The Golden Age love letter “Schmigadoon!” and the soaring vampire tale “The Lost Boys” led the 79th Tony Award nominations with 12 nods apiece Tuesday, setting up a down-to-the-wire race for best musical.
“Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York),” a charming British import that landed eight nominations, also lingers as a dark-horse contender at the ceremony honoring the best of the 2025-2026 Broadway season. The Celine Dion-powered parody “Titaníque” rounded out the best-musical field.
The Lincoln Center’s majestic “Ragtime” staging led all musical revivals with 11 nods during the announcement hosted by actors Darren Criss and Uzo Aduba. “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” and “The Rocky Horror Show,” the other nominees for best musical revival, scored nine each.
“Death of a Salesman,” a haunting mounting of the Arthur Miller classic, topped all plays with nine nominations, including recognitions for actors Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf and Christopher Abbott. It will compete against “Becky Shaw,” “Every Brilliant Thing,” “Fallen Angels” and “Oedipus” for best revival of a play.
Bess Wohl’s feminist memory play “Liberation” — winner of the Pulitzer Prize for drama Monday — and the neighborhood association satire “The Balusters” led all new plays with five nominations each. Those productions will compete against “Giant” and “Little Bear Ridge Road” for best play.
“Marjorie Prime” star June Squibb, 96, became the oldest performer to earn a Tony nomination when her name was called for best featured actress in a play. Lois Smith had set the record in 2020 when she was honored for “The Inheritance” at 89.
Pop star Pink will host the Tonys on June 7 at Radio City Music Hall. The show will be broadcast on CBS.
Here’s a rundown of the biggest snubs and surprises from Tuesday’s nominations:
Snub: Lea Michele
Lea Michele may be one of Broadway’s biggest draws, but the 39-year-old “Glee” alum has never been nominated for a Tony. (As a replacement, she wasn’t eligible for her acclaimed turn in “Funny Girl.”) The drought continued Tuesday, when she was overlooked for her performance as a chess prodigy entangled in a love triangle in the high-octane revival of “Chess.” Although the nominating committee wasn’t enamored by playwright Danny Strong’s radical reimagining of the 1986 show, it did find room for actors Nicholas Christopher, Bryce Pinkham and Hannah Cruz. So voters weren’t cold to “Chess” across the board — they just weren’t won over by Michele.
Surprise: Stephanie Hsu
Perhaps the decisive factor in Michele’s snub: the surprising 11th-hour announcement that “The Rocky Horror Show’s” Stephanie Hsu would be competing not as a featured actress but as a lead. Hsu, an Oscar nominee for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” earned her first Tony nod for playing the not-so-strait-laced Janet in the grungy revival of Richard O’Brien’s 1973 cult-favorite musical. And she wasn’t alone: Luke Evans was nominated for his domineering portrayal of the transsexual mad scientist Frank-N-Furter, and Rachel Dratch was recognized for playing the show’s bemused narrator.
Snub: Adrien Brody
A slew of big names, including Jon Bernthal (“Dog Day Afternoon”), James Corden (“Art”) and Keanu Reeves (“Waiting for Godot”), missed the cut in the stacked category of best actor in a play. But the biggest snub was two-time Oscar winner Adrien Brody, who plays a wrongfully convicted death row inmate in the fact-based drama “The Fear of 13.” The committee also overlooked Tessa Thompson’s supporting performance and Lindsey Ferrentino’s script while limiting one of the season’s buzziest new plays to two below-the-line nods.
Surprise: Will Harrison
“Punch,” James Graham’s docudrama about a British man convicted of manslaughter after landing a single blow in a bar fight, was largely overlooked despite winning best play at last month’s Olivier Awards in London. Its one nomination, however, was a stunner: Will Harrison, the “Daisy Jones & the Six” actor who played the guilt-ridden convict, sneaked into the best actor field at the expense of Brody and other buzzy contenders.
Snub: ‘Proof’
The 2001 production of David Auburn’s “Proof” racked up six nominations and won three (including best play). But the Thomas Kail-directed revival? Zilch. Ayo Edebiri, playing the role of a grieving daughter that won Mary-Louise Parker a Tony, couldn’t crack a crowded lead-actress category. Kara Young also missed out on a featured-actress nomination, ending her streak of four straight nods (and two consecutive wins) in that category. And Don Cheadle and Jin Ha were excluded from the featured-actor field.
Surprise: ‘Every Brilliant Thing’
It’s only a mild surprise that “Every Brilliant Thing” star Daniel Radcliffe squeezed into that competitive category of lead actor in a play alongside Lane, Harrison, John Lithgow (“Giant”) and Mark Strong (“Oedipus”). Yet few predicted that the unconventional production — a solo play that calls on the affable Radcliffe to recruit myriad audience members as his co-stars — would also crack the best-revival field ahead of “Proof,” “Marjorie Prime” and “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.”
Snub: ‘Cats’ scene stealers
“Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” a vibrant revival that reimagines Andrew Lloyd Webber’s nonsensical classic as an ode to queer ballroom culture, was rightfully showered in nominations. But André De Shields was the only cast member honored, earning a featured-actor slot for his magisterial portrayal of Old Deuteronomy. That’s a shame: Sydney Harcourt James’s swaggering Rum Tum Tugger, Emma Sofia’s mischievous Skimbleshanks and “Tempress” Chasity Moore’s yearning Grizabella all deserved serious consideration.
Surprise: ‘Fallen Angels’
Rose Byrne, fresh off an Oscar nomination for “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” figured to pick up a nod for her riotous performance as an adultery-minded socialite in the revival of Noël Coward’s “Fallen Angels.” But it was a pleasant surprise for co-star Kelli O’Hara to also make the lead-actress cut, rounding out a crowded category that also features Carrie Coon (“Bug”), Susannah Flood (“Liberation”) and Lesley Manville (“Oedipus”). And the sidesplitting farce landed an unexpected best-revival nomination to boot.
Snub: ‘Beaches’
Boy, the Tony nominators sure did not like “Beaches.” The critically panned tearjerker, which is playing to swaths of empty seats ahead of a national tour, was gunning for an original-score nomination in a year with five slots and just five musicals eligible in the category. Remarkably, the committee overlooked both “Beaches” and the fall flop “The Queen of Versailles,” and filled out the field with the scores from two plays: “Death of a Salesman” and “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.” So much for the producers’ hopes of taking “Beaches” on the road with a “Tony-nominated” rubber stamp.
Here is the full list of nominees:
Best musical
“The Lost Boys”
“Schmigadoon!”
“Titaníque”
“Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)”
Best play
“The Balusters” by David Lindsay-Abaire
“Giant” by Mark Rosenblatt
“Liberation” by Bess Wohl
“Little Bear Ridge Road” by Samuel D. Hunter
Best revival of a musical
“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”
“Ragtime”
“The Rocky Horror Show”
Best revival of a play
“Becky Shaw” by Gina Gionfriddo
“Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller
“Every Brilliant Thing” by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe
“Fallen Angels” by Noël Coward
“Oedipus” by Robert Icke
Lead actress in a musical
Sara Chase (“Schmigadoon!”)
Stephanie Hsu (“The Rocky Horror Show”)
Caissie Levy (“Ragtime”)
Marla Mindelle (“Titaníque”)
Christiani Pitts (“Two Strangers [Carry a Cake Across New York]”)
Lead actor in a musical
Nicholas Christopher (“Chess”)
Luke Evans (“The Rocky Horror Show”)
Joshua Henry (“Ragtime”)
Sam Tutty (“Two Strangers [Carry a Cake Across New York]”)
Brandon Uranowitz (“Ragtime”)
Lead actress in a play
Rose Byrne (“Fallen Angels”)
Carrie Coon (“Bug”)
Susannah Flood (“Liberation”)
Lesley Manville (“Oedipus”)
Kelli O’Hara (“Fallen Angels”)
Lead actor in a play
Will Harrison (“Punch”)
Nathan Lane (“Death of a Salesman”)
John Lithgow (“Giant”)
Daniel Radcliffe (“Every Brilliant Thing”)
Mark Strong (“Oedipus”)
Featured actress in a musical
Shoshana Bean (“The Lost Boys”)
Hannah Cruz (“Chess”)
Rachel Dratch (“The Rocky Horror Show”)
Ana Gasteyer (“Schmigadoon!”)
Nichelle Lewis (“Ragtime”)
Featured actor in a musical
Ali Louis Bourzgui (“The Lost Boys”)
André De Shields (“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”)
Bryce Pinkham (“Chess”)
Ben Levi Ross (“Ragtime”)
Layton Williams (“Titaníque”)
Featured actress in a play
Betsy Aidem (“Liberation”)
Marylouise Burke (“The Balusters”)
Aya Cash (“Giant”)
Laurie Metcalf (“Death of a Salesman”)
June Squibb (“Marjorie Prime”)
Featured actor in a play
Christopher Abbott (“Death of a Salesman”)
Danny Burstein (“Marjorie Prime”)
Brandon J. Dirden (“Waiting for Godot”)
Alden Ehrenreich (“Becky Shaw”)
Ruben Santiago-Hudson (“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”)
Richard Thomas (“The Balusters”)
Director of a musical
Michael Arden (“The Lost Boys”)
Lear deBessonet (“Ragtime”)
Christopher Gattelli (“Schmigadoon!”)
Tim Jackson (“Two Strangers [Carry a Cake Across New York]”)
Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch (“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”)
Director of a play
Nicholas Hytner (“Giant”)
Robert Icke (“Oedipus”)
Kenny Leon (“The Balusters”)
Joe Mantello (“Death of a Salesman”)
Whitney White (“Liberation”)
Original score
Caroline Shaw (“Death of a Salesman”)
Steve Bargonetti (“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”)
The Rescues (“The Lost Boys”)
Cinco Paul (“Schmigadoon!”)
Jim Barne and Kit Buchan (“Two Strangers [Carry a Cake Across New York]”)
Book of a musical
David Hornsby and Chris Hoch (“The Lost Boys”)
Cinco Paul (“Schmigadoon!”)
Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli and Tye Blue (“Titaníque”)
Jim Barne and Kit Buchan (“Two Strangers [Carry a Cake Across New York]”)
Scenic design of a play
Hildegard Bechtler (“Oedipus”)
Takeshi Kata (“Bug”)
David Korins (“Dog Day Afternoon”)
Chloe Lamford (“Death of a Salesman”)
David Rockwell (“Fallen Angels”)
Scenic design of a musical
Dots (“The Rocky Horror Show”)
Soutra Gilmour (“Two Strangers [Carry a Cake Across New York]”)
Rachel Hauck (“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”)
Dane Laffrey (“The Lost Boys”)
Scott Pask (“Schmigadoon!”)
Costume design of a play
Brenda Abbandandolo (“Dog Day Afternoon”)
Qween Jean (“Liberation”)
Jeff Mahshie (“Fallen Angels”)
Emilio Sosa (“The Balusters”)
Paul Tazewell (“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”)
Costume design of a musical
Linda Cho (“Ragtime”)
Linda Cho (“Schmigadoon!”)
Qween Jean (“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”)
Ryan Park (“The Lost Boys”)
David I. Reynoso (“The Rocky Horror Show”)
Lighting design of a play
Isabella Byrd (“Dog Day Afternoon”)
Natasha Chivers (“Oedipus”)
Stacey Derosier (“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”)
Heather Gilbert (“Bug”)
Heather Gilbert (“The Fear of 13”)
Jack Knowles (“Death of a Salesman”)
Lighting design of a musical
Kevin Adams (“Chess”)
Jen Schriever and Michael Arden (“The Lost Boys”)
Jane Cox (“The Rocky Horror Show”)
Adam Honoré and Donald Holder (“Ragtime”)
Donald Holder (“Schmigadoon!”)
Adam Honoré (“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”)
Sound design of a play
Justin Ellington (“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”)
Tom Gibbons (“Oedipus”)
Lee Kinney (“The Fear of 13”)
Josh Schmidt (“Bug”)
Mikaal Sulaiman (“Death of a Salesman”)
Sound design of a musical
Adam Fisher (“The Lost Boys”)
Kai Harada (“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”)
Kai Harada (“Ragtime”)
Brian Ronan (“The Rocky Horror Show”)
Walter Trarbach (“Schmigadoon!”)
Choreography
Christopher Cree Grant (“The Lost Boys”)
Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons (“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”)
Ellenore Scott (“Ragtime”)
Ani Taj (“The Rocky Horror Show”)
Orchestrations
Ethan Popp, Kyler England, Adrianne “AG” Gonzalez and Gabriel Mann (“The Lost Boys”)
Doug Besterman and Mike Morris (“Schmigadoon!”)
Lux Pyramid (“Two Strangers [Carry a Cake Across New York]”)
Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Wilson, Trevor Holder and Doug Schadt (“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”)
Brian Usifer (“Chess”)
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