Airdate: Tony Awards 2018

Foxtel Arts channel will again broadcast the 72nd Annual Tony Awards Live and exclusive in early June.

Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban will host from Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Lifetime Achievement awards will be presented to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Chita Rivera (how do they not have them already?).

Nominations were announced overnight with a summary as follows.

Nominations in 26 competitive categories for the American Theatre Wing’s 72nd Annual Antoinette Perry “Tony” Awards® were announced overnight. Mean Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants come out on top with 12 nods each including Best Musical and The Band’s Visit with 11 nominations and Frozen which earned three nods.

Also earning 11 nominations were the Broadway revivals of Angels in America (becoming the most-nominated play in Broadway Tony history) and Carousel, with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and My Fair Lady trailing closely behind with ten.

Five nominated performers represented the two leading shows: Mean Girls’ Taylor Louderman, Ashley Park, and Grey Henson, and SpongeBob SquarePants’ Ethan Slater and Gavin Lee.

It was also announced that a Special Tony Award will be presented to both John Leguizamo and Bruce Springsteen. Leguizamo will be recognised for his body of work and for his commitment to the theatre, bringing diverse stories and audiences to Broadway for three decades. Springsteen is receiving a Special Tony Award for his ongoing engagement “Springsteen on Broadway,” a once-in-a-lifetime theatre going experience for the Broadway stage, allowing fans an intimate look at a music idol.

As previously announced, the 2018 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre will be presented to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Chita Rivera.

Best Play nominations are The Children, by Lucy Kirkwood, Farinelli and The King, by Claire van Kampen, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two, by Jack Thorne, Junk, by Ayad Akhtar and Latin History for Morons, by John Leguizamo.

Best Musical nominations are The Band’s Visit, Frozen, Mean Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical.

Best Revival of a Play nominations are Angels in America, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, Lobby Hero and Travesties.

Best Revival of a Musical nominations are My Fair Lady, Once On This Island and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel.

Best performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play nominations are Andrew Garfield (Angels in America), Tom Hollander (Travesties), Jamie Parker (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two), Mark Rylance (Farinelli and The King) and Denzel Washington (Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh).

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play nominations are Glenda Jackson (Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women), Condola Rashad (Saint Joan), Lauren Ridloff (Children of a Lesser God) and Amy Schumer (Meteor Shower).

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical nominations are Harry Hadden-Paton, (My Fair Lady) Joshua Henry (Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel), Tony Shalhoub, (The Band’s Visit) and Ethan Slater (SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical).

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical nominations are Lauren Ambrose, (My Fair Lady) Hailey Kilgore, (Once On This Island), LaChanze, (Summer: The Donna Summer Musical), Katrina Lenk (The Band’s Visit), Taylor Louderman (Mean Girls) and Jessie Mueller (Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel).

Live 10am AEST Monday, June 11 repeated at 8.30pm on Foxtel Arts.