NEW YORK —The musicals “Mean Girls” and “SpongeBob SquarePants” have each gotten 12 Tony nominations, leading the pack for the 2018 awards to be given out in June.
“The Band’s Visit,” ”Carousel” and “Angels in America” closely follow with 11 nods each.
Critic and audience favorite “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” has garnered 10, along with the revival of “My Fair Lady.”
Best musical nominees are “The Band’s Visit,” ”Frozen,” ”Mean Girls,” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.”
Best play nominees are “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” ”The Children,” “‘Farinelli and the King,” ”Junk” and “Latin History for Morons.”
Among the prominent names given acting nods are Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane for “Angels in America,” Denzel Washington for “The Iceman Cometh,” Glenda Jackson for “Three Tall Women,” Amy Schumer for “Meteor Shower,” Mark Rylance for “Farinelli and the King,” and Katrina Lenk for “The Band’s Visit.” The announcement was co-hosted by “Hamilton” alum Leslie Odom Jr. and Katharine McPhee, currently starring in “Waitress.”
That’s because most of the leading candidates on Broadway stages these days are derived from a film, TV or music, including “Harry Potter,” ”Mean Girls,” ”Frozen,” ”SpongeBob SquarePants,” ”Summer,” ”Escape to Margaritaville” and “The Band’s Visit.”
Best new musical nominations are expected for “The Band’s Visit,” based on a 2007 Israeli film about an accidental clash of cultures, and Tina Fey’s “Mean Girls,” which she adapted from her much-beloved and oft-quoted 2004 high school comedy movie.
Other shows hoping to score a nomination in that category are the goofy undersea adaptation “SpongeBob SquarePants,” Disney’s retelling of “Frozen,” the Hal Prince revue “Prince of Broadway,” the Jimmy Buffet musical “Escape to Margaritaville” and “Summer,” about disco diva Donna Summer
Plenty of nominations don’t necessarily lead to actual wins on Tony night. While “Hamilton” was nominated for 16 awards in 2016 and went on to win 11, just last year “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812” earned a leading 12 nominations but got just two technical awards on the big night.
