2010 Tony Award Nominations

La Cage Aux Folles and Fela! lead the list of the 2010 Tony Award nominees, which were announced this morning. Both shows received eleven nominations each, the Fences getting ten. Self-proclaimed gay rights hero Sean Hayes earned a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Promises, Promises. JMG reader Kevin Chamberlin (left) got a Best Featured Actor in a Musical nomination for his great turn as Uncle Fester in The Addams Family. This is his third Tony nomination (Dirty Blonde, Seussical.)

The 2010 nominations lacked a clear standout like last year’s “Billy Elliot,” which received 15 nominations. But the roster was noticeably rich with screen stars who had bravely left the security of movie sets for the lights of Broadway. Nominees who were making their Broadway debuts included Jude Law (“Hamlet”), Scarlett Johansson (“A View From the Bridge”), Catherine Zeta-Jones (“A Little Night Music”) and Sean Hayes (“Promises, Promises”). The nominees also included Christopher Walken (“A Behanding in Spokane”), Laura Linney (“Time Stands Still”), Kelsey Grammer (“La Cage aux Folles”) and Liev Schreiber (“A View From the Bridge”). Among the acting nominees were three grandes dames of the stage – Rosemary Harris (“The Royal Family”), Barbara Cook (“Sondheim on Sondheim”) and Angela Lansbury (“A Little Night Music”). A number of blockbuster productions came up noticeably short on Tuesday. “American Idiot” – the rock musical featuring songs by the band Green Day – was nominated for best new musical but received only two other nods. “The Addams Family,” which has been a box-office success so far despite mostly bad reviews, received only two nominations.

The complete list of nominations is here.