Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole Earn 2016 Jeff Award Nominations

Chicago theater vets Deanna Dunagan and Mike Nussbaum announced the Equity Jeff Award nominees yesterday via an online video. The list included 178 nominations in 32 categories honoring Chicago Equity theatrical productions that opened between August 1, 2015, and July 31, 2016.

Paramount Theatre leads the pack with 14 nominations, all for musicals in the Large Theater category. West Side Story received seven nominations, Oklahoma! four, Hairspray two, and A Christmas Story, the Musical one.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater, the Goodman Theatre, and Porchlight Music Theatre follow, each earned 12 nominations. Chicago Shakespeare’s nominated productions include five for The Tempest, four for Ride the Cyclone, two for The Heir Apparent, and one for Othello.

The Goodman’s nominations include five each for 2666 and War Paint (including acting nominations for the musical's stars Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole), and one each for The Matchmaker and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window.

Porchlight, a mid-size theater, garnered six for Dreamgirls, four for Sideshow, and two for Far from Heaven.

Dunagan herself also earned a nomination for her supporting role in Marvin's Room at the Shattered Globe Theatre.

The 48th Annual Equity Jeff Awards ceremony will be held on Monday, October 17, at Drury Lane Oakbrook.

For the complete list of nominees, click here.