A total of 28 shows earned a Tony nod or more, with the musical “The Outsiders,” an adaptation of the beloved S. E. Hinton novel and the Francis Ford Coppola film, earning 12 nominations; a starry revival of “Cabaret” starring Eddie Redmayne, nabbing nine; and “Appropriate,” Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ searing play about a family reunion in Arkansas where everyone has competing motivations and grievances, grabbing eight.

Rachel McAdams, making her Broadway debut in “Mary Jane,” earned a best actress in a play nomination, while “Succession” star Jeremy Strong, got his first ever nomination, for a revival of “An Enemy of the People.” Jessica Lange in “Mother Play,” Sarah Paulson in “Appropriate” and Amy Ryan, who stepped in at the last minute for a revival of “Doubt,” also earned nominations in the best actress in a play category.

“The Big Bang Theory” star Jim Parsons earned a supporting nod for “Mother Play,” and Daniel Radcliffe on his fifth Broadway show, a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along,” won his first nomination.

Redmayne in his second show on Broadway got a nod as best lead actor in a musical, as did Brian d’Arcy James for “Days of Wine and Roses,” Brody Grant in “The Outsiders,” Jonathan Groff in “Merrily We Roll Along” and 73-year-old Dorian Harewood in “The Notebook,” the adaptation of Nicholas Sparks romantic tearjerker. Harewood, in his first Broadway show in 46 years, landed his first Tony nomination.

Redmayne’s “Cabaret” co-star Gayle Rankin earned a nomination for best actress in a musical, as did Eden Espinosa in “Lempicka,” Maleah Joi Moon in “Hell’s Kitchen,” Kelli O’Hara in “Days of Wine and Roses” and 71-year-old Maryann Plunkett, who plays the elderly wife at the heart of “The Notebook.”

Steve Carell in his Broadway debut in a poorly received revival of the classic play “Uncle Vanya” failed to secure a nod, but starry producers who earned Tony nods include Keys, Angelina Jolie (for “The Outsiders”) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (for “Suffs”).

The best new musical crown will be a battle between “Hell’s Kitchen,” “The Outsiders,” the dance-heavy, dialogue-less stage adaptation of Sufjan Stevens’s 2005 album “Illinois,” “Suffs,” based on the American suffragists of the early 20th century, and “Water for Elephants,” which combines Sara Green’s 2006 bestseller with circus elements.

The best new play Tony will pit “Stereophonic” against “Mother Play,” Paula Vogel’s play about a mother and her kids spanning 1964 to the 21st century; “Mary Jane,” Amy Herzog’s humanistic portrait of a divorced mother of a young boy with health issues; “Prayer for the French Republic,” Joshua Harmon’s sprawling family comedy-drama that deals with Zionism, religious fervency and antisemitism; and “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy about the lives of West African women working at a salon.

The nominations marked a smashing of the Tony record for most women named in a single season. The 2022 Tony Awards had held the record for most female directing nominees, with four total across the two races — musical and play. Only 10 women have gone on to win a directing crown.

This year, three women were nominated for best play direction — Lila Neugebauer (“Appropriate”), Anne Kauffman (“Mary Jane”) and Whitney White (“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”) — while four were nominated in the musical category — Maria Friedman (“Merrily We Roll Along“), Leigh Silverman (“Suffs”) Jessica Stone (“Water for Elephants”) and Danya Taymor (“The Outsiders”).

A spring barrage of new shows — 14 shows opened in an 11-day span this year — is not unusual these days as producers hope their work will be fresh in the mind of voters ahead of the Tony Awards ceremony on June 16.

There were some firsts this season, including “Here Lies Love” with Broadway’s first all-Filipino cast, which earned four nominations, including best original score for David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim. And seven openly autistic actors starred in “How to Dance in Ohio,” a first for Broadway but which got no Tony love.

Academy Award winner and Tony Award-nominee Ariana DeBose, who hosted both the 2023 and 2022 ceremonies, will be back this year and will produce and choreograph the opening number.

This year’s location — the David H. Koch Theater — is the home of New York City Ballet and in the same sprawling building complex as Lincoln Square Theater, which houses the Broadway venue Beaumont Theater.

Like last year, the three-hour main telecast will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ from 8 p.m.-11 p.m. EDT/5 p.m.-8 p.m. PDT with a pre-show on Pluto TV, and some Tony Awards handed out there.

This season’s Broadway numbers — about $1.4 billion in grosses and 11.1 million tickets — is running slightly less than the 2022-23 season, off about 4% in grosses and down 1% in tickets.

Chris Peluso, who portrayed Sophie’s fiancé Sky in Broadway’s “Mamma Mia!” and toured in “Wicked” as Fiyero, died Aug. 15, according to Playbill and the University of Michigan Musical Theatre department. He was 40.

No cause of death has been shared.

Peluso’s death comes nearly a year after his friends Rebecca LaChance and Tim Oxbrow shared that the performer had stepped away from the stage due to a schizoaffective disorder.

“This diagnosis has resulted in Chris experiencing debilitating paranoia, which has kept him from performing in recent years,” LaChance and Oxbrow wrote in a September 2022 GoFundMe fundraiser. “As well as affecting his capacity to work in the field he built his career in over the last 18 years, Chris’s mental health has affected every aspect of his life.”

Peluso reposted the GoFundMe on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Prior to the post, his last social media activity traced back to January 2021. At the time, Peluso celebrated the birth of his daughter Aria Li Gomes-Peluso with a picture of her next to his beloved King Charles Cavalier Peety, who died later that year.

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

In 2022, Peluso, who lived in London in pursuit of a West End performing career, moved to the United States in search of treatment. In addition to taking a break from his career—which at that point included appearances in productions “The Woman in White,” “Death Takes a Holiday,” “Show Boat” and the revival of “Miss Saigon”—Peluso’s relocation meant he had to move away from his wife Jessica Gomes and daughter.

“In recent months, the paranoia has consumed him to the extent that he is unable to work any job and has had to leave his wife and young child and return to America to seek treatment,” the GoFundMe read. “Chris has no health care insurance in the US and was recently hospitalized for about two weeks. Currently, he is seeking treatment at an inpatient mental health rehabilitation center.”

Peluso shared a message in the GoFundMe as well, expressing hope that his experience would reach others.

“Hopefully this helps bring some awareness to how so many suffer from mental illness in silence,” he wrote. “You never know what someone may be going through. Be kind to each other.”

A few months later, Peluso wrote in the GoFundMe that he had shown positive progress and was “able to hold down a job again and even began taping some auditions.”

In the wake of his passing, Peluso was mourned by his fellow performers, who remembered him as a gifted artist.

“This is devastating. I only have wonderful memories of Chris. I am holding tight to all of the light he shared. So kind. So funny. So giving. So talented and loving,” Toni Trucks commented on Michigan’s Instagram tribute to Peluso, an alumnus of the school. Desi Oakley also added, “i learned so much from his kindness & professionalism, i am sending so much love to all who walked closely with him.”

Peluso’s theater career stretched back to 2004, when he rose to fame as an understudy in the revival of “Assassins.” His credits also included performances in Broadway’s Beautiful “The Carole King Musical” and “Lestat,” as well as a role in the 2017 U.K. Tour of “Funny Girl.”

For Peluso, his love of theater was all-encompassing.

“Theatre is my life. It has provided me with friends, family, education, structure, meaning, and purpose,” he told Pocket Size Theatre in 2017. “If it were not for theatre I would not be the person I am today.”

Peluso is survived by his wife Jessica and their two children, daughter Aria and son Caio Lian Gomes-Peluso, according to Playbill.

Nichelle Lewis will star in the national touring show this fall and then make her Broadway debut next year as the show’s heel-clicking heroine, following in the footsteps of such icons as Stephanie Mills and Diana Ross.

“It’s been a pretty crazy journey,” she told The Associated Press before her official unveiling Monday. “I’m honored to be making my debut as Dorothy. I know I’m following in some really big footsteps.”

“The Wiz” tours the U.S. starting this fall in Baltimore and will land on Broadway in 2024. Lewis joins a cast that includes Wayne Brady and Alan Mingo Jr. sharing the role of the Wiz, Deborah Cox as Glinda, Kyle Ramar Freeman as the Lion, Phillip Johnson Richardson as the Tin Man, and Avery Wilson as the Scarecrow.

Lewis, who grew up in Virginia and graduated from Molloy University in 2021, used her modest TikTok account to share her voice — one song was “Home” from “The Wiz” — and it came to the attention of casting agents, who invited her to audition.

“I’m so excited that this is a part of my story, because I feel like there’s so many people out there who started out with such a small following and I feel like they’re hard on themselves about it,” she said. “But I’m like, ‘You never know who’s watching those videos.’ I never knew that ‘The Wiz’ was looking at my videos.”

The show is adapted from “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum, with a book by William F. Brown, and music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls.

Lewis says she identifies with Dorothy, who is alone on a journey of self-discovery in a new world while also helping others along the way find out who they are.

“I feel like it’s extremely important for people, especially right now, to see that they can be powerful just by being themselves and just by being individual and unique. So I think that’s how the show speaks to me,” she said.

“The Wiz” opened on Broadway in 1975 and won seven Tonys, including best musical. It has such classic songs as “What Would I Do If I Could Feel” and “Ease On Down the Road.” The original Broadway production featured Mills as Dorothy, Dee Dee Bridgewater as good witch Glinda and Andre De Shields as the Wiz.

A 1978 movie version of “The Wiz” starred Ross, Lena Horne and Richard Pryor as the Wiz. Michael Jackson co-starred as the Scarecrow, with Nipsey Russell as the Tin Man and Ted Ross as the Lion. NBC televised a live version in 2015 with Queen Latifah, Ne-Yo and David Alan Grier.

Lewis’ love of music was encouraged by her father, who died when she was young. At his service, she sang “My Help,” a song he sang when he was a child, and stunned the congregation.

“I don’t know what happened that day, but I guess just I had this voice come out of me that didn’t used to be there, but probably came from the millions of songs that I grew up listening to,” she says. “I felt like it was something that I could share with others and it was something that I noticed made other people happy.”

Lewis won a Golden Ticket on the most recent series of “American Idol” but didn’t progress from the Hollywood round. Now she’s earned another — leading a Broadway show.

Her mother, naturally, has been screaming and crying. “She’s like, ‘Your life is going to change.’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know. It probably will,’’ she says, laughing. ”I feel so blessed and I’m so glad I get to share it with her.”

The actor died early Wednesday morning, according to his sister Roxy Hall.

“His partner Richard, was singing to him the song Psalm 23 as he took his last breath this morning at 3:20 AM,” Hall wrote in a Facebook post. “He had a gorgeous smile on his beautiful face!! He went twirling into the afterlife ready to make his grand appearance as the star of his homecoming celebration!”

The circumstances around Oliver’s death aren’t clear, but he spent that last six weeks of his life in the hospital and in hospice care, according to Hall.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.

The Broadway League and Disney Theatrical announced Thursday afternoon that a tentative deal had been reached with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). The tentative agreement, which still needs to be ratified, was reached for what is called the “pink contract” that expired on July 2.

The union was set to vote Thursday night on a strike that would’ve begun Friday morning, but for that appears to have been averted.

The IATSE — which represents more than 1,500 stagehands, hair and makeup artists, and wardrobe workers who work across 45 productions on Broadway and on tour — had been calling for salary increases, health care, rest periods and housing for touring crews.

Had the IATSE gone on strike, the union would’ve been on the picket lines alongside the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, which have been on strike since May 2 and July 14, respectively, effectively shutting down most TV and movie productions.

That means that IATSE workers under the pink contract could be on strike starting Friday morning if they authorize a strike and no agreement is reached.

The Hollywood Reporter says the pink contract being negotiated covers about 1,500 stagehands, wardrobe personnel, and hair and makeup artists. The union members work across 45 productions currently on Broadway and on tour.

The union’s previous contact reportedly ended on July 2, and its members have been working under those terms in the weeks since.

The union needs to meet a 75% “yes” vote on the authorization to strike. Only then can the union’s president call a strike, THR said.

“We need to show strength and unity to ensure we win the wages, benefits and rights that all members at IATSE have earned and deserve,” IATSE International President Matthew D. Loeb told the outlet. 

The contract negotiations reportedly center around health care, increases wages and housing for touring crews.

If IATSE strikes, the union would be on the picket lines alongside the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, which have been on strike since May 2 and July 14, respectively.

When Jay-Z and Alicia Keys filmed the video for “Empire State of Mind,” their valentine to New York City, they naturally ended up in Times Square, singing on illuminated red glass steps. It was no mere set: It was two New York icons standing on another.

Their stage was the top of the TKTS booth, which has become part of the city’s visual and financial DNA and a key part in keeping Broadway going. This week that booth is celebrating its 50th birthday, with the city celebrating on Wednesday with songs and speeches.

“It is so intrinsically linked with the city,” says Victoria Bailey, executive director of the non-profit TDF, formerly known as the Theatre Development Fund, which runs the booth. “It has kind of always been a symbol.”

It’s a discount ticket booth where same-day Broadway and off-Broadway shows can be more affordable for those who balk at prices pushing past $300 a seat for some musicals. About 30% of the people who line up are first-time Broadway theatergoers.

Thousands of tickets are sold at the booth every day as the various commercial theater box offices calculate how many full-price tickets they can sell and then send the rest to TKTS. The theater gets all the ticket revenue and TDF gets a $7 service fee per ticket, which helps fund its education, community and outreach programs.

Some 68.6 million tickets have been sold from the booth during its 50 years, with more than $2.6 billion going back to the shows. Despite the rise of online rivals and apps hawking discounted theater tickets, lining up at the booth is as fundamental as cooing over the Statue of Liberty or taking a photo with a nearby costumed Elmo.

The current glass-enclosed booth opened in 2008, part of an $18 million renovation project that evokes a Greek amphitheater or Rome’s famous Spanish steps, where visitors can sit on the 27 steps and watch the street scene. Jay-Z and Keys may have had the steps to themselves in their video, but it is ordinarily a very crowded place.

“There’s so many people that keep coming back even after the pandemic and will stand on that line to come and see shows. And they thank us. That’s something that didn’t happen as often before. But it happens more now, and I love it,” says Ann Ramirez, a TKTS supervisor.

TDF created satellite TKTS booths in Brooklyn, at the World Trade Center and in Lincoln Center, as well as helped develop booths in Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Denver, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, London and Sydney.

The first booth was a temporary experiment that stuck in Times Square. It opened for business on June 25, 1973, using an abandoned trailer donated by the Parks department with holes punched in it for ticket windows. The neighborhood was different then — seedy and dangerous.

“Broadway was falling apart then,” says Robert Mayers, who with business partner John Schiff designed the booth and the logo. “They wanted to do an experiment because the area was in disrepair.”

Mayers and Schiff were given just $5,000 for the capital budget, and they rented scaffolding to go around the booth. They wove a translucent plastic fabric with the iconic logo among the bars and clamped spotlights on the frame.

“It’s a very theatrical kind of vocabulary,” says Mayers. “We looked at it as a giant kite. It was supposed to be light hearted, related to the theater and make a visual statement in a very busy place.”

They thought it would stay up for a year or two, at best. Instead, it won design awards and lasted decades. Their influence can be seen in the abbreviated, vowel-less apps and company titles of today — Flickr to Unbxd and DNCE.

“I noticed whenever you see movies of the ‘70s or ’80s and they’re in New York, there’s always a scene in Times Square or Duffy Square where the camera goes by and you see the TKTS booth. I always get a kick out of that,” says Mayers.

If the booth was an attempt to stabilize the neighborhood, it is a still a sign that the city is open for business — important steps after events like 9/11, Superstorm Sandy and the coronavirus pandemic.

“You talk to ushers, you talk to wardrobe people, you talk to the people backstage and they talk about the booth as the thing that has over the years kept them employed,” said Bailey, who went to there for tickets in college and later sent tickets to the booth as a Broadway general manager.

These days, visitors make their picks from a list of shows on continually updating electronic boards. TDF also has a free phone app that lists its offerings in real time.

Staffers are on hand to help in red jackets or T-shirts with the TKTS logo and the printed slogan “Got questions?” They’re theater fans, having seen all the shows on offer and aware of the best and worst seats in the city’s various theaters. Most patrons get through the line in less than 45 minutes, longer on holidays.

The advice is to be flexible — have decided on two or three possible shows by the time you get to the window. Bailey notices that people in line often help each other out with recommendations and swap info on shows.

Tickets to mega-hits like “Hamilton” and “Wicked” typically won’t appear at the booth since they don’t need to offer discounts. New shows often do until they become a hot ticket, like after a Tony Award win or favorable reviews. But, eventually, most shows end up listed at the booth.

“There comes a point in the evolution of a show when they need help,” says Bailey, who earned a Tony this year for her work helping theater. “Shows like ‘A Chorus Line,’ ‘The Wiz,’ ‘Chicago,’ ‘The Phantom of the Opera,’ those shows ran extra years because of the booth.”

On a recent day, the booth had 50% discounts for “Camelot,” “A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical,” “Good Night, Oscar,” “Grey House,” “New York, New York,” “Once Upon a One More Time,” “Hadestown” and “Chicago.” Tickets for “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” with Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan were as little as $50.

Unlike other paid ticket sellers wandering around Times Square pushing one particular musical or play, TKTS representatives aren’t allowed to recommend a single show but instead offer a range of options appropriate to the visitor — family friendly, dramatic, light, scary.

Once at the window, ticket sellers quickly scan a blueprint of the theater for available seats and offer visitors options, like couples can sit apart with an unobstructed view or sit together with a “partial view” and risk missing something onstage.

In addition to catching shows herself, Ramirez loves seeing her regulars and learning what they’ve liked and what they haven’t.

“This is where we get a lot of information,” she says. “They will come back and tell me all the business, tell me who was in it, who was bad, who was good. Was it good, Was it not?”

Brady, a five-time Emmy winner and Grammy Award nominee, will start the show in San Francisco from Jan. 16 – Feb. 11. He’ll continue his role as the Wiz in Los Angeles from Feb. 13 – March 3, before hitting Broadway in spring of 2024.

Mingo will then pick up the role for the remaining cities, starting in Baltimore. The rest of the tour includes Cleveland; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh; Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta; Greenville, South Carolina; Chicago; Des Moines, Iowa; Tempe, Arizona; and San Diego.

The Wiz originally debuted in 1974 as an adaptation of 1900 novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

The story follows Dorothy and her adventures through Oz with Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow, set to a combination of rock, gospel and soul music. The movie adaptation, released in 1974, starred Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as Scarecrow.

While Biden plans to use his comments to celebrate the contributions of Jewish Americans, he also will reflect on how his decision to run for the White House in 2020 was shaped by a 2017 neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia, according to a White House official who previewed the president’s speech on condition of anonymity.

The president, who just weeks ago announced he would run for reelection, spoke frequently during the 2020 campaign about the “Unite the Right” rally led by white nationalists bearing torches. Clashes between that group and a large gathering of counterprotesters led to the death of counterprotester Heather Heyer when a white nationalist drove his car into the crowd.

Biden is also expected to highlight his appointment of America’s first ambassador-level special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, increased federal funding to help secure synagogues, Jewish community centers and Jewish day schools, and convening a White House summit on combating hate-fueled violence.

Biden late last year established an inter-agency group to better coordinate U.S. government efforts to counter antisemitism, Islamophobia and related forms of bias and discrimination within the United States. The administration is expected to soon release its national strategy to counter antisemitism.

Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, both 2023 Tony Award nominees for their performance in “Parade,” are to perform at the reception. The musical centers on the trial and imprisonment and lynching in the early 20th century of Jewish American factory manager Leo Frank. Composer Jason Robert Brown will accompany Diamond and Platt.

The White House recruited James Beard-winning chef Michael Solomonov, who specializes in Israeli cuisine, to design the menu for Tuesday’s celebration.

The Hollywood Reporter says the Writers Guild of America denied the production a waiver that would have allowed the show to air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ amid the ongoing writers’ strike.

A meeting is reportedly scheduled by the Tony Awards Management Committee for Monday to discuss possible next steps forward.

The waiver decision follows two weeks of a writers’ strike throughout much of the entertainment industry as members of the guild seek better pay and advancement opportunities, among other issues, from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

There are two options reportedly being discussed among the show’s producers: hold a non-televised ceremony on the same date or postpone the show until the strike ends.

The Tony Awards is now the second live awards show impacted by the writers’ strike. On Sunday, the MTV Movie Awards shifted to a pre-taped format and host Drew Barrymore opted to skip her duties in solidarity with the writers.

Traditionally held in Radio City Music Hall, this year’s Tony Awards was set to take place at the United Palace in Washington Heights. Ariana DeBose would return as host.

With songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and starring Christian Borle and J. Harrison Ghee, who all got nominations, the show follows two musician friends who disguise themselves as women and join an all-girl band to flee Chicago after witnessing a mob hit. Like the movie, there are men in dresses trying to pass as women. But this time, the dress awakens something in Ghee’s character, akin to a transformation from a caterpillar to a butterfly.

Three shows tied with nine nominations each: “& Juliet,” which reimagines “Romeo and Juliet” and adds some of the biggest pop hits of the past few decades, “New York, New York,” which combined two generations of Broadway royalty in John Kander and Lin-Manuel Miranda, and “Shucked,” a surprise lightweight musical comedy studded with corn puns. The critical musical darling “Kimberly Akimbo,” with Victoria Clark playing a teen who ages four times faster than the average human, rounds out the best musical category.

In the best new play category, nods were distributed to Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt,” which explores Jewish identity with an intergenerational story, and “Fat Ham,” James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize-winning adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” set at a Black family’s barbecue in the modern South.

The rest of the category is made up of “Ain’t No Mo,’” the short-lived but critical applauded work by playwright and actor Jordan E. Cooper, Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Between Riverside and Crazy” and “Cost of Living,” parallel stories of two caretakers and their respective patients.

“Parade,” a doomed musical love story set against the real backdrop of a murder and lynching in Georgia in pre-World War I, earned six nods, starring newly nominated Ben Platt, hoping to win a second Tony after his triumph in 2017 with “Dear Evan Hansen,” and rising star and first-time nominee Micaela Diamond.

Wendell Pierce, who has won a Tony for producing “Clybourne Park,” earned his first nomination as an actor on Broadway for a blistering revival of “Death of a Salesman” and Jessica Chastain, an Oscar-winner for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” got her first Tony nomination for a stripped down version of “A Doll’s House.”

Pierce will face-off against both stars of Suzan-Lori Parks’ “Topdog/Underdog” — Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Corey Hawkins — as well as former “Will & Grace” star Sean Hayes from “Good Night, Oscar,” and Stephen McKinley Henderson, who earned his second nomination, having goten one in 2019 for “Fences.”

Jodie Comer, the three-time Emmy nominated star of “Killing Eve” earned a nomination in her Broadway debut — although her play, “Prima Facie,” did get a best new play nod — and Audra McDonald, who has won six Tony Awards can extend her reign if she beats Comer as best leading actress in a play for “Ohio State Murders.” The last slot in the category went to Jessica Hecht, staring in the play “Summer, 1976.”

Two shows that closed quickly nevertheless picked up nominations — “KPOP,” which put Korean pop music on Broadway for the first time, and “Ain’t No Mo,’” in which the United States government emails every Black citizen with the offer of a free plane ticket to Africa and each scene explores how various personalities respond to the offer. “KPOP” got three — including best original score — and “Ain’t No Mo’” nabbed six, including a best new play nomination.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s frothy and widely panned “Bad Cinderella” earned zero nods, as did “A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical,” a stage biography of the singer-songwriter who has had dozens of top-40 hits. But Samuel L. Jackson earned his first Tony nod for “August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson.”

Two well-received revivals from the late Stephen Sondheim — “Sweeney Todd” with Annaleigh Ashford and Josh Groban, and a star-studded “Into the Woods,” were recognized. “Sweeney Todd” received eight nominations including for Groban and Ashford, and “Into the Woods” earned six, including for Brian d’Arcy James and Grammy Award-winning Sara Bareilles, her third Tony nomination.

“Almost Famous,” the stage adaptation of Cameron Crowe’s autobiographical coming-of-age story, earned just one nomination — for music by Tom Kitt and lyrics by Crowe and Kitt. And choreographer Jennifer Weber had two reasons to smile Tuesday: She earned nominations for “& Juliet” and “KPOP,” her first Broadway shows.

Ariana DeBose will host the June 11 awards celebration from New York City’s United Palace theater live on CBS and on Paramount+. It is her second-straight stint as host.

___

After more than three decades, Broadway’s longest-running musical, “The Phantom of the Opera,” is coming to an close on Sunday.

The show is going out with a bang, too — it’s been the highest-grossing Broadway show for the past 12 consecutive weeks. On its final weekend, some tickets are going for nearly $4,000 each on third-party resell sites.

For the week ended April 9, the show’s eight performances ran at full capacity, raking in a cool $3.65 million, according to the Broadway League. For comparison, this time last year, the show brought in just over $1 million for the week ending April 17, 2022.

The show’s total ticket sales significantly increased after the announcement of its closing and extension, with a weekly gross above $2 million since mid-December and above $3 million since mid-March.

“Phantom” has been sold out for weeks, resembling its success in 1988, press agent Mike Borowski told CNBC.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical has played to over 145 million people worldwide in 41 countries, 183 cities and in 17 languages . It has received 70 major theater awards including seven Tony Awards and four Olivier Awards. In total, “Phantom” has grossed $1.3 billion in ticket sales in its lifetime.

The show also lays claim to the title of the biggest job producer in U.S. theatrical history. During its run, “Phantom” created an estimated 6,500 jobs, including those of 400 actors, in New York City. Some have been with the musical since opening night in 1988.

But it might not be farewell forever — in a recent interview with Spectrum News NY1, Lloyd Webber hinted that audiences may see Phantom’s chandelier “rise again somewhere in New York – much sooner than people might think.”

On March 2, Broadway‘s revival of “Funny Girl,” starring Lea Michele, Ramin Karimloo, Jared Grimes and Tova Feldshuh—announced its plans for one last curtain call.

“Hey, gorgeous! We’re having so much fun with you on Broadway, we’re sticking around until September 3rd!” read a statement shared on the show’s Instagram page. “Don’t miss @leamichele, @raminkarimloo, @grimeystepz, and @tovahfeld! Get your tickets now. #FUNNYGIRL.”

Following the show’s Broadway run, the production will begin a North American tour. The cast has not yet been announced.

Though Michele was only expected to stay on until the end of spring as Fanny Brice—a role she took on in September 2022, weeks after Beanie Feldstein’s exit in July 2022—she ultimately ended up extending her run.

“I was originally only supposed to stay until June,” Michele said on ‘Live With Kelly and Ryan‘ March 2. “Signing on to this and taking on this role with a toddler. I haven’t been on Broadway in 15 years. I really didn’t know how this was going to all sort of feel and be for us as a family and being back in New York.”

The actress, who shares son Ever Leo Reich, 2, with husband Zandy Reich, added, “But I’m having such an amazing time and we have the most amazing cast and it is just such a beautiful experience. So myself, Tova Feldshuh, Ramin and Jared, we’ve all decided that we are going to see this to the end September 3rd.”

Michele, who, like her former “Glee” character Rachel Berry, is a longtime fan of the musical, has earned praise for her performances in “Funny Girl” from critics. She also received a congratulatory letter from Barbra Streisand, who originated the role of Fanny in the 1964 Broadway production and also portrayed the character in its 1968 movie adaptation, for which she won her first Oscar.

“She wrote me this beautiful letter,” Michele said on ‘Late Night With Seth Meyers‘ Dec. 5. “But one thing she said in was, ‘It’s really wonderful when your dreams come true, isn’t it?'”

She added that she fell to her knees and called “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy, her mom, her BFF Jonathan Groff and Michael Mayer. Groff starred with Michele in “Glee” and met her while working with her in the ’00s Broadway show “Spring Awakening,” which Mayer directed.

“Like, these are the people who need to know,” Michele said. “It was great.”

The actress meanwhile has post-“Funny Girl” plans in which she will fulfill another career goal. On Oct. 30, Michele will make her solo Carnegie Hall debut. She recently announced the news on her Instagram Stories, adding, “Another dream come true.”

Kevin, Nick and Joe Jonas announced Friday they’ll use each night at the Marquis Theatre to focus on a different album, including “Jonas Brothers,” “A Little Bit Longer,” “Lines, Vines and Trying Times,” “Happiness Begins” and their upcoming collection due in May, simply called “The Album.”

They are scheduled to be on Broadway from March 14-18.

The brothers released the song “Wings” from “The Album,” which is being executive produced by Jon Bellion.

Nick Jonas is no stranger to Broadway, having starred in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” in 2012, as well as roles in “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Les Misérables.” He and his wife, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, helped produce the short-lived 2021 play “Chicken & Biscuits.”

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Tina Fey just revealed that in addition to adapting the musical version of her 2004 film “Mean Girls” into its own movie, she’ll also be reprising her role of Ms. Norbury. And she’s not the only OG cast member returning.

“Me and Tim Meadows are gonna be back,” she announced during her Feb. 16 appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” “We couldn’t age out, teachers work forever.”

Fellow “Saturday Night Live” alum Meadows portrayed Principal Duvall in the original movie. Additionally, Fey gave further details about the cast of the Paramount+ film, which she said starts shooting in March.

“I’m super excited about this cast,” Fey shared. “Reneé Rapp from “Sex Lives of College Girls” and [a] pop star is gonna play Regina George. Angourie Rice, who you may know from “Mare of Easttown” and “Senior Year,” is gonna play Cady. Jaquel Spivey, who was [in] Strange Loop on Broadway. Oh, and Auli’i Cravalho—it’s an incredible cast.”

If Rapp and “Mean Girls” sound familiar together, that’s because she’ll be reprising the role she previously played in the Broadway adaptation. And Auli’i, who will take on the role of Janis Ian, has also proven her vocal chops as the star of “Moana.”

While the parts originated by Rachel McAdams, Lindsay Lohan, Daniel Franzese and Lizzy Caplan have already been cast, it’s currently unclear who will be playing Karen Smith, Gretchen Wieners and Aaron Samuels—a.k.a. Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert and Jonathan Bennett.

During her conversation with Seth Meyers, Fey also detailed some of the differences between the 2017 stage version and the upcoming musical movie.

“The songs are sounding more pop,” she explained. “It’s a fascinating process, because in Broadway, everything has to play to the back of the house and in movies you can come back in and things can play really intimately.”

Go back to the world of the Plastics when “Mean Girls: The Musical: The Movie” inevitably airs on Paramount+.

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There’s an unusually large number of shows leaving in January, some due to limited engagements and others due to weak ticket sales.

Among the closing crop is “A Strange Loop,” which won over audiences and critics alike. The musical won a Pulitzer Prize and the Tony award for Best Musical. There are a handful of performances left before the show closes Jan. 15.

Audience favorite “Beetlejuice” ends its run on Broadway Jan. 8.

The show opened in 2019 at the Winter Garden Theatre, closed with the rest of Broadway after COVID-19 swept through New York City in 2020, and reopened at the Marquis Theatre last year.

A national tour of the show is going on now, with several international productions in the works.

Here are some of the productions closing in January:

• 1776 (1/8)
• Almost Famous (1/8)
• Beetlejuice (1/8)
• Into the Woods (1/8)
• Death of a Salesman (1/15)
• Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool (1/15)
• The Music Man (1/15)
• Ohio State Murders (1/15)
• A Strange Loop (1/15)
• Topdog/Underdog (1/15)
• The Piano Lesson (1/29)

Off-Broadway audiences are mourning a number of high-profile departures as well.

After a run that spanned four decades and probably hundreds of trash cans, “Stomp” plays its final show at the Orpheum Theatre on Jan. 8.

The percussion and dance show first opened in Feb. 1994, with a run that’s included around 12,000 performances. And while the off-Broadway production is closing, “Stomp” will continue to tour.

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Instead, this season a pair of exciting new productions are lowering their stage curtains for the final time, only weeks after premiering on “The Great White Way.”

“KPOP,” the first Broadway musical featuring Korean pop songs, takes its final bow Sunday, exactly two weeks after its opening night at the Circle in the Square Theatre. Its cast will have completed 44 preview shows and 17 performances by the end of its run.

After weeks of low ticket sales and mixed reviews, the first-of-its-kind Broadway show shocked audiences when the announcement came days before the final performance. Its songwriter, Helen Park, was the first female Asian composer on Broadway.

“I think we are making history even though our show is short-lived,” Park said Saturday at a Broadway rally.

“It starts with the gatekeepers. It starts with who books the shows, who produces the shows, who backs the shows. So the whole system needs to support diverse stories,” said Lisa Gold, of the Asian American Arts Alliance.

Outside of the Gershwin Theater, performers from other productions and “KPOP” fans gathered to celebrate the cast and demand more diversity among shows.

“I know what we’ve achieved and I know what we’re going to have our future because of this whole community — look at this, this is crazy,” cast member Lina Rose Lee said.

“We need to make more space for shows like this,” “Almost Famous” performer Matthew Yee said.

Another Broadway show is abruptly closing: “Ain’t No Mo.” The provocative comedy poses the question — What would happen if the United States tried to end racism by offering to send Black Americans to Africa?

Jordan E. Cooper, the show’s playwright, took to Instagram on Friday sharing the news of the play’s “eviction notice.”

“People are coming, loving the show and calling it the best theatrical experience of their life, but traditional Broadway marketing doesn’t work for this kind of show,” Cooper, the youngest Black American playwright in Broadway’s history, said.

By the production’s close on Dec. 18, its cast will have completed 22 previews and 21 performances.

Cooper, the youngest Black American playwright in Broadway’s history, took to his personal Instagram page on Friday evening to share the news of the play’s “eviction notice.”

He also announced on his Instagram a surprise boost from Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, who bought out an entire performance in an effort to get more fans to enjoy the play before it closes for good.