The Stage

Stoppard is top of the Brits for Tony nominations

Published Tuesday 15 May 2007 at 18:45 by Judd Hollander

Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia, received ten nominations, including one for Best Play, at this year’s Tony Awards in the US.

Utopia, actually three plays but considered one for award purposes, will be going up against Frost/Nixon, which originated at the Donmar Warehouse, as well as the late August Wilson’s final play, Radio Golf, and the comedy The Little Dog Laughed in the Best Play category. Utopia also picked up nominations for Lead Actor (Brian F O’Byrne), Featured Actor (Billy Crudup and Ethan Hawke), Featured Actress, (Jennifer Ehle and Martha Plimpton), Direction (Jack O’Brien) and for Scenic, Costume and Lighting Design In his category, O’Brien will be going up against Michael Grandage for Frost/Nixon, David Grindley for Journey’s End and Melly Still for the National Theatre’s Coram Boy.

The direction nomination was one of six nods Coram Boy received; the others being for Featured Actress in a Play (Xanthe Elbrick, Jan Maxwell), as well as for Scenic, Costume and Lighting Design

The critically acclaimed production of R C Sherriff’s World War I drama Journey’s End received a nomination for Best Revival, and will vie for the award against Brian Friel’s Translations, the drama Inherit the Wind, starring Brian Dennehy and Christopher Plummer; and Talk Radio, starring Liev Schreiber as an acid-tongued talk show host. Plummer and Schreiber will be going up against O’Byrne, Frank Langella from Frost/Nixon and Boyd Gaines (Journey’s End) in the Best Actor category.

The only show to receive more nominations than Utopia was the musical Spring Awakening, a story of teenage angst in a provincial German Town in the 1890s. Awakening got a nod for Best Musical and will go up against the Cameron Mackintosh/Walk Disney production of Mary Poppins, the tuner Grey Gardens and the Kander and Ebb tuner Curtains.Ê

Nominated for Best Revival of a Musical were the Broadway classic A Chorus Line; as well as The Apple Tree, 110 in the Shade and Stephen Sondheim’s Company, directed by John Doyle (who received a nomination for Best Director). Poppins also received nominations for Leading Actor in a Musical (Gavin Lee), Featured Actress (Rebecca Luker) as well as for Choreography, Scenic, Costume and Lighting Design.

Eve Best, who starred in the Old Vic’s production of A Moon for the Misbegotten, received a Best Actress nomination and will be going up against such competition as Vanessa Redgrave for The Year of Magical Thinking, Angela Lansbury in Deuce, Swoozie Kurtz in Heartbreak House and Julie White in The Little Dog Laughed. The nomination for Best was the only nod Misbegotten received.

The Tonys will be presented in a live three-hour televised broadcast from New York’s Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 10.

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A complete list of Tony nominations are:

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BEST PLAY

The Coast of Utopia

Frost/Nixon

The Little Dog Laughed

Radio Golf

BEST MUSICAL

Curtains

Grey Gardens

Mary Poppins

Spring Awakening

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY

Inherit the Wind

Journey’s End

Talk Radio

Translations

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL

The Apple Tree

A Chorus Line

Company

110 in the Shade

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL

Rupert Holmes and Peter Stone (Curtains)

Doug Wright (Grey Gardens)

Heather Hach (Legally Blonde The Musical)

Steven SaterÊ (Spring Awakening)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Curtains

Music: John Kander

Lyrics: Fred Ebb, John Kander and Rupert Holmes

Grey Gardens

Music: Scott Frankel

Lyrics: Michael Korie

Legally Blonde The Musical

Music and lyrics: Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin

Spring Awakening

Music: Duncan Sheik

Lyrics: Steven Sater

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY

Boyd Gaines, Journey’s End

Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon

Brian F O’Byrne, The Coast of Utopia

Christopher Plummer, Inherit the Wind

Liev Schreiber, Talk Radio

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Eve Best, A Moon for the Misbegotten

Swoozie Kurtz, Heartbreak House

Angela Lansbury, Deuce

Vanessa Redgrave, The Year of Magical Thinking

Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Michael Cerveris, LoveMusik

Raœl Esparza, Company

Jonathan Groff, Spring Awakening

Gavin Lee, Mary Poppins

David Hyde Pierce, Curtains

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Laura Bell Bundy, Legally Blonde The Musical

Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens

Audra McDonald, 110 in the Shade

Debra Monk, Curtains

Donna Murphy, LoveMusik

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY

Anthony Chisholm, Radio Golf

Billy Crudup, The Coast of Utopia

Ethan Hawke, The Coast of Utopia

John Earl Jelks, Radio Golf

Stark Sands, Journey’s End

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Jennifer Ehle, The Coast of Utopia

Xanthe Elbrick, Coram Boy

Dana Ivey, Butley

Jan Maxwell, Coram Boy

Martha Plimpton, The Coast of Utopia

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Brooks Ashmanskas, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me

Christian Borle, Legally Blonde The Musical

John Cullum, 110 in the Shade

John Gallagher Jr, Spring Awakening

David Pittu, LoveMusik

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Charlotte d’Amboise, A Chorus Line

Rebecca Luker, Mary Poppins

Orfeh, Legally Blonde The Musical

Mary Louise Wilson, Grey Gardens

Karen Ziemba, Curtains

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY

Michael Grandage, Frost/Nixon

David Grindley, Journey’s End

Jack O’Brien, The Coast of Utopia

Melly Still, Coram Boy

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL

John Doyle, Company

Scott Ellis, Curtains

Michael Greif, Grey Gardens

Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

Rob Ashford, Curtains

Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear, Mary Poppins

Bill T. Jones, Spring Awakening

Jerry Mitchell, Legally Blonde The Musical

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY

Bob Crowley and Scott Pask, The Coast of Utopia

Jonathan Fensom, Journey’s End

David Gallo, Radio Golf

Ti Green and Melly Still, Coram Boy

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins

Christine Jones, Spring Awakening

Anna Louizos, High Fidelity

Allen Moyer, Grey Gardens

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY

Ti Green and Melly Still, Coram Boy

Jane Greenwood, Heartbreak House

Santo Loquasto, Inherit the Wind

Catherine Zuber, The Coast of Utopia

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

Gregg Barnes, Legally Blonde The Musical

Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins

Susan Hilferty, Spring Awakening

William Ivey Long, Grey Gardens

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY

Paule Constable, Coram Boy

Brian MacDevitt, Inherit the Wind

Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner, and Natasha Katz, The Coast of Utopia

Jason Taylor, Journey’s End

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

Kevin Adams, Spring Awakening

Christopher Akerlind, 110 in the Shade

Howard Harrison, Mary Poppins

Peter Kaczorowski, Grey Gardens

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS

Bruce Coughlin, Grey Gardens

Duncan Sheik, Spring Awakening

Jonathan Tunick, LoveMusik

Jonathan Tunick, 110 in the Shade

BEST SPECIAL THEATRICAL EVENT

Jay Johnson: The Two and Only

Kiki and Herb Alive on Broadway

REGIONAL THEATRE TONY AWARD

Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, GA

NOMINATION TOTALS:

Spring Awakening - 11

The Coast of Utopia - 10

Grey Gardens - 10

Curtains - 8

Legally Blonde The Musical - 7

Mary Poppins - 7

Coram Boy - 6

Journey’s End - 6

110 in the Shade - 5

Inherit the Wind - 4

LoveMusik - 4

Radio Golf - 4

Company - 3

Frost/Nixon - 3

A Chorus Line - 2

Heartbreak House - 2

The Little Dog Laughed - 2

Talk Radio - 2

The Apple Tree - 1

Butley - 1

Deuce - 1

High Fidelity - 1

Jay Johnson: The Two and Only! - 1

Kiki and Herb Alive on Broadway - 1

Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me - 1

A Moon for the Misbegotten - 1

Translations - 1

The Year of Magical Thinking - 1

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For more information go to www.tonyawards.com