Tony Awards Administration Committee Rules on Book of Mormon, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Sister Act, and More

The Tony Awards Administration Committee has announced its eligibility rulings for the remainder of the Broadway season, with the 19 productions discussed including: Elling; Priscilla Queen of the Desert; Ghetto Klown; The Book of Mormon; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo; Anything Goes; Catch Me If You Can; The Motherf**ker with the Hat; War Horse; Wonderland; High; Sister Act; Jerusalem; Born Yesterday; The House of Blue Leaves; Baby It’s You; The Normal Heart and The People in the Picture.

Tony Award winners Matthew Broderick and Anika Noni Rose will announce the nominations at 8:30am on Tuesday, May 3. The 65th Annual Tony Awards ceremony, presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, will be broadcast in a live three-hour ceremony from The Beacon Theatre on the CBS television network on Sunday, June 12, 2011.

In musical rulings, Will Swenson and Tony Sheldon will both be considered eligible in the category of Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for their respective performances in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, but Nick Adams will be eligible in the Featured category. Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells will both be eligible as Actors in a Leading Role for their respective performances in The Book of Mormon. John Larroquette will be considered in the Featured category for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. For Anything Goes, top-billed Joel Grey will be considered eligible in the Featured category, while Colin Donnell will be considered in the Lead category. Janet Dacal will be considered eligible as Actress in a Leading Role for Wonderland.

Douglas Carter Beane will be considered eligible jointly with Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner in the category of Best Book of a Musical for Sister Act, while Patina Miller will be eligible for Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in the show. Beth Leavel will be considered in the Lead category for her performance in Baby It’s You, while Jason H. Thompson will be considered eligible jointly with Anna Louizos in the category of Best Scenic Design of a Musical for that production.

In play categories, John Leguizamo will be considered eligible as Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Ghetto Klown. Also eligible in Lead categories are Bobby Cannavale for The Motherf**ker with the Hat; Seth Numrich for War Horse; and Joe Mantello for The Normal Heart. Robert Sean Leonard will be considered in the Featured Role category for Born Yesterday. Both Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh will be eligible for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for their respective performances in The House of Blue Leaves.

All other decisions were consistent with the opening night credits.

In addition, a spokesperson for the Awards has confirmed there will only be four nominees for Best Actress in a Musical, as per a rule that reduces the number of nominations to four in any category when there are less than seven eligible candidates. There are only six eligible nominees in the Best Actress in a Musical category.

To read TheaterMania’s previous stories about the Tony Awards eligibility, click here (for news about the December 9 meeting), here (for news about the February 10 meeting), and here (for news about the March 31 meeting).

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