Record Number of Female Directors Nominated for 2024 Tony Awards

The 2024 Tony Awards have set a new precedent with a record number of nominations for female directors, highlighting a shift towards more gender diversity in theatre. This year’s event, set for June 16 at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theatre, will be hosted by Ariana DeBose and broadcast on the Tony Awards YouTube Channel.

 

 

Alicia Keys’s musical, ‘Hell’s Kitchen,’ based loosely on her life, leads this year’s nominations with 13 nods, including Best New Musical. It shares the spotlight with ‘Stereophonic,’ a play about a 1970s rock band, which also received significant recognition. Both productions are noted for their substantial contributions to the categories of acting, design, and production.

 

 

Australian producer Robert Rigby just snagged his fourth Tony nomination for ‘Water for Elephants’ which picked up a total of seven nominations.

 

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy

This year also marks a notable year for first-time nominees including high-profile figures like Hillary Clinton, Angelina Jolie, and Jeremy Strong, highlighting the broad appeal and crossover of talent participating in Broadway productions.

This year’s list of nominees includes several prominent first-time candidates, notably Hillary Clinton and Malala Yousafzai, who produced a play titled ‘Suffs,’ which focuses on the American women’s suffrage movement. Additionally, Angelina Jolie has been recognized for her producing role in ‘The Outsiders,’ a production that received 12 nominations. In the category of Best Actress, Sarah Paulson has been nominated for her performance in ‘Appropriate,’ alongside Rachel McAdams, who is nominated for her role in ‘Mary Jane.’

 

 

The highlight of the nominations was the unprecedented recognition of female directors, with seven women nominated across the directing categories. This breaks the previous record set in 2022 and represents a significant move towards inclusivity in a field that has traditionally been male-dominated.

With Daniel Radcliffe receiving his first Tony nomination and other notable entries in various categories, the 2024 Tony Awards are shaping up to be a landmark event in celebrating excellence and diversity in live Broadway theatre.

2024 Tony nominations

Best Musical

• Hell’s Kitchen
• Illinoise
• The Outsiders
• Suffs
• Water for Elephants

Best Play

• Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
• Mary Jane
• Mother Play
• Prayer for the French Republic
• Stereophonic

Best Revival of a Play

• Appropriate
• An Enemy of the People
• Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

Best Revival of a Musical

• Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
• Gutenberg! The Musical!
• Merrily We Roll Along
• The Who’s Tommy

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

• William Jackson Harper — Uncle Vanya
• Leslie Odom Jr. — Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
• Liev Schreiber — Doubt: A Parable
• Jeremy Strong — An Enemy of the People
• Michael Stuhlbarg — Patriots

Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

• Betsy Aidem — Prayer for the French Republic
• Jessica Lange — Mother Play
• Rachel McAdams — Mary Jane
• Sarah Paulson — Appropriate
• Amy Ryan — Doubt: A Parable

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

• Brody Grant — The Outsiders
• Jonathan Groff — Merrily We Roll Along
• Dorian Harewood — The Notebook
• Brian d’Arcy James — Days of Wine and Roses
• Eddie Redmayne — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

• Eden Espinosa — Lempicka
• Maleah Joi Moon — Hell’s Kitchen
• Kelli O’Hara — Days of Wine and Roses
• Maryann Plunkett — The Notebook
• Gayle Rankin — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

• Shoshana Bean — Hell’s Kitchen
• Amber Iman — Lempicka
• Nikki M. James — Suffs
• Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer — Monty Python’s Spamalot
• Kecia Lewis — Hell’s Kitchen
• Lindsay Mendez — Merrily We Roll Along
• Bebe Neuwirth —Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

• Roger Bart — Back to the Future: The Musical
• Joshua Boone — The Outsiders
• Brandon Victor Dixon — Hell’s Kitchen
• Sky Lakota-Lynch — The Outsiders
• Daniel Radcliffe — Merrily We Roll Along
• Steven Skybell — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

• Quincy Tyler Bernstine — Doubt: A Parable
• Juliana Canfield — Stereophonic
• Celia Keenan-Bolger — Mother Play
• Sarah Pidgeon — Stereophonic
• Kara Young — Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

• Will Brill — Stereophonic
• Eli Gelb — Stereophonic
• Jim Parsons — Mother Play
• Tom Pecinka — Stereophonic
• Corey Stoll — Appropriate

Best Direction of a Play

• Daniel Aukin — Stereophonic
• Anne Kauffman — Mary Jane
• Kenny Leon — Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
• Lila Neugebauer — Appropriate
• Whitney White — Jaja’s African Hair Braiding

Best Direction of a Musical

• Maria Friedman — Merrily We Roll Along
• Michael Greif — Hell’s Kitchen
• Leigh Silverman — Suffs
• Jessica Stone — Water for Elephants
• Danya Taymor — The Outsiders

Best Choreography

• Annie-B Parson — Here Lies Love
• Camille A. Brown — Hell’s Kitchen
• Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman — The Outsiders
• Justin Peck — Illinoise
• Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll — Water for Elephants

Best Book of a Musical

• Hell’s Kitchen — Kristoffer Diaz
• The Notebook — Bekah Brunstetter
• The Outsiders — Adam Rapp and Justin Levine
• Suffs — Shaina Taub
• Water for Elephants — Rick Elice

Best Original Score

• Days of Wine and Roses — Music and lyrics: Adam Guettel
• Here Lies Love — Music: David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, lyrics: David Byrne
• The Outsiders — Music and lyrics: Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance) and Justin Levine
• Stereophonic — Music and lyrics: Will Butler
• Suffs — Music and lyrics: Shaina Taub

Ariana DeBose will return to this year’s Tony Awards to do the thing as host for a third time, with the awards being held at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theatre in New York City on June 16.

You can watch the ceremony on the Tony Awards YouTube Channel.

Photo Credit: DepositPhotos.com