Tony Awards 2012: ‘Once,’ ‘Porgy and Bess’ among top nominees

NEW YORK -- The Tony Awards spread the love around Tuesday morning, bestowing multiple top nominations on the musicals “Follies,� “Once� and “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess� as well as on the dramas “Other Desert Cities� and “Death of a Salesman.�

Best play nominations went to “Clybourne Park,� “Other Desert Cities,� “Peter and the Starcatcher� and “Venus in Fur.�

“Newsies,� “Nice Work If You Can Get It,� “Leap of Faith� and “Once� were nominated for best new musical.

The best revival of a play short list included “Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman,� “Master Class,� “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man� and “Wit.�

Tony nominatons 2012: The full list

“Evita,� “Follies,� “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess� and “Jesus Christ Superstar� received nominations for best revival of a musical.

Overall, “Once� led with 11 nominations, followed by “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess� and “Nice Work If You Can Get It,� with 10 each.
On the acting side, James Corden (“One Man, Two Guvnors�), Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Death of a Salesman�) James Earl Jones (“Gore Vidal’s The Best Man�), Frank Langella (“Man and Boy�) and John Lithgow (“The Columnist�) all received nods for performance by an actor in a play.

Nina Arianda (“Venus in Fur�), Tracie Bennett (“End of the Rainbow,�), Stockard Channing (“Other Desert Cities�), Linda Lavin (“The Lyons�) and Cynthia Nixon (“Wit�) are the nominees for performance by an actress in a play.

Danny Burstein and Ron Raines of “Follies� were each nominated for performance by an actor in a leading role of a musical, joined by Jeremy Jordan (“Newsies�), Steve Kazee (“Once�) and Norm Lewis (“The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess�).

The actress side of the category included Jan Maxwell of “Follies� as well as Audra McDonald (“The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess�), Cristin Milioti (“Once�), Kelli O’Hara (“Nice Work if You Can Get It�) and Laura Osnes (“Bonnie and Clyde�).

The 2012 Tony Award calendar of events

“Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,� which was eligible in the Tony competition for the first time, landed just two nominations, both in technical categories, including best scenic design of a musical and best costume design of a musical.

The race is considered wide open without a prohibitive favorite this year, compared with last year’s sure-fire “The Book of Mormon.�

The Tonys ceremony is scheduled to take place June 10 at the Beacon Theatre in New York and to be broadcast live on CBS, with a three-hour delay for the West Coast.

Neil Patrick Harris is once again to serve as host for the ceremony.

RELATED:

Theater review: “Once� on Broadway

Theater review: “Death of a Salesman� on Broadway

“The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess�: What did the critics think?