Tony Award-winning actors Sara Ramirez ("Spamalot") and David Hyde Pierce ("Curtains") prepare to announce the nominees for the American Theatre Wing's 2008 Tony Awards, in New York Tuesday, May 13, 2008. The winners in 26 competitive categories will be announced June 15 on CBS. Whoopie Goldberg will host the broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall.
"In the Heights," a rap, hip-hop and salsa flavored musical about Latino families in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood received 13 Tony Award nominations -- more than any other show. Lin-Manuel Miranda, center, the star and composer of the show, received two nominations of his own -- actor in a musical and score.
Tony nominees Paulo Szot, left, and Kelli O'Hara are shown in the Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's, "South Pacific." The lavish production, first produced on Broadway 60 years ago, took 11 nominations, including best revival of a musical.
2008 Tony Award nominees Boyd Gaines and Patti LuPone are shown, March 1, 2008, during a rehearsal of "Gypsy" in New York. The musical received seven nominations, including best revival of a musical, leading actress in a musical (LuPone) and featured actor in a musical (Gaines) and one for Arthur Laurents, 89, who wrote the book for the show in 1959 and directed this production.
"August: Osage County," already a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, received a best play nomination - and six others. Tracy Letts' tale about a dysfunctional Oklahoma family faces "The 39 Steps," "The Seafarer," and Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll" in the best play category.
Best musical nominee "Passing Strange" is the story of one man's journey through sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Stew, its author and star, received four of the musical's seven nominations - actor, score, book and orchestrations of a musical. It is the first time that has happened since Elizabeth Swados received four nominations in 1978 for "Runaways."
Actors, clockwise from foreground, Matt Cavenaugh, Leslie Kritzer, Lori Wilner, Harvey Fierstein, Philip Hoffman, Tom Wopat and Faith Prince are shown in a scene from "A Catered Affair." Wopat and Prince received nods as leading actor and leading actress in a musical.
"Xanadu," a spoof of the 1980s disco movie musical received four nominations, including best musical, choreography, book of a musical and leading actress in a musical, Kerry Butler (not shown).
Laurence Fishburne recieved a nomination for best actor in a play for "Thurgood," a one-man play depicting the life of Thurgood Marshall, who rose from a childhood in the back streets of Baltimore to become a Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Other nominees include Ben Daniels, "Les Liaisons Dangereuses"; Mark Rylance, "Boeing-Boeing"; Rufus Sewell, "Rock 'n' Roll" and Patrick Stewart, "Macbeth."
"Macbeth" received six Tony nominations, including best revival of a play, best actor for Patrick Stewart and best actress for Kate Fleetwood, shown in a scene from the play.
Best actor in a play nominees Conleth Hill and Jim Norton in a scene from Conor McPherson's "The Seafarer." The Yuletide tale of a devilish poker game also received nominations for best play and best direction.
A scene from the John Waters musical "Cry-Baby," which earned four nominations: Best musical, best book of a musical, choreography and original score.
Brian Cox, left, and Rufus Sewell, best actor in a play nominee, in a scene from Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll." The best play nominee, which received a total four nods, takes a look at recent Czech history interspersed with a cavalcade of pop music.
"Sunday in the Park With George," a nominee for best revival of a musical, received nine nods, including two for acting and one for direction. A special lifetime achievement Tony will go the musical's composer, Stephen Sondheim.
"Boeing-Boeing," a 1960s farce about a man juggling affairs with three airline stewardesses of different nationalities, received six nods, including best revival of a play, direction, sound design and costume design. Mary MacCormack and Mark Rylance, shown, received nods for best featured actress in a play and best actor, respectively. The play is up against "The Homecoming," "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" and "Macbeth."
The cast of "Grease" performs "Summer Nights." The show, which held tryouts for its lead characters on a reality TV show, was nominated for best revival of a musical. The other nominees in the category are "Gypsy," "South Pacific" and "Sunday in the Park With George."