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?