Will a broken down salesman, vampire rockers, second-wave feminists or fierce feline ballroom dancers dominate the 79th Tony Awards?
It’s Broadway‘s biggest night and heading into the ceremony “The Lost Boys,” a punk-rock adaptation 1987 cult horror film featuring high-flying vampires, and “Schmigadoon!,” a comedic, fizzy ode to Golden Age musicals, have a leading 12 nominations each, followed closely by the revival of “Ragtime” with 11.
“The Lost Boys” and “Schmigaddon!” are vying for best musical alongside the off-Broadway transfer “Titaníque” and the West End export “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).” In the musical revival category, “Ragtime” will compete against the ballroom-set “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” and “Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show.”
“Death of a Salesman,” a reimagining of Arthur Miller’s critique of the American Dream, is the most nominated play with nine. It’s up for best revival of a play against the relationship comedy “Becky Shaw,” Noël Coward’s farce “Fallen Angels,” a modern re-telling of “Oedipus” and “Every Brilliant Thing,” a one-man show starring Daniel Radcliffe. In the best play category, there’s the pandemic-set “Little Bear Ridge Road,” neighborhood comedy “The Balusters,” “Liberation,” the story of a feminist reading group in the ’70s, and “Giant,” a blistering portrait of children’s author Roald Dahl.