In the run-up to the Tony Awards, this is the time to figure out who to root for by catching as many nominated shows as possible. The new musicals “The Lost Boys” and “Schmigadoon!” lead with 12 nominations apiece, and a revival of the musical “Ragtime” is close behind with 11. “Death of a Salesman,” with nine, is the most nominated play. While some shows with limited engagements — “Bug,” “Liberation,” “Little Bear Ridge Road,” “Marjorie Prime,” “Oedipus,” “Punch” and “Waiting for Godot” — have already closed, most nominated productions are still onstage. So here is some advice on how to take them in before the 79th Tony Awards, set for June 7 at Radio City Music Hall.
If you don’t mind paying full price, buy your tickets on the production’s website or, to avoid convenience fees, in person at the theater box office. Comparison shopping can save you a lot, though, as long as you use trustworthy sources like TodayTix, BroadwayBox and TheaterMania, which often have discounts. Avoid buying tickets from unproven vendors; the risk of counterfeits isn’t worth it.
For those who are willing to buy very close to show time and leave details like seat location to chance, every nominated production — even the hottest — sells lottery or rush tickets, or both, at a substantial discount, the catch being that you have to win the lottery first, or snap up rush tickets before they run out. (Playbill keeps a detailed list of various policies.) Similarly, the TKTS booths, outdoors in Times Square and indoors at Lincoln Center, have an ever-changing inventory of heavily discounted same- or next-day tickets for in-person purchases. Multiple nominated shows have been among the recent offerings.
‘The Lost Boys’
Nominated for: Best musical, direction, featured actress, featured actor, choreography, scenic design, costume design, lighting design, sound design, book, score, orchestrations.
Joel Schumacher’s 1987 big-screen horror comedy about the beach town with the teen vampire problem has morphed into a musical, starring Shoshana Bean (“Hell’s Kitchen”) in the Dianne Wiest role of the mom who’s newly arrived there with her adolescent boys. With music and lyrics by the Rescues and a book by David Hornsby and Chris Hoch, it’s directed by Michael Arden. Among the show’s 12 Tony nominations are best featured actress, for Bean; best featured actor, for Ali Louis Bourzgui; and best choreography, for Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher Cree Grant. (At the Palace Theater.) Read the review.
‘Schmigadoon!’
Nominated for: Best musical, direction, leading actress, featured actress, choreography, scenic design, costume design, lighting design, sound design, book, score, orchestrations.
If ever a TV show cried out for a stage incarnation, it was Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio’s musical comedy series, which lasted for just two sweet, spoofing seasons. This adaptation by Paul stars Alex Brightman and Sara Chase as Josh and Melissa, a contemporary couple who tumble into an alternate world, where people uncannily similar to characters from golden age musicals keep breaking into song and dance. Ann Harada reprises her TV role as Florence Menlove, with Brad Oscar as Mayor Menlove, Ana Gasteyer as the moral scourge Mildred Layton and Maulik Pancholy as the Reverend. Christopher Gattelli, who choreographed for the series, directs and choreographs. The show’s 12 Tony nominations include best lead actress, for Chase; best featured actress, for Gasteyer; best scenic design, for Scott Pask; and best costume design, for Linda Cho. (Through Jan. 3 at the Nederlander Theater.) Read the review.
‘Ragtime’
Nominated for: Best musical revival, direction, leading actress, leading actor (both of them), featured actress, featured actor, choreography, costume design, lighting design, sound design.
Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy, Brandon Uranowitz and Shaina Taub, all alumni of Lear deBessonet’s New York City Center gala staging in 2024, reprise their roles in this Lincoln Center Theater production of the musical by Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens and Terrence McNally. Based on the E.L. Doctorow novel, it follows three families from disparate social strata chasing the American dream at the turn of the 20th century. It’s up for 11 Tonys, including best leading actress, for Levy; best leading actor, for Henry and Uranowitz; and best choreography, for Ellenore Scott. (Through Aug. 2 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.) Read the review.
‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’
Nominated for: Best musical revival, direction, featured actor, choreography, scenic design, costume design, lighting design, sound design, orchestrations.
Starring André De Shields as Old Deuteronomy, this radical reinvention of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical has moved uptown after an Obie Award-winning run in 2024 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center. Directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, and choreographed by Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons, this production places the action in the queer ballroom subculture, where dance dominates. It’s in the running for nine Tonys, including best featured actor, for De Shields; and best costume design, for Qween Jean. (At the Broadhurst Theater.) Read the review.
‘Death of a Salesman’
Nominated for: Best play revival, direction, leading actor, featured actress, featured actor, scenic design, lighting design, sound design, score.
Arthur Miller’s classic makes its third return to Broadway so far this century. Nathan Lane stars as Willy Loman, a traveling salesman whose career is on the skids and whose mind is plagued by suicidal thoughts, opposite Laurie Metcalf as Linda Loman, Willy’s wife and the guardian of his flagging dignity. Christopher Abbott and Ben Ahlers play their sons, Biff and Happy, and Joe Mantello directs. It’s up for nine awards, including best lead actor, for Lane; best featured actress, for Metcalf; best featured actor, for Abbott; and best scenic design, for Chloe Lamford. (Through Aug. 9 at the Winter Garden Theater.) Read the review.
‘The Rocky Horror Show’
Nominated for: Best musical revival, leading actress, leading actor, featured actress, choreography, scenic design, costume design, lighting design, sound design.
Luke Evans plays Frank-N-Furter, the sexually voracious, extraterrestrial mad scientist, in this revival of Richard O’Brien’s queer musical from 1973, which spawned the cult film. Sam Pinkleton, a Tony Award winner for “Oh, Mary!,” directs a cast that includes Andrew Durand as Brad, Stephanie Hsu as Janet, and Rachel Dratch as the Narrator. The show’s nine Tony nominations include best leading actor, for Evans; best leading actress, for Hsu; best featured actress, for Dratch; best scenic design, for dots, a design collective; and best costume design, for David I. Reynoso. (Through Nov. 29 at Studio 54.) Read the review.
‘Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)’
Nominated for: Best musical, direction, leading actress, leading actor, scenic design, book, score, orchestrations.
Robin (Christiani Pitts), a native New Yorker, and Dougal (Sam Tutty), a Brit visiting the city for the first time for a wedding, slip into their own holiday rom-com in this effervescent new musical by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan, transferred from the West End. Directed by Tim Jackson, with an ingenious set and costumes by Soutra Gilmour, it’s in the running for eight Tonys, including best leading actress, for Pitts; best leading actor, for Tutty; and best scenic design, for Gilmour. (At the Longacre Theater.) Read the review.
‘The Balusters’
Nominated for: Best play, direction, featured actress, featured actor, costume design.
This new David Lindsay-Abaire comedy is named after an architectural detail — exactly the sort of thing that persnickety neighborhood associations tend to argue about. But a proposed stop sign is the real catalyst for acrimony in this play, which stars Lindsay-Abaire’s longtime co-conspirator Marylouise Burke alongside Anika Noni Rose, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Margaret Colin and Richard Thomas. Kenny Leon directs the world premiere for Manhattan Theater Club. It’s up for five Tonys, including best featured actress, for Burke; and best featured actor, for Thomas. (Through June 21 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater.) Read the review.
‘Chess’
Nominated for: Best leading actor, featured actress, featured actor, lighting design, orchestrations.
The Tim Rice-Benny Andersson-Bjorn Ulvaeus musical that flopped in its original 1988 Broadway outing is taking another shot. With a new book by Danny Strong, it stars Lea Michele, Nicholas Christopher and Aaron Tveit in a tale of American vs. Russian rivalry, set at the World Chess Championship. Michael Mayer, a Tony winner for “Spring Awakening,” directs. It’s nominated for five Tonys, including best leading actor, for Christopher; best featured actress, for Hannah Cruz; and best featured actor, for Bryce Pinkham. (Through June 21 at the Imperial Theater.) Read the review.
‘Fallen Angels’
Nominated for: Best play revival, leading actress (both of them), scenic design, costume design.
With this Noël Coward bagatelle from 1925, Rose Byrne and Kelli O’Hara go in for comic revelry, playing married women with a onetime paramour (Mark Consuelos) in common — and he happens to be in town. Over copious drinks, they await him while their husbands (Christopher Fitzgerald and Aasif Mandvi) are away. Scott Ellis directs a cast that also includes Tracee Chimo. Elegance alert: The set is by David Rockwell. The show is nominated for five Tonys, including best leading actress, for Byrne and O’Hara; and best scenic design, for Rockwell. The June 5 performance is slated to be livestreamed on Broadway HD. (Through June 7 at the Todd Haimes Theater.) Read the review.
‘Joe Turner’s Come and Gone’
Nominated for: Best featured actor, costume design, lighting design, sound design, score.
The play that is often called the best in August Wilson’s American Century Cycle gets a revival, directed by Debbie Allen. Taraji P. Henson and Cedric the Entertainer star as Bertha and Seth, who run a Pittsburgh boardinghouse in 1911. Among the many who pass through there are the old man Bynum Walker (Ruben Santiago-Hudson) and the young man Herald Loomis (Joshua Boone), who is searching for his wife after years of being illegally held captive on a bounty hunter’s chain gang. The show is nominated for five Tonys, including best featured actor, for Santiago-Hudson; best costume design, for Paul Tazewell; and best score, for Steve Bargonetti. (Through July 26 at the Barrymore Theater.) Read the review.
‘Giant’
Nominated for: Best play, direction, leading actor, featured actress.
John Lithgow plays the children’s author Roald Dahl in this bio-drama by Mark Rosenblatt, set at a moment of crisis in 1983 as Dahl is accused of antisemitism, and his publishers act to contain the damage. Last year, Lithgow won an Olivier Award for his performance in the London production. Directed by Nicholas Hytner, the show also won best play. Its four Tony nominations echo the Oliviers, including a nod for best leading actor, for Lithgow. (Through June 28 at the Music Box Theater.) Read the review.
‘Titaníque’
Nominated for: Best musical, leading actress, featured actor, book.
After a few years merrily floating along downtown, this jukebox-musical parody of James Cameron’s “Titanic” docks on Broadway, buoyed by the songs of Celine Dion, who — in fictional, fantastical form — is also the narrator. Marla Mindelle stars as Dion alongside Jim Parsons, Deborah Cox, Frankie Grande and Constantine Rousouli. Tye Blue, who wrote the show with Mindelle and Rousouli, directs; Ellenore Scott choreographs. The show is nominated for four Tonys, including best leading actress, for Mindelle; and best featured actor, for Layton Williams, who won an Olivier for his turn in the London production. (Through Sept. 20 at the St. James Theater.) Read the review.
‘Dog Day Afternoon’
Nominated for: Best scenic design, costume design, lighting design.
New York’s grit and eccentricity have always been fodder for the Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Adly Guirgis (“Between Riverside and Crazy”), whose artistic vision of the city balances violence with haplessness, absurdity with danger — all qualities of Sidney Lumet’s 1975 movie about a Brooklyn bank robbery. In Guirgis’s new adaptation of the film, two actors from the Emmy Awards darling “The Bear” lead the cast: Jon Bernthal as Sonny, the Al Pacino role, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Sal. Rupert Goold directs. The show’s three Tony nominations are for design: David Korins’s set, Brenda Abbandandolo’s costumes and Isabella Byrd’s lighting. (Through July 12 at the August Wilson Theater.) Read the review.
‘Becky Shaw’
Nominated for: Best play revival, featured actor.
Madeline Brewer (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) plays the title role in this relationship comedy by Gina Gionfriddo (“After Ashley”). It involves a first date — set up by matchmaking newlyweds (Lauren Patten and Patrick Ball) — that goes outrageously awry. Alden Ehrenreich and Linda Emond round out the cast, directed by Trip Cullman. The show landed a best featured actor nomination, for Ehrenreich. (Through June 14 at the Helen Hayes Theater.) Read the review.
‘Every Brilliant Thing’
Nominated for: Best play revival, leading actor.
Daniel Radcliffe, a Tony nominee for his generous performance in this life-affirming solo show, has already handed off the baton to Mariska Hargitay, who stars through July 5. Written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe, and directed by Jeremy Herrin and Macmillan, the play enumerates the many beauties of the world — and relies heavily on (optional) audience participation. Beginning on July 7, Tracee Ellis Ross will succeed Hargitay. (Through Aug. 9 at the Hudson Theater.) Read the review.
‘The Fear of 13’
Nominated for: Best lighting design, sound design.
Adrien Brody, who headlined this drama in 2024 in London, reprises his role in a new production, portraying a longtime death-row inmate who insists on his innocence. Written by Lindsey Ferrentino and directed by David Cromer, the play is based on the 2015 David Sington documentary of the same name. Tessa Thompson (“Hedda”) also stars. The designers Heather Gilbert (lighting) and Lee Kinney (sound) are up for Tonys. (Through July 12 at the James Earl Jones Theater.) Read the review.
The post How to See the 2026 Tony-Nominated Plays and Musicals appeared first on New York Times.
