The 2024 Tony Awards: If We Were Nominators

This year, Mike and I still have several Tony-eligible shows to see before the nominations are announced tomorrow. So, instead of our typical list of informed predictions, we are going to talk about each show we have seen so far, and name those people, elements and productions we hope the committee honors. The plays and musicals we saw this season (as of April 28, 2024) are: Appropriate, Back to the Future, Days of Wine and Roses, Harmony, Here Lies Love, Illinoise, Lempicka, Merrily We Roll Along, Once Upon a One More Time, Purlie Victorious, The Notebook and Water For Elephants. (We will be seeing The Outsiders, The Who's Tommy, Stereophonic and Suffs in the weeks leading up to the Tony Awards on June 16th.)

Nominations we got right highlighted below! Congratulations to all!

The 2024 Tony Awards:

If We Were Nominators

Appropriate

• Best Revival of a Play
• Best Leading Actress in a Play: Sarah Paulson
• Best Featured Actor in a Play: Michael Esper, Corey Stoll
• Best Direction of a Play: Lila Neugebauer
• Best Scenic Design of a Play: dots.
• Best Lighting Design of a Play: Jane Cox
• Best Sound Design of a Play: Bray Poor and Will Pickens

Back to the Future

• Best Leading Actor in a Musical: Casey Likes
• Best Featured Actor in a Musical: Roger Bart
• Best Scenic Design of a Musical: Tim Hatley and Finn Ross
• Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Tim Lutkin and Hugh Vanstone
• Best Sound Design of a Musical: Gareth Owen

Days of Wine and Roses

• Best Musical
• Best Book: Craig Lucas
• Best Score: Adam Guettel
• Best Orchestrations: Adam Guettel and Jamie Lawrence
• Best Leading Actor in a Musical: Brian d'Arcy James
• Best Leading Actress in a Musical: Kelli O'Hara
• Best Direction of a Musical: Michael Greif
• Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Ben Stanton
• Best Sound Design of a Musical: Kai Harada

Harmony

• While both of us enjoyed this production very much, no performances, design or creative elements stood out enough to warrant inclusion on this list. 

Here Lies Love

• Best Musical
• Best Score: David Byrne and Fatboy Slim
• Best Leading Actress in a Musical: Arielle Jacobs
• Best Featured Actor in a Musical: Conrad Ricamora
• Best Direction of a Musical: Alex Timbers
• Best Scenic Design of a Musical: David Korins
• Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Justin Townsend

Illinoise

• Best Musical
• Best Book: Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury
• Best Orchestrations: Timo Andres
• Best Featured Actor in a Musical: Ben Cook, Ricky Ubeda
• Best Featured Actress in a Musical: Gaby Diaz
• Best Direction of a Musical: Justin Peck
• Best Choreography: Justin Peck
• Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Brandon Stirling Baker
• Best Sound Design of a Musical: Garth MacAleavey

Lempicka

• Best Musical
• Best Score: Matt Gould and Carson Kreitzer
• Best Leading Actress in a Musical: Eden Espinosa
• Best Featured Actor in a Musical: George Abud
• Best Featured Actress in a Musical: Amber Iman
• Best Direction of a Musical: Rachel Chavkin
• Best Scenic Design of a Musical: Riccardo Hernandez and Peter Nigrini
• Best Costume Design of a Musical: Paloma Young
• Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Bradley King

Merrily We Roll Along

• Best Revival of a Musical
• Best Featured Actor in a Musical: Daniel Radcliffe
• Best Featured Actress in a Musical: Lindsay Mendez

Once Upon a One More Time

• Best Leading Actor in a Musical: Justin Guarini
• Best Costume Design of a Musical: Loren Elstein
• Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Kenneth Posner

Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

• Best Revival of a Play
• Best Leading Actor in a Play: Leslie Odom, Jr.
• Best Featured Actor in a Play: Jay O. Saunders
• Best Featured Actress in a Okay: Kara Young
• Best Direction of a Play: Kenny Leon
• Best Scenic Design of a Play: Derek McLane
• Best Costume Design of a Play: Emilio Sosa

The Notebook

• Best Musical
• Best Book: Bekah Burnstetter
• Best Score: Ingrid Michaelson
• Best Orchestrations: John Clancy and Carmel Dean
• Best Leading Actor in a Musical: Dorian Harewood
• Best Leading Actress in a Musical: Maryann Plunkett
• Best Featured Actor in a Musical: Ryan Vasquez
• Best Featured Actress in a Musical: Joy Woods

Water For Elephants

• Best Musical
• Best Book: Rick Elice
• Best Score: PigPen Theatre Co.
• Best Orchestrations: Daryl Waters, Benedict Braxton-Smith and August Eriksmoen
• Best Leading Actor in a Musical: Grant Gustin
• Best Featured Actor in a Musical: Paul Alexander Nolan
• Best Featured Actress in a Musical: Sara Gettlefinger
• Best Direction of a Musical: Jessica Stone
• Best Choreography: Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll
• Best Scenic Design of a Musical: Takeshi Kata
• Best Costume Design of a Musical: David Israel Reynoso
• Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Bradley King and David Bengali
• Best Sound Design of a Musical: Walter Trarbach

No matter how the nominations turn out tomorrow, we congratulate every single person and show that opened this season. Each opening, design, direction and performance is a major accomplishment in and of itself.