What show and which actors are the leading contenders?
Keep an eye on “Maybe Happy Ending,” “Dead Outlaw” and “Buena Vista Social Club” in the best musical category, and “Purpose,” “John Proctor Is the Villain” and “Oh, Mary!” in the new play category. (There will be at least five nominations in each of those categories.)
There are a number of strong contenders for best actress in a musical, but the front-runners seem to be Audra McDonald, already a six-time Tony winner, for “Gypsy,” and Nicole Scherzinger, a former member of the Pussycat Dolls, for “Sunset Boulevard.” The race for best actor in a musical is more open, but is likely to feature Darren Criss of “Maybe Happy Ending,” Andrew Durand of “Dead Outlaw,” Tom Francis of “Sunset Boulevard,” Jonathan Groff of “Just in Time” and Jeremy Jordan of “Floyd Collins.”
What about all those celebrities?
A few of them — Sarah Snook of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and Sadie Sink of “John Proctor Is the Villain,” for example — have a good shot at picking up a nomination. It’s much iffier for some of the others, including Denzel Washington (“Othello”), George Clooney (“Good Night, and Good Luck”), Robert Downey Jr. (“McNeal”), Mia Farrow (“The Roommate”), Jim Parsons (“Our Town”) and Nick Jonas (“The Last Five Years”).
Is there anything we know for certain?
Yup! Some noncompetitive awards have already been announced. The actor Harvey Fierstein, a four-time Tony winner (for performing in “Torch Song Trilogy” and “Hairspray” and for writing “Torch Song Trilogy” and the book for “La Cage Aux Folles”), will receive the annual prize for lifetime achievement. The actress Celia Keenan-Bolger, a Tony winner for “To Kill a Mockingbird,” will receive the annual Isabelle Stevenson Award, which recognizes volunteerism. And this year’s Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theater are being given to “Great Performances,” the PBS arts program; Michael Price, the former executive director of Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut; New 42, which runs rehearsal studios and a children’s theater on 42nd Street; and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Who determines the nominations?
There is a nominating committee made up of people who have considerable knowledge about theater, but who do not work on, or have a financial interest in, any of the season’s shows. The committee started with 65 members, but because of recusals, 54 participated in selecting the nominees.
