‘Buena Vista Social Club,’ ‘Death Becomes Her’ and ‘Maybe Happy Ending’ lead Tony Award nominations
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NEW YORK — Three Broadway shows — “Buena Vista Social Club,” “Death Becomes Her” and “Maybe Happy Ending” — each earned a leading 10 Tony Award nominations Thursday, as nominators spread out the joy and gave nods to George Clooney, Sarah Snook and Bob Odenkirk in their debuts.
Twenty-nine shows got at least one nomination across the 26 Tony categories, even long-closed shows such as “A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical” and “Swept Away.”
“Buena Vista Social Club,” which takes its inspiration from Wim Wenders’ 1999 Oscar-nominated documentary on the making of the album “Buena Vista Social Club,” will face off for best musical crown with “Death Becomes Her,” based on the 1992 cult classic film of the same name about frenemeies who seek a magic eternal youth and beauty potion.
“Dead Outlaw,” a Broadway musical about a famous corpse discovered in Long Beach from the team behind the Tony-winning musical “The Band’s Visit,” opens on Broadway.
The category also includes “Maybe Happy Ending,” a rom-com musical about a pair of androids that crackles with humanity and “Dead Outlaw,” a musical about a real-life alcoholic drifter turned failed bandit who was shot dead in 1911 and whose afterlife proved to be stranger than fiction as he was displayed for decades at traveling carnivals and freak shows.
A second show with a corpse, the British import “Operation Mincemeat,” also made it, the improbably true story about a British deception operation designed to mislead Nazi Germany about the location of the Allied landing at Sicily.
In the best play category, “English,” Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sanaz Toossi’s look at four Iranian students preparing for an English language exam, made the cut. As did “The Hills of California,” Jez Butterworth’s look at a family gathering for the impending death of its matriarch set in a hotel in the summer of 1976 in England.
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They’ll compete with “John Proctor Is the Villain,” Kimberly Belflower’s examination of girlhood, feminism, the #MeToo movement and a compelling rebuttal to “The Crucible,” and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Purpose,” a drawing-room drama about an accomplished Black family destroying itself from within.
The category is completed with “Oh, Mary!,” an irreverent, raunchy, gleefully deranged revisionist history by Cole Escola centered on Mary Todd Lincoln, a boozy, narcissistic, potty-mouthed first lady determined to strike out of the subordinate role into which history has placed her.
Audra McDonald, as expected, heard her name called for her turn as Rose in a hailed revival of “Gypsy,” a role that led to previous Tonys for the likes of Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Patti LuPone. McDonald, already a holder for the most Tonys by a performer — with six — now vies for a seventh.
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She will face off against Nicole Scherzinger in “Sunset Blvd.,” Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard in “Death Becomes Her,” and Jasmine Amy Rogers from “Boop! The Musical.”
Clooney got a nod as a leading actor in a play for the adaptation of his 2005 film “Good Night, and Good Luck,” the story of legendary reporter Edward R. Murrow. Another hot ticket — a revival of David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” earned Odenkirk a nod, but not for his co-stars Kieran Culkin or comedian Bill Burr.
Snook, Culkin’s “Succession” co-star, earned a nomination for playing all 26 parts in “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and “Stranger Things” star Sadie Sink earned one for leading “John Proctor Is the Villain.” “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” an effects-driven prequel to her Netflix hit show, earned five nods, including for lead actor Louis McCartney.
The news was less good for Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler, both in their Broadway debuts. Neither got nominations for their “Romeo + Juliet” pitched to Generation X and millennials. Robert Downey Jr., who also made his Broadway debut in the play “McNeal,” wasn’t recognized. Mia Farrow earned a nomination for “The Roommate” but her co-star, the Broadway diva LuPone, did not.
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And, in a shock, an edgy “Othello” with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal that producers are charging north of $900 for orchestra seats, got not a single nomination. Idina Menzel’s return to Broadway in “Redwood,” a contemporary fable about trees, grief and the quest for healing, got no nominations.
“Our Town,” starring Jim Parsons and Katie Holmes, earned a best play revival Tony nomination but nothing for its actors. And the Stephen Sondheim revue starring Tony Award winners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga came up blank.
The Tony Awards will be handed out June 8 at Radio City Music Hall during a telecast hosted by “Wicked” star and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo.
Here is a complete list of nominations for the 2025 Tony Awards:
Musical
“Buena Vista Social Club”
“Dead Outlaw”
“Death Becomes Her”
“Maybe Happy Ending”
“Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical”
Play
“English”
“The Hills of California”
“John Proctor Is the Villain”
“Oh, Mary!”
“Purpose”
Revival of a Play
“Eureka Day”
“Romeo + Juliet”
“Thornton Wilder’s Our Town”
“Yellow Face”
Revival of a Musical
“Floyd Collins”
“Gypsy”
“Pirates! The Penzance Musical”
“Sunset Blvd.”
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
George Clooney, “Good Night, and Good Luck”
Cole Escola, “Oh, Mary!”
Jon Michael Hill, “Purpose”
Daniel Dae Kim, “Yellow Face”
Harry Lennix, “Purpose”
Louis McCartney, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Laura Donnelly, “The Hills of California”
Mia Farrow, “The Roommate”
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, “Purpose”
Sadie Sink, “John Proctor Is the Villain”
Sarah Snook, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Darren Criss, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Andrew Durand, “Dead Outlaw”
Tom Francis, “Sunset Blvd.”
Jonathan Groff, “Just in Time”
James Monroe Iglehart, “A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical”
Jeremy Jordan, “Floyd Collins”
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Megan Hilty, “Death Becomes Her”
Audra McDonald, “Gypsy”
Jasmine Amy Rogers, “Boop! The Musical”
Nicole Scherzinger, “Sunset Blvd.”
Jennifer Simard, “Death Becomes Her”
Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Natalie Venetia Belcon, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Julia Knitel, “Dead Outlaw”
Gracie Lawrence, “Just in Time”
Justina Machado, “Real Women Have Curves: The Musical”
Joy Woods, “Gypsy”
Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Brooks Ashmanskas, “Smash”
Jeb Brown, “Dead Outlaw”
Danny Burstein, “Gypsy”
Jak Malone, “Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical”
Taylor Trensch, “Floyd Collins”
Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Tala Ashe, “English”
Jessica Hecht, “Eureka Day”
Marjan Neshat, “English”
Fina Strazza, “John Proctor Is the Villain”
Kara Young, “Purpose”
Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Glenn Davis, “Purpose”
Gabriel Ebert, “John Proctor Is the Villain”
Francis Jue, “Yellow Face”
Bob Odenkirk, “Glengarry Glen Ross”
Conrad Ricamora, “Oh, Mary!”
Direction of a Play
Knud Adams, “English”
Sam Mendes, “The Hills of California”
Sam Pinkleton, “Oh, Mary!”
Danya Taymor, “John Proctor Is the Villain”
Kip Williams, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Direction of a Musical
Saheem Ali, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Michael Arden, “Maybe Happy Ending”
David Cromer, “Dead Outlaw”
Christopher Gattelli, “Death Becomes Her”
Jamie Lloyd, “Sunset Blvd.”
Choreography
Joshua Bergasse, “Smash”
Camille A. Brown, “Gypsy”
Christopher Gattelli, “Death Becomes Her”
Jerry Mitchell, “Boop! The Musical”
Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Book of a Musical
“Buena Vista Social Club,” Marco Ramirez
“Dead Outlaw,” Itamar Moses
“Death Becomes Her,” Marco Pennette
“Maybe Happy Ending,” Will Aronson and Hue Park
“Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical,” David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts
Original Score
“Dead Outlaw” (music and lyrics: David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna)
“Death Becomes Her” (music and lyrics: Julia Mattison and Noel Carey)
“Maybe Happy Ending” (music: Will Aronson, lyrics: Will Aronson and Hue Park)
“Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical” (music and lyrics: David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts)
“Real Women Have Curves: The Musical” (music and lyrics: Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez)
Orchestrations
Andrew Resnick and Michael Thurber, “Just in Time”
Will Aronson, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Bruce Coughlin, “Floyd Collins”
Marco Paguia, “Buena Vista Social Club”
David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber, “Sunset Blvd.”
Scenic Design of a Play
Marsha Ginsberg, “English”
Rob Howell, “The Hills of California”
Marg Horwell and David Bergman, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Miriam Buether and 59, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Scott Pask, “Good Night, and Good Luck”
Scenic Design of a Musical
Rachel Hauck, “Swept Away”
Dane Laffrey and George Reeve, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Arnulfo Maldonado, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Derek McLane, “Death Becomes Her”
Derek McLane, “Just in Time”
Costume Design of a Play
Brenda Abbandandolo, “Good Night, and Good Luck”
Marg Horwell, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Rob Howell, “The Hills of California”
Holly Pierson, “Oh, Mary!”
Brigitte Reiffenstuel, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Costume Design of a Musical
Dede Ayite, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Gregg Barnes, “Boop! The Musical”
Clint Ramos, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Paul Tazewell, “Death Becomes Her”
Catherine Zuber, “Just in Time”
Lighting Design of a Play
Natasha Chivers, “The Hills of California”
Jon Clark, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Heather Gilbert and David Bengali, “Good Night, and Good Luck”
Natasha Katz and Hannah Wasileski, “John Proctor Is the Villain”
Nick Schlieper, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Lighting Design of a Musical
Jack Knowles, “Sunset Blvd.”
Tyler Micoleau, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Scott Zielinski and Ruey Horng Sun, “Floyd Collins”
Ben Stanton, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Justin Townsend, “Death Becomes Her”
Sound Design of a Play
Paul Arditti, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Palmer Hefferan, “John Proctor Is the Villain”
Daniel Kluger, “Good Night, and Good Luck”
Nick Powell, “The Hills of California”
Clemence Williams, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Sound Design of a Musical
Jonathan Deans, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Adam Fisher, “Sunset Blvd.”
Peter Hylenski, “ Just in Time”
Peter Hylenski, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Dan Moses Schreier, “Floyd Collins”
Kennedy writes for the Associated Press.
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