Laurie Metcalf, “Tootsie” lead Chicago pack for 2019 Tony Awards nominations

The 2019 Tony Awards will have some prominent Chicagoans and productions that originated in Chicago vying for the coveted recognition.

The theater world was up early Tuesday morning as Bebe Neuwirth and Brandon Victor Dixon announced the nominations in New York City.

Among the top eight categories, Chicago artists, and productions that had their pre-Broadway world premieres in Chicago, include:

–Best musical: “Tootsie”
–Best actor in a leading role, musical: Santino Fontana, for his role as Michael Dorsey in “Tootsie”
–Best director, musical: Scott Ellis for “Tootsie”
–Best actress in leading role, musical: Stephanie J. Block, for her role as Star in  “The Cher Show”
–Best costumes, musical: Bob Mackie, for “The Cher Show”
— Best actress in a leading role, play: Elaine May for “The Waverly Gallery” and Laurie Metcalf for “Hillary and Clinton”
–DePaul Grad and Oscar-winner (“Moonlight”) Tarell Alvin McCraney’s “Choir Boy” earned three nominations

In all, “Tootsie” (inspired by the 1982 Dustin Hoffman film), which opened in Chicago for a two-week pre-Broadway world premiere last September at the Cadillac Palace, received 11 nods, including Scott Ellis (best director of a musical), best book of a musical, original score, Andy Grotelueschen (featured role in a musical), Lilli Cooper and Sarah Stiles (both for featured role in a musical), William Ivey Long (costumes), Denis Jones (choreography).

“The Cher Show” opened in Chicago for a monthlong, pre-Broadway world premiere run in June at the former Oriental Theatre. The musical earned three nominations, including Bob Mackie for best costumes, and one each for sound and lighting design.

Chicago’s Laurie Metcalf (also a Steppenwolf ensemble member) earned a nomination for best actress in a leading role in a play for “Hillary and Clinton.”  The Lucas Hnath-penned play premiered in 2016 at the Victory Gardens Theater. (It’s directed on Broadway by Rockford native Joe Mantello). The play is set in an alternate universe and tells a story centering on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.  If she wins the Tony this year, Metcalf will make history as the first person to win acting Tonys three years consecutively. (She won in 2018’s “Three Tall Women” and “A Doll’s House, Part 2” in 2017).

Also nominated in the category is the legendary Elaine May, for her role in “The Waverly Gallery.” May returned to Broadway after a five-decades absence to star in the Kenneth Lonergan “memory play” about a grandson watching his grandmother succumb to Alzheimer’s. May was one of the founders of the Chicago improvisational troupe known as the Compass Players at the University of Chicago opposite Mike Nichols in the mid-1950s. May’s co-stars in the play include Chicagoan David Cromer (whose work has been featured at Writers Theatre and the Goodman Theatre) and Steppenwolf ensemble member Joan Allen.

Rockford native Marin Mazzie, will receive a posthumous Tony for her leadership and advocacy as she battled ovarian cancer. Mazzie, a familiar site on Chicago’s stages, died last year at age 57 from the illness, which she battled for nearly three years. She previously received Tony nominations for her work in “Passion,” “Ragtime” and “Kiss Me, Kate.”

Overall, “Hadestown,” singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell Broadway debut, leads the Tony Award nominations with 14 nods, followed by “Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations” and the aforementioned “Tootsie,” with 11.

The adult “Hadestown,” which intertwines the myths of Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone, elbowed aside more familiar names, including stage adaptations of “Tootsie” and “Beetlejuice,” which both also got best musical nods.

Here’s the full list of nominations:

Best Book of a Musical
Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Dominique Morisseau
Beetlejuice
Scott Brown & Anthony King
Hadestown
Anaïs Mitchell
The Prom
Bob Martin & Chad Beguelin
Tootsie
Robert Horn

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theater

Be More Chill
Music & Lyrics: Joe Iconis

Beetlejuice
Music & Lyrics: Eddie Perfect

Hadestown
Music & Lyrics: Anaïs Mitchell

The Prom
Music: Matthew Sklar
Lyrics: Chad Beguelin

To Kill a Mockingbird
Music: Adam Guettel

Tootsie
Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

Paddy Considine, The Ferryman
Bryan Cranston, Network
Jeff Daniels, To Kill a Mockingbird
Adam Driver, Burn This
Jeremy Pope, Choir Boy

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

Annette Bening, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons
Laura Donnelly, The Ferryman
Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery
Janet McTeer, Bernhardt/Hamlet
Laurie Metcalf, Hillary and Clinton
Heidi Schreck, What the Constitution Means to Me

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom
Derrick Baskin, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Alex Brightman, Beetlejuice
Damon Daunno, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Santino Fontana, Tootsie

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show
Caitlin Kinnunen, The Prom
Beth Leavel, The Prom
Eva Noblezada, Hadestown
Kelli O’Hara, Kiss Me, Kate

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

Bertie Carvel, Ink
Robin De Jesús, The Boys in the Band
Gideon Glick, To Kill a Mockingbird
Brandon Uranowitz, Burn This
Benjamin Walker, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

Fionnula Flanagan, The Ferryman
Celia Keenan-Bolger, To Kill a Mockingbird
Kristine Nielsen, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Julie White, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Ruth Wilson, King Lear

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

André De Shields, Hadestown
Andy Grotelueschen, Tootsie
Patrick Page, Hadestown
Jeremy Pope, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Ephraim Sykes, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

Lilli Cooper, Tootsie
Amber Gray, Hadestown
Sarah Stiles, Tootsie
Ali Stroker, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Mary Testa, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Best Scenic Design of a Play

Miriam Buether, To Kill a Mockingbird
Bunny Christie, Ink
Rob Howell, The Ferryman
Santo Loquasto, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Jan Versweyveld, Network

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Robert Brill and Peter Nigrini, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Peter England, King Kong
Rachel Hauck, Hadestown
Laura Jellinek, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
David Korins, Beetlejuice

Best Costume Design of a Play

Rob Howell, The Ferryman
Toni-Leslie James, Bernhardt/Hamlet
Clint Ramos, Torch Song
Ann Roth, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Ann Roth, To Kill a Mockingbird

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Michael Krass, Hadestown
William Ivey Long, Beetlejuice
William Ivey Long, Tootsie
Bob Mackie, The Cher Show
Paul Tazewell, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Neil Austin, Ink
Jules Fisher + Peggy Eisenhauer, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Peter Mumford, The Ferryman
Jennifer Tipton, To Kill a Mockingbird
Jan Versweyveld and Tal Yarden, Network

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Kevin Adams, The Cher Show
Howell Binkley, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Bradley King, Hadestown
Peter Mumford, King Kong
Kenneth Posner and Peter Nigrini, Beetlejuice

Best Sound Design of a Play

Adam Cork, Ink
Scott Lehrer, To Kill a Mockingbird
Fitz Patton, Choir Boy
Nick Powell, The Ferryman
Eric Sleichim, Network

Best Sound Design of a Musical

Peter Hylenski, Beetlejuice
Peter Hylenski, King Kong
Steve Canyon Kennedy, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Drew Levy, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz, Hadestown

Best Direction of a Play

Rupert Goold, Ink
Sam Mendes, The Ferryman
Bartlett Sher, To Kill a Mockingbird
Ivo van Hove, Network
George C. Wolfe, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Best Direction of a Musical

Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown
Scott Ellis, Tootsie
Daniel Fish, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Des McAnuff, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Casey Nicholaw, The Prom

Best Choreography

Camille A. Brown, Choir Boy
Warren Carlyle, Kiss Me, Kate
Denis Jones, Tootsie
David Neumann, Hadestown
Sergio Trujillo, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Best Orchestrations

Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose, Hadestown
Simon Hale, Tootsie
Larry Hochman, Kiss Me, Kate
Daniel Kluger, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Harold Wheeler, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Recipients of Awards and Honors in Non-competitive Categories

—Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater
Rosemary Harris
Terrence McNally
Harold Wheeler

—Special Tony Awards
Marin Mazzie
Sonny Tilders and Creature Technology Company
Jason Michael Webb

The 73rd Annual Tony Awards will air at 7 p.m. June 9 on CBS. James Corden hosts.

Contributing: Associated Press