‘Billy Elliot’ ties record with 15 Tony nods
NEW YORK — “Billy Elliot,” the tale of a British coal miner’s son who dreams of becoming a dancer, has the potential of winning a record number of 2009 Tony Awards, honoring the best of a star-driven Broadway season.
Its 15 nominations — which Tuesday tied the number received by “The Producers” in 2001 — included one of the more unusual nods. The three boys who share the title role in “Billy Elliot” — David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish — were named together for the best actor-musical prize.
Other major multiple Tony nominees were “Next to Normal” with 11, and “Shrek The Musical” and the revival of “Hair,” both tied with eight.
“This (‘Billy Elliot’) is the culmination of so many years work, and it’s a fantastic day for everyone involved,” said the show’s elated superstar composer, Elton John. He was nominated for best score along with lyricist Lee Hall.
Besides best-musical, score and lead actor, “Billy Elliot” received nominations for book, featured actor (two), featured actress (two), direction, scenery, costumes, lighting, sound, choreography and orchestrations.
The show, a success in London before opening last November in New York, is based on the 2000 film, directed by Stephen Daldry, the Tony-nominated director of the stage version.
Competing against “Billy Elliot” for the best-musical prize are “Next to Normal,” about a woman battling mental illness; “Shrek The Musical,” based on the popular animated film; and “Rock of Ages,” a cheeky homage to the music of the 1980s that had a trial run at the Flamingo Las Vegas in May of 2006.
Best play nods went to Yasmina Reza’s savage comedy of manners, “God of Carnage”; “Dividing the Estate,” Horton Foote’s gentle comedy about a Texas family’s squabbles over a dwindling inheritance; Moises Kaufman’s “33 Variations,” one woman’s pursuit of a musical mystery; and “reasons to be pretty,” Neil LaBute’s look at how relationships are undermined by the meaning of words.
In several of the acting categories, performers from the same show will compete against each other. Director Matthew Warchus went one better: He will compete against himself after snagging nominations for directing “God of Carnage” as well as “The Norman Conquests.”
But then, the entire cast of “God of Carnage” was nominated. For best-actor play, James Gandolfini and Jeff Daniels will face each other. So will their two co-stars — Marcia Gay Harden and Hope Davis — in the actress-play category.
Other actor-play nominees were Raul Esparza, a predatory Hollywood producer in “Speed-the-Plow”; Geoffrey Rush, a dying monarch in “Exit the King”; and Thomas Sadoski, an inarticulate slacker in “reasons to be pretty.”
The two royal ladies of “Mary Stuart” — Janet McTeer as Mary, Queen of Scots, and Harriet Walter as Elizabeth I — also will battle for the actress nod. The last slot in the category was filled by Jane Fonda, who portrays a dying musicologist in “33 Variations.”
Josefina Scaglione, Maria in the revival of “West Side Story,” picked up an actress-musical nomination. She will compete against Stockard Channing, “Pal Joey”; Sutton Foster, “Shrek”; Allison Janney, “9 to 5: The Musical”; and Alice Ripley, “Next to Normal.”
And facing the three “Billy Elliot” boys will be Gavin Creel, “Hair”; Brian d’Arcy James, “Shrek The Musical”; “American Idol” alum Constantine Maroulis, “Rock of Ages”; and J. Robert Spencer, “Next to Normal.”
Winners will be announced June 7 on CBS.
