Too Bad: Who Didn’t Get Nominated for a 2023 Tony Award?

It won’t surprise anyone who saw the show (or read the reviews) that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bad Cinderella was not nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical. In fact, it was not nominated for anything, not even the featured performances of Carolee Carmello and Grace McLean, who represented the musical’s best hopes for a nod. Considering the last published box office numbers ($539,119.21 in revenue for the week ending April 25, a dismal number for a 1,400-seat theater), it seems likely that Bad Cinderella is not long for this world. When that show closes (now that Phantom has officially loaded out of the Majestic) Broadway will have no Andrew Lloyd Webber musical running for the first time since 1979.

A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical was also totally ignored, which was foreseeable for such a mediocre biomusical. The producers can at least console themselves with the steady million dollars a week the show is bringing in.

The Best Play category panned out roughly as expected, although in a season with so many new plays, there are some notable omissions: The Thanksgiving Play and Peter Pan Goes Wrong both got nothing. Summer, 1976 received one nomination (for Jessica Hecht’s performance). Good Night, Oscar got three nominations (including for Lead Actor Sean Hayes), but Best Play was not one of them. And while Life of Pi received five nods (every design category and Direction for Max Webster), there was no nomination for Hiran Abeysekera, who really should have gotten something for his commanding performance as the title character.

The Revival of a Musical category is exactly as I predicted, meaning woke 1776 and Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ were left off the list, and neither received any other nominations (I was really rooting for Manuel Herrera in Dancin’, but the Featured Actor in a Musical category is stacked this year). Crystal Lucas-Perry, who played John Adams in 1776, was not nominated for that performance (neither was her castmate Sara Porkalob). However, Lucas-Perry did receive a well-earned nomination for her performance as “Black” in Ain’t No Mo’. Her decision to leave 1776 for that short-lived play proved to be a wise one.

Just days after the Tony Awards Administration Committee announced that Aaron Sorkin would be eligible for Best Book of a Musical for his revisions to Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot, the nominators declined to recognize him. The big revival at Lincoln Center Theater did receive five nominations (three for design, one for Revival, and one for the magnetic Jordan Donica as Lancelot). But this morning’s announcement is notable for the names it left off: director Bartlett Sher, actor Andrew Burnap (as King Arthur), and Phillipa Soo (as Guenevere). The latter had the potential to be recognized for her featured performance as Cinderella in the revival of Into the Woods, but that nomination went to her castmate Julia Lester, who had everyone rolling in the aisles with her Broadway debut as Little Red Riding Hood.

I’m a little bummed that Death of a Salesman and Ohio State Murders weren’t recognized in the Best Revival of a Play category. They were two of my favorite shows of the year, both devastating in their own ways. I am glad that the Tony nominators recognized Audra McDonald for her haunting portrayal of Suzanne Alexander in Ohio State, not that she needs another Tony, but she’ll probably get it. While Wendell Pierce was nominated for his portrayal of Willy Loman, his castmates André De Shields and Sharon D Clarke were left out, even though Clarke gave one of the most moving performances of the season as Linda Loman. Also left out: Danielle Brooks for her performance as Bernice in the revival of The Piano Lesson.

Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan (yes, Mrs. Maisel herself) of The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window were both snubbed, although their castmate Miriam Silverman was rightly nominated in the Featured Actress category for her hilarious and startling turn as Mavis. The last-minute addition to the Broadway season did get one other nomination, for Best Revival of a Play. We’ll have to wait for the end of the run to see if the producers’ gamble to move this fascinating if unwieldy Lorraine Hansberry drama to Broadway was worth it.

New York, New York received nine nominations, including (shockingly) one for leading man Colton Ryan, but not for leading lady Anna Uzele. Similarly, Some Like It Hot garnered 13 nominations (the most this season), including Lead Actor noms for Christian Borle and J. Harrison Ghee — but Adrianna Hicks, who plays Sugar, was left out. It’s a testament to the fierce competition in the Leading Actress in a Musical category this year, which includes major contenders Annaleigh Ashford (Sweeney Todd), Victoria Clark (Kimberly Akimbo), and Micaela Diamond (Parade).  

To end on a happy note, there were several notable anti-snubs: Ain’t No Mo’ got six nominations including Best Play and Featured Actor in a Play for author Jordan E. Cooper — not bad for a show that opened and closed in December. Similarly, KPOP (which played 17 post-opening performances before shuttering December 11) received three nominations: Original Score, Costume Design, and Choreography.

We’re used to closed shows getting the cold shoulder from the nominators, but Into the Woods (six noms), Cost of Living (five noms), A Christmas Carol (three noms), Topdog/Underdog (three noms), Death of a Salesman (two noms), The Piano Lesson (two noms), Between Riverside and Crazy (two noms), Almost Famous (one), and Ohio State Murders (one) were all recognized, making this list of nominations truly representative of the entire 2022-23 Broadway season — not just the shows that opened in April.

It seems very likely that a large portion of Tony voters did not see several of the shows listed above; but thanks to a change in the rules this year, they will still be able to cast their votes in categories in which they missed exactly one of the nominees. That should make for a wider voting pool in most categories, and a more competitive Tony race in the month ahead.

You can read the complete list of 2023 Tony nominations here.