The 74th Tony Award nominations were held on YouTube on October 15, 2020. It was hosted by 2014 Tony winner for Aladdin, James Monroe Iglehart.

The ceremony began with Iglehart in his home, in front of his posters from the several Broadway productions he has starred in. In an introduction speech he said ”History has shown us that every great society has had theater at its core. Theater has always and will always survive. Theater is constant.” He continued the speech by giving a brief story about his love of the Wizard of Oz based musical, The Wiz, from a young age. 

The nominees for best play, best play revival, best musical, and best book of a musical, and best original score came first. For best play, Grand Horizons, The Inheritance, Sea Wall/A Life, Slave Play, and The Sound Inside were nominated.  This was Slave Play’s first of twelve nominations in various categories. For best revival of a play, Betrayal, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune, and A Soldier’s Play were nominated. 

Jagged Little Pill, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical, and The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical were the only musicals that could be nominated for any musical category because they were the only ones that premiered before the February 19 cutoff date set in the midst of Broadway’s shutdown in March following the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of these four, The Lightning Thief was the only one not nominated for best musical and best book of a musical. In the history of the best original score written for the theater category, there have only been nine years where a non-musical play has been nominated. This year, the category consisted of only non-musical plays as The Lightning Thief did not receive a nomination. A Christmas Carol, The Inheritance, The Rose Tattoo, Slave Play, and The Sound Inside were nominated. 

Iglehart continued the ceremony by talking about the people in life that “direct you on the path you’re supposed to be on,” namely his college makeup teacher. “I would run up to the costume shop where she supervised and I’d vent and complain. And one day she looks me dead in my eyes and she says, James, you can get angry, vent and complain, or you can take what you can and use it to your advantage.”

Next came the nominees for best direction of a play, best direction of a musical, best choreography, and best orchestrations. The nominees for best direction of a play were The Sound Inside, The Inheritance, A Soldier’s Play, Betrayal, and Slave Play. For best direction of a musical, best choreography, and best orchestrations, Jagged Little Pill, Moulin Rouge!, and Tina were each nominated for all three categories. 

Next, Iglehart told the story of seeing his first show on Broadway, Ragtime. “I remember getting to my seat and thinking, I’m in a Broadway theater. I’m in a real Broadway theater! That production was seamless in performance and design.” Next came the nominees in the design categories.

Starting with the plays, the nominees for best scenic design were The Inheritance, Betrayal, A Christmas Carol, A Soldier’s Play, and Slave Play. For best costume design, Slave Play, A Soldier’s Play, The Inheritance, A Christmas Carol, and The Rose Tattoo were nominated. Costume designer Dede Ayite was nominated twice in this category for Slave Play and A Soldier’s Play. For best lighting design, the nominees were Slave Play, The Inheritance, The Sound Inside, A Soldier’s Play, and A Christmas Carol. For best sound design, The Inheritance, A Christmas Carol, Slave Play, Sea Wall/A Life, and The Sound Inside. Daniel Kluger was nominated twice in this category for Sea Wall/A Life and The Sound Inside. And for best scenic, costume, lighting, and sound design of a musical, Jagged Little Pill, Moulin Rouge!, and Tina.

“People always ask me, what was it like to win the Tony? What were you thinking when you were on the stage?” Iglehart said as he began to introduce the next category. “I was looking out and I was seeing my friends and I saw all the performers I idolized. And then, I caught her eyes, the eyes of my beautiful wife, the eyes of my best friend. I realized, I would be on stage without her,” he said in reference to his wife, Dawn Iglehart, “it was her love, it was her support, it was her kindness, and her character to believe in me enough to do this. She is the reason why I got to walk up those stairs and live in the glorious moment that night.” 

Here are the nominees for the most highly anticipated category: performance. Starting with play nominees for best performance by an actress in a leading role, Joaquina Kalukango (Slave Play), Laura Linney (My Name is Lucy Barton), Mary-Louise Parker (The Sound Inside), and Audra McDonald (Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune). This is McDonald’s ninth Tony nomination, giving her the chance to win her seventh award. For best performance by an actor in a leading role, the nominees are Ian Barford (Linda Vista), Andrew Burnap (The Inheritance), Jake Gyllenhaal (Sea Wall/A Life), Tom Hiddleston (Betrayal), Tom Sturridge (Sea Wall/A Life), and Blair Underwood (A Soldier’s Play). Both Gyllenhaal and Hiddleston are more well known for playing villains Mysterio and Loki respectively in the very popular Marvel movie franchise.

For best performance by an actress in a featured role, Jane Alexander (Grand Horizons), Chalia La Tour (Slave Play), Annie McNamara (Slave Play), Lois Smith (The Inheritance), and Cora Vander Broek (Linda Vista) were nominated. For best performance by an actor in a featured role, the nominees are Ato Blankson-Wood (Slave Play), James Cusati-Moyer (Slave Play), David Alan Grier (A Soldier’s Play), John Benjamin Hickey (The Inheritance), and Paul Hilton (The Inheritance).

For musicals, the nominees for best performance by an actress in a leading role are Karen Olivo (Moulin Rouge!), Elizabeth Stanley (Jagged Little Pill), and Adrienne Warren (Tina). Aaron Tveit (Moulin Rouge!)  is the only actor nominated for best performance by an actor in a leading role. Chris McCarrell (The Lightning Thief) was the only other actor who could have been nominated, but he was not. This does not guarantee an automatic win for Tveit, as 60% of the Tony Voters still have to vote for him. This means that though unlikely, there still is the possibility of the category having no winner.

For best performance by an actress in a featured role, the nominees are Kathryn Gallagher (Jagged Little Pill), Celia Rose Gooding (Jagged Little Pill), Robyn Hurder (Moulin Rouge!), Lauren Patten (Jagged Little Pill), and Myra Lucretia Taylor (Tina). For best performance by an actor in a featured role, Danny Burstein (Moulin Rouge!), Derek Klena (Jagged Little Pill), Sean Allan Krill (Jagged Little Pill), Sahr Ngaujah (Moulin Rouge!), and Daniel J. Watts (Tina) were nominated.

Slave Play garnered the most play nominations this year, with a total of twelve, and Jagged Little Pill received a total of fifteen, just missing the previous record of sixteen set by Hamilton for most musical nominations. While The Lightning Thief did not receive great reviews during its sixteen week limited run, many were surprised to see it receive zero nominations. With only four musicals to choose from, the musical seems to have been snubbed purposefully in favor of the other three options. A tweet from BroadwayWorld writer David Gordon sums up the feelings of many disappointed fans of the musical, “I know that the Tonys aren’t participatory awards, and I know most theater people didn’t care for The Lightning Thief on Broadway, but what kind of message does it send to not even recognize the one original musical-theater score written for the theater that opened this year?”

Overall, this will be a year like no other for the Tony Awards. There is still no official date for when the virtual ceremony will be held. As Iglehart closed the ceremony by saying, “Broadway will be back, and it will be worth the wait.”