‘Buena Vista Social Club,’ ‘Death Becomes Her’ and ‘Maybe Happy Ending’ lead Tony Award nominations

This image released by Polk & Co. shows Megan Hilty, left, and Jennifer Simard during a performance of "Death Becomes Her" in New York. (Matthew Murphy/Polk & Co. via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Three Broadway shows — “Buena Vista Social Club,” “Death Becomes Her” and “Maybe Happy Ending” — each earned a leading 10 Tony Award nominations Thursday, as nominators spread out the joy and gave nods to George Clooney,Sarah Snook and Bob Odenkirk in their debuts.

Twenty-nine shows got at least one nomination across the 26 Tony categories, even long-closed shows like “A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical” and “Swept Away.”

James Monroe Iglehart, who played Armstrong in his musical, wasn’t expecting the nomination and woke to his phone blowing up. “I was like, ‘What’s going on? Is everything OK?’ And then I was, ‘OK! How cool is that?” he said. “I’m just really excited to be a part of this crop of amazing performers.”

“Buena Vista Social Club,” which takes its inspiration from Wim Wenders’ 1999 Oscar-nominated documentary on the making of the album “Buena Vista Social Club,” will face off for best musical crown with “Death Becomes Her,” based on the 1992 cult classic film of the same name about frenemeies who seek a magic eternal youth and beauty potion.

The category also includes “Maybe Happy Ending,” a rom-com musical about a pair of androids that crackles with humanity and “ Dead Outlaw,” a musical about a real life alcoholic drifter who was shot dead in 1911 and whose afterlife proved to be stranger than fiction as he was displayed at carnivals and sideshows for decades.

A second show with a corpse, the British import “Operation Mincemeat,” also made it, the improbably true story about a British deception operation designed to mislead Nazi Germany about the location of the Allied landing at Sicily.

“What I think is so cool about this year is that the shows are so widely different and I love that for Broadway,” says Christopher Gattelli, the choreographer and first-time director of “Death Becomes Her,” who earned nods for both jobs.

“We have chamber pieces and really small intimate shows and these wildly funny black box shows, and so, I love that it’s been such a great scope of a year. I love that we get to add to that mix.”

“Dead Outlaw” — conceived by David Yazbek, who wrote the music and lyrics with Erik Della Penna — reunites Yazbek with book writer Itamar Moses and the director David Cromer, who collaborated so winningly on the Tony-winning “The Band’s Visit.” Yazbek said Thursday that the team learned a lesson with that show that they applied to “Dead Outlaw.”

“If you make the thing you want to make and make it true to itself and leave the rest of it up to the fates, then you might actually get the reception that you want. And so we sort of stuck to that approach,” he said.

Best play category

In the best play category, “English,” Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sanaz Toossi’s look at four Iranian students preparing for an English language exam, made the cut. As did “The Hills of California,” Jez Butterworth’s look at a family gathering for the impending death of its matriarch set in a hotel in the summer of 1976 in England.

They’ll compete with “John Proctor Is the Villain,” Kimberly Belflower’s examination of girlhood, feminism, the #MeToo movement and a compelling rebuttal to “The Crucible,” and “Purpose,” Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ drawing-room drama about an accomplished Black family destroying itself from within.

The category is completed with “Oh, Mary!,” an irreverent, raunchy, gleefully deranged revisionist history by Cole Escola centered on Mary Todd Lincoln, portrayed as a boozy, narcissistic, potty-mouthed first lady determined to strike out of the subordinate role into which history has placed her.

Jacobs-Jenkins, whose “Appropriate,” won best play revival last year, said Thursday morning that his category was filled with plays that started regionally or off-Broadway, showing the art’s strength.

“I hope people kind of see the diversity of what’s happening in terms of writing for the American stages right now. It’s really an amazing time,” he said. “I think that’s just the testament to how fruitful the form is.”

Acting nods and some missing

Audra McDonald, as expected, heard her name called for her turn as Rose in a hailed revival of “Gypsy,” a role that led to previous Tonys for the likes of Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Patti LuPone. McDonald, already a holder for the most Tonys by a performer — with six — now vies for a seventh.

She will face off against Nicole Scherzinger in “Sunset Blvd.,” Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard in “Death Becomes Her,” and Jasmine Amy Rogers from “Boop! The Musical.”

McDonald credits the late Broadway star Gavin Creel for suggesting she lead “Gypsy” some eight years ago during a dinner party at her house. It wasn’t on her radar, and she didn’t think a Black-led “Gypsy” would fly. Creel insisted. He died the first day of “Gypsy” rehearsals. “We have another reason to thank him,” she said.

Clooney got a nod as a leading actor in a play for his retelling the story of legendary reporter Edward R. Murrow in an adaptation of his 2005 film “Good Night, and Good Luck.” Another hot ticket — a revival of David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” earned Odenkirk a nod, but not for his co-stars Kieran Culkin or comedian Bill Burr. (The snub derails Culkin possibly winning an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony in less than 18 months.)

Snook, Culkin’s “Succession” co-star, earned a nomination for playing all 26 parts in “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and “Stranger Things” star Sadie Sink earned one for leading “John Proctor is the Villain.” “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” an effects-driven prequel to her old Netflix hit show, earned five nods, including for lead actor Louis McCartney.

The news was less good for Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler, both in their Broadway debuts. Neither got nominations for their “Romeo + Juliet” pitched to Generation X and millennials. Robert Downey Jr., who also made his Broadway debut in the play “McNeal,” also wasn’t recognized. Mia Farrow earned a nomination for “The Roommate” but her co-star, the Broadway diva Patti LuPone, did not.

And, in a shock, an edgy “Othello” with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal that producers are charging north of $900 for orchestra seats, got not a single nomination. Idina Menzel’s return to Broadway in “Redwood,” a contemporary fable about trees, grief and the quest for healing, also got no nominations.

“Our Town,” starring Jim Parsons and Katie Holmes, earned a best play revival Tony nomination, but nothing for its actors. Elton John’s musical about 1980s televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker and the Stephen Sondheim revue starring Tony Award-winners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga came up blank.

The Tony Awards will be handed out June 8 at Radio City Music Hall during a telecast hosted by “Wicked” star and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo.

Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press