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'Some Like It Hot' leads with 13 Tony Award nominations

The cast of <em>Some Like It Hot.</em>
Marc J. Franklin
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Some Like It Hot
The cast of Some Like It Hot.

Updated May 2, 2023 at 11:02 AM ET

The musical Some Like It Hot — a theatrical remake of the 1959 Billy Wilder movie musical — garnered 13 Tony nominations, the most in a season that saw many new plays and musicals take the stage.

This year's musical theater nominations made a little bit of history: J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell are the first nonbinary actors to be nominated for Tony Awards. Ghee, in Some Like It Hot, plays the leading role of Jerry, a man who disguises himself as a woman and then comes to realize parts of both identities suit. Newell plays the featured, female role of Lulu in Shucked. Although some theater awards, like the Drama Desk, the Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle awards don't divide actors into male and female roles, the Tony Awards do.

The nominations also highlighted three plays which have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Between Riverside and Crazy, Cost of Living and Fat Ham. But it is Tom Stoppard's new play about the Holocaust, Leopoldstadt, which received the most nominations: six, with Fat Fam, Cost of Living and Life of Pi following with five each.

The 2023 Tony Award nominations were presented Tuesday morning by Lea Michele — former Glee star and the woman who transformed the Funny Girl revival into a hit — and Myles Frost, who won the Tony last year for portraying Michael Jackson in MJ the Musical.

The awards are scheduled to be broadcast on CBS and Paramount+ on June 11, 2023. The full list of nominations is at the Tony Awards website.

Best Musical

& Juliet
Kimberly Akimbo
New York, New York
Shucked
Some Like It Hot

Best Play

Ain't No Mo'
Between Riverside and Crazy
Cost of Living
Fat HamLeopoldstadt

Best Revival of a Musical

Camelot
Into the Woods
Parade
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best Revival of a Play

A Doll's House
The Piano Lesson
The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window
Topdog/Underdog

Best Leading Actress of a Musical

Annaleigh Ashford, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet StreetSara Bareilles, Into the WoodsVictoria Clark, Kimberly AkimboLorna Courtney, & Juliet
Micaela Diamond, Parade

Best Leading Actress of a Play

Jessica Chastain, A Doll's House
Jodie Comer, Prima FacieJessica Hecht, Summer, 1976
Audra McDonald, Ohio State Murders

Best Leading Actor of a Musical

Christian Borle, Some Like It Hot
J. Harrison Ghee, Some Like It Hot
Josh Groban, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet StreetBrian D'Arcy James, Into the WoodsBen Platt, Parade
Colton Ryan, New York, New York

Best Leading Actor of a Play

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Topdog/Underdog
Corey Hawkins, Topdog/Underdog
Sean Hayes, Good Night, Oscar
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Between Riverside and Crazy
Wendell Pierce, Death of a Salesman

Best Featured Actress of a Musical

Julia Lester, Into the WoodsRuthie Ann Miles, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet StreetBonnie Milligan, Kimberly AkimboNaTasha Yvette Williams, Some Like It Hot
Betsy Wolfe, & Juliet

Best Featured Actress of a Play

Nikki Crawford, Fat HamCrystal Lucas-Perry, Ain't No Mo'
Miriam Silverman, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's WindowKaty Sullivan, Cost of Living
Kara Young, Cost of Living

Best Featured Actor of a Musical

Kevin Cahoon, Shucked
Justin Cooley, Kimberly AkimboKevin Del Aguila, Some Like It Hot
Jordan Donica, Camelot
Alex Newell, Shucked

Best Featured Actor of a Play

Jordan E. Cooper, Ain't No Mo'
Samuel L. Jackson, The Piano Lesson
Arian Moayed, A Doll's House
Brandon Uranowitz, LeopoldstadtDavid Zayas, Cost of Living

Best Direction of a Musical

Michael Arden, Parade
Lear deBessonet, Into the WoodsCasey Nicholaw, Some Like It Hot
Jack O'Brien, Shucked
Jessica Stone, Kimberly Akimbo

Best Direction of a Play

Saheem Ali, Fat HamJo Bonney, Cost of Living
Jamie Lloyd, A Doll's House
Patrick Marber, LeopoldstadtStevie Walker-Webb, Ain't No Mo
Max Webster, Life of Pi

Best Book of a Musical

David West Read, & Juliet
David Lindsay-Abaire, Kimberly AkimboRobert Horn, Shucked
Matthew López and Amber Ruffin, Some Like It Hot
David Thompson and Sharon Washington, New York, New York

Best Original Score

Almost Famous, music by Tom Kitt; lyrics by Cameron Crowe and Tom Kitt
Kimberly Akimbo, music by Jeanine Tesori; lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire
KPOP, music and lyrics: Helen Park and Max Vernon
Shucked, music and lyrics: Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally
Some Like It Hot, music: Marc Shaiman; lyrics: Scott Wittman & Marc Shaiman

Best Choreography

Steven Hoggett, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet StreetCasey Nicholaw, Some Like It Hot
Susan Stroman, New York, New York
Jennifer Weber, KPOPJennifer Weber, & Juliet

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Corrected: May 1, 2023 at 10:00 PM MDT
An earlier version of this story added incorrect nominees under Best Musical Revival and Best Featured Actress in a Musical, which have since been removed.
Jennifer Vanasco
Jennifer Vanasco is an editor on the NPR Culture Desk, where she also reports on theater, visual arts, cultural institutions, the intersection of tech/culture and the economics of the arts.