FILE - This file photo provided by Jeffrey Richards Associates shows Audra McDonald as Billie Holiday in "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill." McDonald on Tuesday, April 29, 2014 earned a Tony nomination for "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill," meaning she is in a position to make history as the Tonys' first grand-slam performance winner. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Richards Associates, Evgenia Eliseeva, File)
NEW YORK â It was a brutal Tuesday morning for some A-list stars on Broadway.
Snubbed for Tony Award nominations were Denzel Washington, James Franco, Zachary Quinto, Michelle Williams, Orlando Bloom, Ethan Hawke, Zach Braff, Billy Crudup, Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig. Daniel Radcliffe struck out for his third consecutive Broadway show.
Neil Patrick Harris, who won a nomination for his brilliant performance in the punk-rock show âHedwig and the Angry Inch,â said he was surprised by the final list. But heâs been a Tony host and knows from experience the process is often rough.
âHaving been the host in previous years, itâs always interesting and surprising,â he said. âItâs a small group of people that nominate and youâre never quite sure what theyâre responding to. That being said, it does get to showcase the talents of people who often donât get their moment in the spotlight.â
One ofw the winners on Tuesday was unconventional musicals: âA Gentlemanâs Guide to Love and Murder,â a romp with a leading man killed eight times, led the field with 10 nods. It was followed by âHedwig and the Angry Inch,â a rock concert by a transgender German, with eight, and âAfter Midnight,â a candy sampler of stunning dance and singing acts, with seven.
When the dust settled, the musicals up for the Tonyâs biggest prize are: âAfter Midnight,â âA Gentlemanâs Guide to Love and Murder,â âAladdin,â and âBeautiful: The Carole King Musical.â Not one of the shows has a big movie star.
âItâs going to be a really exciting Tony race to watch,â said Scott Sanders, who produced âAfter Midnight,â which celebrates Duke Ellingtonâs years at the Cotton Club nightclub. (The nomination happened to come on Ellingtonâs birthday.) âThe four shows could not be more different in many ways.â
Another big winner was the old master himself â Shakespeare. The Mark Rylance-led productions of âRichard IIIâ and âTwelfth Nightâ from London together scooped up eight nominations.
Rylance will compete in the best leading actor in a play category with Samuel Barnett, also in âTwelfth Night,â Bryan Cranston in âAll The Way,â Chris OâDowd in âOf Mice and Menâ and Tony Shalhoub in âAct One.â
The Shakespeare productions â performed by an all-male cast and seeking to replicate how the plays were produced in the Bardâs day â also extended the trend on Broadway toward embracing drag.
Last year, âKinky Bootsâ and âMatilda the Musicalâ featured leading men dressed as women. This year has âCasa Valentina,â Harvey Fiersteinâs play about straight cross-dressers, and âHedwig and the Angry Inch,â starring Neil Patrick Harris in a skirt. Even âGentlemanâs Guideâ features Jefferson Mays playing both genders.
While not all Hollywood stars came away empty-handed â Cranston, as expected, won a nod for playing Lyndon Johnson in âAll the Wayâ â the lack of nominations for Broadway veterans from the film world such as Washington, Radcliffe, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, or first-timers, like Franco and Williams, was striking.
âIâm heartbroken that she wasnât nominated,â said Danny Burstein, who got his fifth nod, about his âCabaretâ co-star Williams, who plays as Sally Bowles. âShe is so fantastic in the show. And in all my years, I have never seen anyone work harder,â he said.
One of the spots that likely may have gone to a Hollywood star instead went to Andy Karl, who transformed his body over three years into a fearsome boxer to play the title role in âRocky.â
âItâs nice to know it was worth the time and effort,â he said. âIâve never done anything quite this extensive. Itâs truly an acting piece, itâs truly a musical piece, itâs truly a physical piece.â
Five-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald earned a leading actress in a play nomination for âLady Day at Emersonâs Bar & Grill.â Thatâs the one female acting category in which she hasnât already notched at least one win, meaning she is in a position to make history as the Tonysâ first grand-slam performance winner.
McDonald, who plays Billie Holiday, goes up against Tyne Daly from âMothers and Sons,â LaTanya Richardson Jackson of âA Raisin in the Sun,â Cherry Jones from âThe Glass Menagerieâ and Estelle Parsons in âThe Velocity of Autumn.â
The best new play category has James Lapineâs âAct One,â Terrance McNallyâs âMothers and Sons,â Robert Schenkkanâs âAll the Way,â John Patrick Shanleyâs âOutside Mullingarâ and âCasa Valentina.â
Tony Award-winner Idina Menzel, the âFrozenâ singer who got a dose of attention when John Travolta mangled her name at the Oscars, got a nomination for her role in âIf/Then.â The show itself didnât get a best musical nomination, though the music did.
âIâm disappointed. I wonât lie. Iâm disappointed, but Iâm also really excited about being nominated. Being back in the Broadway community is where I feel at most home. I didnât come back for many years because I wanted to find something that I felt really strongly about.â
She will compete in June with a very impressive group of women: Mary Bridget Davies in âA Night with Janis Joplin,â Sutton Foster in âViolet,â Mueller in âBeautiful: The Carole King Musicalâ and Kelli OâHara of âThe Bridges of Madison County.â
Some 870 Tony voters â members of professional groups such as The Broadway League and Actorsâ Equity Association â will decide the final awards, which will be handed out June 8 at Radio City Music Hall.
One actor who will be there with a smile is James Monroe Iglehart, who plays the rambunctious genie in Disneyâs âAladdin.â
âI know it sounds cliche, but Iâm so happy to be nominated. I get to sit down at the Tonys. Iâm not in the back. Iâm not watching it on television. I get to sit. Thereâs a ticket with my name on it,â Iglehart said. âAnd I donât have to pay for it!â
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Associated Press National Writer Jocelyn Noveck in New York contributed to this report.
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Online: http://www.tonyawards.com
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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits