Gay-themed "The Little Dog Laughed" among the Tony nominees...
"The Little Dog Laughed" starring Tom Everett Scott as a closeted Hollywood actor and Johnny Galecki as his rent boy, received a Tony Award nomination Tuesday for best play. Also nominated in the category are: "The Coast of Utopia," "Frost/Nixon," "The Little Dog Laughed," and "Radio Golf."
Nominated for Best Musical are "Curtains." "Grey Gardens." "Mary Poppins," and "Spring Awakening."
Among the more familiar names in the acting categories are four-time Emmy winner Angela Lansbury nominated for her Broadway comeback in "Deuce." To win a fifth Tony, she'll have to beat, among others, fellow past Tony winners Vanessa Redgrave and Swoosie Kurtz. David Hyde Pierce, multiple Emmy winner for TV's "Frasier," is up for best actor in a musical ("Curtains") while the best actress in a musical category has such heavyweights as four-time Tony winner Audra McDonald ("100 in the Shade") and past Tony winner Christine Ebersole ("Grey Gardens").
Also nominated: movie stars Billy Crudup and Ethan Hawke are among those competing in the featured actor in a play category.
Here are the rest of the major nominees:
BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL:
Curtains Rupert Holmes & Peter Stone
Grey Gardens Doug Wright
Legally Blonde The Musical Heather Hach
Spring Awakening Steven Sater
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE WRITTEN FOR THE THEATRE:
Curtains Music: John Kander
Lyrics: Fred Ebb, John Kander & Rupert Holmes
Grey Gardens Music: Scott Frankel
Lyrics: Michael Korie
Legally Blonde The Musical Music & Lyrics: Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin
Spring Awakening Music: Duncan Sheik
Lyrics: Steven Sater
BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
Inherit the Wind
Journey's End
Talk Radio
Translations
BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
The Apple Tree
A Chorus Line
Company
110 in the Shade
BEST SPECIAL THEATRICAL EVENT:
Jay Johnson: The Two and Only
Kiki & Herb Alive on Broadway
BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY:
Boyd Gaines Journey's End
Frank Langella Frost/Nixon
Brían F. O’Byrne The Coast of Utopia
Christopher Plummer Inherit the Wind
Liev Schreiber Talk Radio
BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY:
Eve Best A Moon for the Misbegotten
Swoosie Kurtz Heartbreak House
Angela Lansbury Deuce
Vanessa Redgrave The Year of Magical Thinking
Julie White The Little Dog Laughed
BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL:
Michael Cerveris LoveMusik
Raúl Esparza Company
Jonathan Groff Spring Awakening
Gavin Lee Mary Poppins
David Hyde Pierce Curtains
BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL:
Laura Bell Bundy Legally Blonde The Musical
Christine Ebersole Grey Gardens
Audra McDonald 110 in the Shade
Debra Monk Curtains
Donna Murphy LoveMusik
BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY:
Anthony Chisholm Radio Golf
Billy Crudup The Coast of Utopia
Ethan Hawke The Coast of Utopia
John Earl Jelks Radio Golf
Stark Sands Journey's End
BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY:
Jennifer Ehle The Coast of Utopia
Xanthe Elbrick Coram Boy
Dana Ivey Butley
Jan Maxwell Coram Boy
Martha Plimpton The Coast of Utopia
BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Brooks Ashmanskas Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
Christian Borle Legally Blonde The Musical
John Cullum 110 in the Shade
John Gallagher, Jr. Spring Awakening
David Pittu LoveMusik
BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL:
Charlotte d’Amboise A Chorus Line
Rebecca Luker Mary Poppins
Orfeh Legally Blonde The Musical
Mary Louise Wilson Grey Gardens
Karen Ziemba Curtains
BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY:
Michael Grandage Frost/Nixon
David Grindley Journey's End
Jack O'Brien The Coast of Utopia
Melly Still Coram Boy
BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL:
John Doyle Company
Scott Ellis Curtains
Michael Greif Grey Gardens
Michael Mayer Spring Awakening
Greg Hernandez has covered the entertainment industry for the Daily
News since 2001. He's considered a bit odd by some for his obsession
with box office numbers, has been known to camp out near the kitchen
at premieres for first crack at the hors d'oeurves, and Greg's never
seen a red carpet he didn't want to stroll down.