Schmigadoon! and Lost Boys lead Tony nominations as snubs spark buzz

Schmigadoon! and The Lost Boys emerged as the season’s dominant forces, each collecting 12 Tony nominations and setting up a June 7 race that has already turned into a referendum on Broadway’s shifting center of gravity. Ragtime followed with 11, while Death of a Salesman led the play field with nine nominations, tied with Cats: The Jellicle Ball and Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show.

The nominations were announced May 5 by Uzo Aduba and Darren Criss for a ceremony scheduled for Radio City Music Hall in New York City. P!NK will host the 79th Annual Tony Awards, which will air live on CBS and stream on Paramount+ Premium. An independent committee of 55 theatre professionals selected the nominees, and 857 designated Tony voters will choose the winners in 26 competitive categories.

The sharper story, though, was the list of productions that came away empty-handed. Proof was the biggest shock, leaving Broadway debut performer Ayo Edebiri, Don Cheadle and Kara Young without nominations despite strong attention around the show. Edebiri’s casting was announced in August 2025, and the production opened at the Hudson Theatre on April 16, 2026, only days before the eligibility window closed on April 26. That timing made the shutout especially visible in a season packed with recognizable names.

Other notable omissions included Beaches, The Queen of Versailles, Call Me Izzy, Mamma Mia!, Art, Beetlejuice, Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride, All Out: Comedy About Ambition and Rob Lake Magic With Special Guests the Muppets. Beetlejuice had already withdrawn itself from Tony consideration, while Mamma Mia! faced eligibility obstacles because much of its design had been used in earlier Tony-eligible productions. Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride, All Out: Comedy About Ambition and Rob Lake Magic With Special Guests the Muppets were treated as special events rather than eligible plays.

The snubs also reached into screen-to-stage crossover territory. Lea Michele was among the notable omissions, adding to the sense that marquee names from film and television did not automatically translate into Tony recognition this year. Kristin Chenoweth, Jean Smart, Neil Patrick Harris, James Corden, Bobby Cannavale and Jessica Vosk were also left out, underscoring how crowded the field had become across Broadway’s 41 eligible theatres during the 2025-2026 season.

That competitive backdrop matters because the Tonys remain Broadway’s biggest commercial spotlight, with The Broadway League saying the industry reaches more than 30 million people annually across more than 200 cities in the U.S. and Canada. This year’s nominations suggest that voters favored scale, musical ambition and revival muscle over celebrity alone, even as the telecast changes hands under new producing leadership from Raj Kapoor, Sarah Levine Hall and Jack Sussman after White Cherry Entertainment’s long run.

André Bishop, Jules Fisher and James Lapine will receive Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, adding a veteran counterpoint to a field that otherwise made clear how unforgiving Broadway can be when star power does not convert into nominations.