEST MUSICAL
Hell’s Kitchen
Illinoise
The Outsiders
Suffs
Water for Elephants
BEST PLAY
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Mary Jane
Mother Play
Prayer for the French Republic
Stereophonic
BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
Appropriate
An Enemy of the People
Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Gutenberg! The Musical!
Merrily We Roll Along
The Who’s Tommy
BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL
Kristoffer Diaz, Hell’s Kitchen
Bekah Brunstetter, The Notebook
Adam Rapp and Justin Levine, The Outsiders
Shaina Taub, Suffs
Rick Elice,Water for Elephants
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Adam Guettel, Days of Wine and Roses
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, Here Lies Love
Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance) and Justin Levine, The Outsiders
Will Butler, Stereophonic
Shaina Taub, Suffs
BEST LEAD ACTOR PERFORMANCE, PLAY
William Jackson Harper, Uncle Vanya
Leslie Odom Jr., Purlie Victorious
Liev Schreiber, Doubt: A Parable
Jeremy Strong, An Enemy of the People
Michael Stuhlbarg, Patriots
BEST LEAD ACTRESS PERFORMANCE, PLAY
Betsy Aidem, Prayer for the French Republic
Jessica Lange, Mother Play
Rachel McAdams, Mary Jane
Sarah Paulson, Appropriate
Amy Ryan, Doubt: A Parable
BEST LEAD ACTOR PERFORMANCE, MUSICAL
Brody Grant, The Outsiders
Jonathan Groff, Merrily We Roll Along
Dorian Harewood, The Notebook
Brian d’Arcy James, Days of Wine and Roses
Eddie Redmayne, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
BEST LEAD ACTRESS PERFORMANCE, MUSICAL
Eden Espinosa, Lempicka
Maleah Joi Moon, Hell’s Kitchen
Kelli O’Hara, Days of Wine and Roses
Maryann Plunkett, The Notebook
Gayle Rankin, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
BEST FEATURED ACTOR PERFORMANCE, PLAY
Will Brill, Stereophonic
Eli Gelb, Stereophonic
Jim Parsons, Mother Play
Tom Pecinka, Stereophonic
Corey Stoll, Appropriate
BEST FEATURED ACTRESS PERFORMANCE, PLAY
Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Doubt: A Parable
Juliana Canfield, Stereophonic
Celia Keenan-Bolger, Mother Play
Sarah Pidgeon, Stereophonic
Kara Young, Purlie Victorious
BEST FEATURED ACTOR PERFORMANCE, MUSICAL
Roger Bart, Back To The Future: The Musical
Joshua Boone, The Outsiders
Brandon Victor Dixon, Hell’s Kitchen
Sky Lakota-Lynch, The Outsiders
Daniel Radcliffe, Merrily We Roll Along
Steven Skybell, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
BEST FEATURED ACTRESS PERFORMANCE, MUSICAL
Shoshana Bean, Hell’s Kitchen
Amber Iman, Lempicka
Nikki M. James, Suffs
Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Monty Python’s Spamalot
Kecia Lewis, Hell’s Kitchen
Lindsay Mendez, Merrily We Roll Along
Bebe Neuwirth, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
BEST SCENIC DESIGN, PLAY
dots, Appropriate
dots, An Enemy of the People
Derek McLane, Purlie Victorious
David Zinn, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
David Zinn, Stereophonic
BEST SCENIC DESIGN, MUSICAL
AMP featuring Tatiana Kahvegian, The Outsiders
Robert Brill and Peter Nigrini, Hell’s Kitchen
Takeshi Kata, Water for Elephants
David Korins, Here Lies Love
Riccardo Hernández and Peter Nigrini, Lempicka
Tim Hatley and Finn Ross, Back To The Future: The Musical
Tom Scutt, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
BEST COSTUME DESIGN, PLAY
Dede Ayite, Appropriate
Dede Ayite, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Enver Chakartash, Stereophonic
Emilio Sosa, Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
David Zinn, An Enemy of the People
BEST COSTUME DESIGN, MUSICAL
Dede Ayite, Hell’s Kitchen
Linda Cho, The Great Gatsby
David Israel Reynoso, Water for Elephants
Tom Scutt, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Paul Tazewell, Suffs
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN, PLAY
Isabella Byrd, An Enemy of the People
Amith Chandrashaker, Prayer for the French Republic
Jiyoun Chang, Stereophonic
Jane Cox, Appropriate
Natasha Katz, Grey House
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN, MUSICAL
Brandon Stirling Baker, Illinoise
Isabella Byrd, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Natasha Katz, Hell’s Kitchen
Bradley King and David Bengali, Water for Elephants
Brian MacDevitt and Hana S. Kim, The Outsiders
BEST SOUND DESIGN, PLAY
Justin Ellington and Stefania Bulbarella, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Leah Gelpe, Mary Jane
Tom Gibbons, Grey House
Bray Poor and Will Pickens, Appropriate
Ryan Rumery, Stereophonic
BEST SOUND DESIGN, MUSICAL
M.L. Dogg and Cody Spencer, Here Lies Love
Kai Harada, Merrily We Roll Along
Nick Lidster for Autograph, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Gareth Owen, Hell’s Kitchen
Cody Spencer, The Outsiders
BEST DIRECTION, PLAY
Daniel Aukin, Stereophonic
Anne Kauffman, Mary Jane
Kenny Leon, Purlie Victorious
Lila Neugebauer, Appropriate
Whitney White, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
BEST DIRECTION, MUSICAL
Maria Friedman, Merrily We Roll Along
Michael Greif, Hell’s Kitchen
Leigh Silverman, Suffs
Jessica Stone, Water for Elephants
Danya Taymor, The Outsiders
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Annie-B Parson, Here Lies Love
Camille A. Brown, Hell’s Kitchen
Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman, The Outsiders
Justin Peck, Illinoise
Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll, Water for Elephants
BEST ORCHESTRATIONS
Timo Andres, Illinoise
Will Butler and Justin Craig, Stereophonic
Justin Levine, Matt Hinkley and Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance), The Outsiders
Tom Kitt and Adam Blackstone, Hell’s Kitchen
Jonathan Tunick, Merrily We Roll Along
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