London plays were at the centre of the celebrations at this year’s Tony Awards nominations announcement, with the Broadway transfer of the National Theatre’s Angels In America attaining a record-setting 11 nominations, the highest of any play.
The nine-time Olivier Award-winning Harry Potter And The Cursed Child followed close behind with 10 nominations, while there were also 5 nods for Shakespeare’s Globe’s Farinelli And The King, 4 for the Menier Chocolate Factory’s Travesties, and 2 for the Royal Court Theatre’s The Children. Three of these – The Children, Farinelli And The King, and Harry Potter And The Cursed Child – were nominated in the Best Play category, up against Junk and Latin History For Morons.
Angels In America’s total of 11 nominations was only eclipsed by new Broadway musicals Mean Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants, who both scored 12 each.
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But it was in the acting categories where West End representation was at its strongest. In Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, four of the five nominees were British, including Andrew Garfield (Angels In America), Tom Hollander (Travesties), Jamie Parker (who claimed the equivalent Olivier Award last year for Harry Potter And The Cursed Child), and Mark Rylance (Farinelli And The King, for which he was also a 2016 Olivier nominee). They are pitted against Denzel Washington (for The Iceman Cometh).
In Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play, Irish actress Denise Gough – who won the equivalent Olivier this year – was nominated for Angels In America, up against British actresses Susan Brown (also Angels In America), Noma Dumezweni (last year’s Olivier winner, for Harry Potter And The Cursed Child), and Deborah Findlay (for The Children).
Other nominated West End performers included Glenda Jackson (Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women), Harry Hadden-Paton (for My Fair Lady), Anthony Boyle (Olivier winner for Harry Potter And The Cursed Child), Gavin Lee (for SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical), and Diana Rigg (for My Fair Lady).
West End creatives were also broadly celebrated: Marianne Elliott (Angels In America), Patrick Marber (Travesties) and John Tiffany (Harry Potter…) will contest Best Direction of a Play, while in Best Sound Design of a Play, Brits Adam Cork (Travesties), Ian Dickinson for Autograph (Angels In America), Gareth Fry (Olivier winner for Harry Potter…) and Tom Gibbons (1984) are all up for the award, along with Dan Moses Schreier (The Iceman Cometh).
There are also nods for regular London creatives including Adrian Sutton for Best Original Score; Miriam Buether, Jonathan Fensom, Christine Jones (Olivier winner for Harry Potter), and Ian MacNeil and Edward Pierce, for Best Scenic Design of a Play; Fensom, Nicky Gillibrand and Katrina Lindsay (Olivier winner for Harry Potter) for Best Costume Design of a Play; Neil Austin (Olivier winner for Harry Potter), Paule Constable, and Paul Russell for Best Lighting Design of a Play; and Steven Hoggett for Best Choreography.
The winners will be unveiled at the Tony Awards ceremony on Sunday 10 June, which will take place at Radio City Music Hall. Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban will co-host proceedings.
For a full list of nominees visit the Tony Awards website.