‘Mean Girls,’ ‘SpongeBob SquarePants,’ ‘Angels In America’ Lead Tony Nominations

April 8, 2018: Tina Fey joins the cast of ‘Mean Girls’ at the musical’s opening night on Broadway. Image by Noam Galai/Getty Images

By Talya Zax May 1, 2018

After a particularly boring season on Broadway, there are few surprises among this season’s nominees for the Tony Awards. “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Mean Girls” predictably mopped up nominations, scoring 12 apiece in a season in which new musicals were scarce. Equally predictably, “Escape to Margaritaville,” the Jimmy Buffet musical, won no Tony love; somewhat more unexpected was that the big-budget Disney blowout “Frozen” came away with a scarce three nominations. The season’s critical favorite, “The Band’s Visit,” swept up a neat 11 nominations.

Things were only slightly more interesting on the non-musical side of things, primarily because Amy Schumer scored a nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Play for her work in Steve Martin’s “Meteor Shower,” which went otherwise unnoticed. “Angels in America” and “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” both British imports, performed well in the nomination categories for plays; the former scored 11 nominations, making it the most-nominated play in Tony history, and the latter 10. When it comes to the big prizes, Best Play and Best Revival of a Play, the two will compete in different categories, as “Angels in America” has previously appeared on Broadway.

Critics agreed that the most interesting category in this year’s awards is that of Best Revival for a Play, for which Kenneth Lonergan’s “Lobby Hero,” Edward Albee’s “Three Tall Women,” Tom Stoppard’s “Travesties” and Eugene O’Neill’s “The Iceman Cometh” are nominated in addition to “Angels in America.” “The category is extraordinarily strong,” wrote Michael Paulson of The New York Times. Sara Holdren, writing for Vulture, commented on “the glut of star-studded revivals that make up the backbone of Broadway.” Given the strength of the season’s revivals compared to the weakness of its new plays, Charles McNulty wrote in the L.A. Times, “the temptation to fudge the best play category is understandable.”

Who will win? Do we care? Tune in for answers — if you must — on June 10, when the Tony’s will air. In the meantime, find a full list of nominees here.

Talya Zax is the Forward’s opinion editor. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @TalyaZax.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO