Tony Award Nominations for the 2024-25 New York Theater season were announced yesterday, May 1. And while many nominations were predicted and expected, there were not only some notable omissions, but also some surprising differences from the Drama Desk nominations announced the day before. But, where they were most alike is in the celebration of feel-good, happy ending-style musicals, with 10 nominations each for Death Becomes Her, Buena Vista Social Club, and Maybe Happy Ending.
Dead Outlaw, the little musical that could (and which has probably the biggest critical acclaim), received seven nominations!
In plays, making up for the oversight by the Drama Desk, Purpose garnered six nominations, including a Best Actor nod for Jon Michael Hill (he’ll have a tough go of it, as he’s up against George Clooney for Good Night, And Good Luck). Pundits are scratching their heads at the exclusion of Phylicia Rashad from the Best Director category for her excellent work on Purpose. One can easily surmise that she’s radioactive because of her continued unequivocal support for convicted rapist Bill Cosby—the MeToo movement still has power and influence. Similarly, despite her strong performance in Sam Gold’s disastrous Romeo+Juliet, Rachel Zegler’s political comments on social media (concerning the war in Gaza, largely), likely cost her a nomination.
In more uplifting news, Audra McDonald’s much deserved nomination for her performance in Gypsy is her 11th, which appears to be record-breaking. No actor or actress has been nominated as many times. And Kara Young, nominated for Best Featured Actress in Purpose has now received that nomination four years running! She won just once—last year for Purlie Victorious—but has a fighting chance of winning again this year.
And though many of the celebrity snubs kept going—including, once again, Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhal for Othello (there’s probably some political intrigue afoot here, especially because of the play’s hyper-inflated ticket price); and Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga, David Hyde Pierce, Bill Burr, and Kieran Culkin, to name but a few—there were some surprising celebrity nominations, most notably Mia Farrow’s nod for The Roommate, despite its tepid reviews. Sometimes the Tonys likes to nominate actors who might not appear on the boards again . . .
It’ll be an interesting month to see opinions change about various productions and performances; and the June 8 Tony Awards will surely be thrilling, yielding quite a few surprises as well as disappointments. But the bigger question is how this year’s nominations will affect the 2025-26 season. Will there be another Shakespeare drought? Will broad-appeal, lightweight musicals be all the rage? Will we see the end of $900 tickets? Time will tell.
2025 Tony Awards Nominations
(for a full list, go to the Tony Awards page)
Best Musical:
Buena Vista Social Club
Dead Outlaw
Death Becomes Her
Maybe Happy Ending
Operation Mincemeat
Best Play:
English
The Hills of California
John Proctor Is the Villain
Oh, Mary!
Purpose
Best Revival of a Play:
Eureka Day
Romeo and Juliet
Our Town
Yellow Face
Best Revival of a Musical:
Floyd Collins
Gypsy
Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Sunset Blvd.
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical:
Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending
Andrew Durand, Dead Outlaw
Tom Francis, Sunset Boulevard
Jonathan Groff, Just in Time
James Monroe Iglehart, A Wonderful World
Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical:
Megan Hilty, Death Becomes Her
Audra McDonald, Gypsy
Jasmine Amy Rogers, Boop! The Musical
Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Boulevard
Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play:
George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck
Cole Escola, Oh, Mary!
Jon Michael Hill, Purpose
Daniel Dae Kim, Yellow Face
Harry Lennix, Purpose
Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play:
Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California
Mia Farrow, The Roommate
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Purpose
Sadie Sink, John Proctor Is the Villain
Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical:
Brooks Ashmanskas, SMASH
Jeb Brown, Dead Outlaw
Danny Burstein, Gypsy
Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical
Taylor Trensch, Floyd Collins
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical:
Natalie Venetia Belcon, Buena Vista Social Club
Julia Knitel, Dead Outlaw
Gracie Lawrence, Just in Time
Justina Machado, Real Women Have Curves: The Musical
Joy Woods, Gypsy
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play:
Glenn Davis, Purpose
Gabriel Ebert, John Proctor is the Villain
Francis Jue, Yellow Face
Bob Odenkirk, Glengarry Glen Ross
Conrad Ricamora, Oh, Mary!
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play:
Tala Ashe, English
Jessica Hecht, Eureka Day
Marjan Neshat, English
Fina Strazza, John Proctor is the Villain
Kara Young, Purpose
Best Direction of a Play:
Knud Adams, English
Sam Mendes, The Hills of California
Sam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary!
Danya Taymor, John Proctor is the Villain
Kip Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Best Direction of a Musical:
Saheem Ali, Buena Vista Social Club
Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending
David Cromer, Dead Outlaw
Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
Jamie Lloyd, Sunset Blvd.
Tony Nominations by Production:
Buena Vista Social Club – 10
Death Becomes Her – 10
Maybe Happy Ending – 10
Dead Outlaw – 7
John Proctor Is the Villain – 7
Sunset Blvd. – 7
The Hills of California – 7
Floyd Collins – 6
Just in Time – 6
Purpose – 6
The Picture of Dorian Gray – 6
English – 5
Good Night, and Good Luck – 5
Gypsy – 5
Oh, Mary! – 5
Stranger Things: The First Shadow – 5
Operation Mincemeat – 4
BOOP! The Musical – 3
Yellow Face – 3
Eureka Day – 2
Real Women Have Curves: The Musical – 2
SMASH – 2
A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical – 1
Glengarry Glen Ross – 1
Pirates! The Penzance Musical – 1
Romeo + Juliet – 1
Swept Away – 1
The Roommate – 1
Thornton Wilder’s Our Town – 1
