Luke Evans claims a Tony Award for his Broadway debut on "The Rocky Horror Show"

NEW YORK — The American Theater League has announced the nominees for the Tony Award for the 2024-2025 season. This year has been a landmark year for members of the LGBTQ+ community, whose achievements have been celebrated both on stage and behind the scenes in categories ranging from reimagined classics to original new stories.

Reference The Tony Awards are one of the main theater awards in the world, a kind of "Oscar" for the theater. It is awarded to the best productions on Broadway in New York City. The award is called the Tony Awards because it is named after the theater actress Antoinette Perry, who was named Tony. Many famous musicals first became hits at the Tony Awards, and then turned into world phenomena like Hamilton or The Phantom of the Opera.

Leaders among productions Musicals received the largest number of nominations among projects with the participation of queer leaders Cats: The Jellicle Ball and The Rocky Horror Show — each of them claims to be 9 awards. Production Cats was praised for its bold reinterpretation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's classics in the context of the New York Ballroom Culture. Richard O'Brien's revived musical The Rocky Horror Show also dominates the lists, including the acting and technical categories.

Other notable nominees include:

• Oedipus (7 nominations) is a production by openly gay director and playwright Robert Icke.
• Liberation (5 nominations) is a play dedicated to the themes of freedom and identity.
• Titaníque (4 nominations) is a queer parody of the film Titanic, nominated in the category "Best Musical".

Acting achievements The acting categories feature a wide range of open LGBTQ+ performers. Nathan Lane received a nomination for Best Actor in Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman, cementing his status as one of the most decorated actors in Broadway history. Luke Evans, for whom it was his Broadway debut, and Stephanie Xu were nominated for leading roles in The Rocky Horror Show.

Also noted:

Brandon Uranowitz for his role in the musical Ragtime.

Marla Mindell, creator and performer of the role of Celine Dion in Titaníque.

Legendary Andre De Shields for his role in Cats: The Jellicle Ball.

The first nominations in their careers were received by Ben Levy Ross and Leighton Williams.

Creative forces behind the scenes This season, special attention is paid to designers and directors. Famous black trans designer Qween Jean received two nominations at once for the best costume design (to the play Liberation and the musical Cats). In the directorial categories, Whitney White (Liberation), Michael Arden (The Lost Boys), Joe Mantello ("Death of a Salesman"), as well as the duo of Sylon Levingston and Bill Rauch.

Among the producers of the nominated shows are such famous names as Neil Patrick Harris, Bowen Young, Cynthia Erivo and Lena Waite.

The upcoming "Tony" ceremony promises to be a celebration of the entire Broadway community, highlighting the vital role of queer authors and artists whose stories remain at the forefront of theatrical innovation.