2024 Tony Awards nominations predictions center is open! 15 plays jockey for attention
Gold Derby’s 2024 Tony Awards nominations predictions center is open for business and ready for your best prognostications. This season, 15 plays will jockey for Broadway’s top honors.
The 2023-2024 season began with a genre rarely seen on stage: horror. The thrilling “Grey House” by Levi Holloway plunked Tatiana Maslany and Laurie Metcalf inside a creepy ghost story, with the titular haunted abode impressively designed by Scott Pask. The show finished its run way back in July, but voters may still be piqued by the “what-did-it-all-mean” debates which the script encouraged.
The summer months also hosted the Broadway debut of Sandy Rustin with the hilarious sex farce “The Cottage.” Tony and Emmy winning actor Jason Alexander stepped into the director seat to guide a well-oiled ensemble that featured the likes of Laura Bell Bundy, Eric McCormack, Alex Moffat and break-out scene stealer Dana Steingold. Then came Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon with “The Shark is Broken,” a behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Jaws.” Shaw also portrayed his father Robert Shaw, with whom he shares an uncanny resemblance, with Colin Donnell and Alex Brightman transforming into Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss, respectively.
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The fall brought us “Purlie Victorious,” a riotous satire by Ossie Davis which featured the much-anticipated Broadway return of Leslie Odom Jr. in the title role. Critics fell head over heels for the revival, and its ensemble cast. Chief among them is two-time Tony nominee Kara Young, who may indeed hear her name called yet again for this larger-than-life performance. Speaking of ensembles, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” makes an excellent case for the addition of Best Ensemble category at the Tonys. The ten person cast (featuring Dominique Thorne and Zenzi Williams) pulled audiences into the inner joys and struggles of the women working in a Harlem braiding shop. Without an Ensemble category, these women will all vie for attention in the Featured Actress in a Play category.
“Appropriate” by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is definitely the most successful play of the season so far. The Second Stage Theater production has often out-grossed Broadway musicals despite playing to The Hayes, the smallest theater on Broadway. Producers will transfer the show to the Belasco in March for a commercial extension which will coincide with Tony season, boosting the awards prospects for Sarah Paulson, Corey Stoll and the rest of the cast of this searing family drama.
Major stars are also treading the boards in this season’s plays. Danny DeVito returned to Broadway in the laugh-fest “I Need That.” Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli will star in a new translation of Henrik Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People” by Amy Herzog. Rachel McAdams makes her main stem debut in “Mary Jane” at Manhattan Theatre Club. Steve Carell will also make his Broadway debut this spring, in a new translation of “Uncle Vanya” from Heidi Schreck. He will be assisted by an all-star cast featuring Jayne Houdyshell, William Jackson Harper, Alison Pill, and Anika Noni Rose. Michael Stuhlbarg and Will Keen bring “Patriots” by Peter Morgan across the pond after an Olivier-winning run in London. And most impressively, Amy Ryan stepped into the seismic role of Sister Aloysius in “Doubt” with just days to prepare after original star Tyne Daly withdrew from the production due to illness. Ryan takes on the blistering script opposite Liev Schreiber as Father Flynn.
Not every play requires A-Listers from Hollywood to turn it into a bona fide event, however. Just look at “Prayer for the French Republic” by Joshua Harmon. After winning the Drama Desk Award for Best Play for its Off-Broadway incarnation, this stirring drama has transferred at just the right time. It simultaneously follows a Jewish family in Paris during 2016, while also charting their ancestors in 1944. Harmon deftly navigates the complex political views and generational trauma which result from antisemitism. Audiences are buzzing after the curtain comes down.
“Stereophonic” is another Off-Broadway transfer which hopes to capture the elusive Best Play trophy. In his main stem debut, playwright David Adjmi takes audiences into a recording studio as a 1970s rock band tries to create brilliant music without buckling to the pressures of looming superstardom. There are no major movie stars here either, but in their place is a talented cast who earned absolute rave reviews during the sold-out run at Playwrights Horizons. A quick Broadway transfer is capitalizing on that buzz, with hopes of Tony Awards recognition.
The eligibility cut-off date for the 2024 Tony Awards is April 25. Nominations will be announced on April 30, ahead of a June 16 ceremony.
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