Neil Patrick Harris, Harvey Fierstein, and Cherry Jones are among the many gay nominees and honorees announced today for this year's Tony Awards, which will be presented June 8. Looking star Jonathan Groff and Elementary star Lucy Liu announced the nominations live this morning from New York's Paramount Hotel. See a full list of nominees here.
Harris is nominated for Best Actor in a Musical for his role as Hedwig, an East German singer living as a female after gender-reassignment surgery, in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which is nominated for Best Revival of a Musical. He is up against Ramin Karimloo for Les Miserables, Andy Karl for Rocky, and A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder stars Jefferson Mays and Bryce Pinkham. Rocky also scored gay choreographer Stephen Hoggett a Best Choreographer nomination.
Competing in the all-important Best Musical category are After Midnight, Disney's Aladdin--which includes a nomination for Chad Beguelin for Best Book--Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and A Gentleman's Guide To Love And Murder, which led the way with 10 total noms. Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway was snubbed and did not receive a nomination despite its glitzy, expensive production.
Hedwig's eight nominations also include recognition for out director Michael Mayer and for supporting actress Lena Hall, who plays Hedwig's husband, Yitzhak.
Jones is nominated for Best Actress in a Play for her role as fading Southern belle Amanda Wingfield in the Tennessee Williams classic The Glass Menagerie, which is also nominated for Best Revival of a Play and directed by John Tiffany (who was also nominated for Best Director). Jones will compete against Tyne Daly for Mothers and Sons, Latanya Richardson Jackson for A Raisin in the Sun, Audra McDonald for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, and Estelle Parsons for The Velocity of Autumn. Although all of his co-stars received acting nominations, Zachary Quinto did not receive a nomination for his role in The Glass Menagerie.
Fierstein's Casa Valentina, his new play about straight men who congregate in the Catskills to dress and act like women, is nominated for Best Play. Its competition includes Terrence McNally's emotionally charged gay-themed drama, Mothers and Sons. Other out nominees include actors Samuel Barnett and Stephen Fry for their performances in the all-male production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
It was previously announced that Rosie O'Donnell will receive the Isabelle Stevenson Award, presented "annually to a member of the theater community who has made a substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian, social service or charitable organizations." O'Donnell is being honored for her commitment to arts education for New York City's public school children.
The awards show, hosted by Hugh Jackman, will be broadcast live June 8 on CBS.
