Lost Boys and Schmigadoon! lead Tony nominations with 12 each
Screen-born musicals dominated the Tony race, with “The Lost Boys” and “Schmigadoon!” taking 12 nominations each as Broadway leaned on familiar brands.
Broadway’s biggest nominations race was led by two titles with built-in name recognition, as “The Lost Boys” and “Schmigadoon!” each landed 12 nods and turned this year’s Tony conversation into a referendum on how commercial theater is being packaged, financed and sold.
The field that followed reinforced that pattern. “Ragtime” collected 11 nominations, “Death of a Salesman” earned nine, and the new-musical lineup also included “Titanique” and “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York),” a mix that showed how strongly Broadway continues to reward recognizable properties, adaptation-friendly concepts and titles with immediate audience familiarity. Across the 26 competitive categories, 24 shows received at least one nomination, while six productions were shut out entirely: “The Queen of Versailles,” “Beaches,” “Mamma Mia!,” “Call Me Izzy,” “Art” and “Proof.”
The nominations were announced on May 5 by Uzo Aduba and Darren Criss, with select categories revealed on “CBS Mornings” and the rest rolled out through the Tony Awards’ digital channels. The process reflected the scale of the Broadway business itself. An independent committee of 55 theatre professionals selected the nominees, and 857 designated Tony voters will decide the winners. The eligibility window ran from April 28, 2025, through April 26, 2026, covering a season that produced 34 openings, though only 31 shows were eligible for Tony consideration.
Several individual milestones stood out in a season crowded with return engagements, revivals and screen-to-stage titles. June Squibb became the oldest Tony-nominated actor in history at 96 for “Marjorie Prime,” a reminder that Broadway’s top prizes can still elevate late-career work alongside the highest-profile commercial plays and musicals. Danny Burstein, meanwhile, set a new record with his ninth Tony nomination, becoming the most-nominated male actor in Tony history.
The 79th Annual Tony Awards will return to Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Sunday, June 7, with P!NK hosting the ceremony. CBS will air the show live, Paramount+ will stream it, and CBS and Pluto TV will carry the pre-show “The Tony Awards: Act One.” The nominations pointed to a Broadway marketplace that keeps betting on familiarity, but still has room for prestige revivals and star-driven new work to break through.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Know something we missed? Have a correction or additional information?
Submit a Tip
