Theater News

Jessie Mueller, Waitress, The Great Comet Lead Elliot Norton Award Nominations

Find out what productions will be honored for their Boston engagements.

| Boston | Broadway |

April 15, 2016

Jessie Mueller as Jenna in the new Sara Bareilles-Jessie Nelson musical ''Waitress'. — Jessie Mueller as Jenna in the new Sara Bareilles-Jessie Nelson musical *Waitress*.
(© Jeremy Daniel)

The pre-Broadway runs of Waitress and Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 were honored with 2016 Elliot Norton Awards by the The Boston Theater Critics Association.

Waitress, currently running at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, received a nod in the Outstanding Musical Production by a Large Theater category for its 2015 run at American Repertory Theater. The show's star, Jessie Mueller, received a nod in the Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actress, Large Theater category.

The Great Comet, which opens this fall at the Imperial Theatre, received seven nominations for its American Repertory Theatre engagement, including Outstanding Musical Production by a Large Theater, Outstanding Direction (for Rachel Chavkin), and Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actress (for Denée Benton).

Additional nominees include the Huntington Theatre Company productions of Come Back, Little Sheba, Milk Like Sugar, and A Little Night Music, as well as SpeakEasy Stage Company's Casa Valentina and Bootycandy, and American Repertory Theater's Nice Fish, starring Mark Rylance.

This year’s recipient of the Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence is Steven Maler, the founding artistic director of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, which has for 20 years presented free, exhilarating productions of the Bard’s works in Boston, the last 19 on Boston Common. A Special Citation will be awarded to Matthew Aucoin, for bringing Walt Whitman to life in his opera, Crossing.

For a full list of nominees, click here.