‘Mean Girls’ and ‘Angels in America’ Sweep 2018 Tony Award Nominations
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The nominations for the 2018 Tony Awards were announced this morning, and among this year’s most nominated productions are the musical adaptation of beloved film Mean Girls, the revival of the Tony Kushner’s gay HIV fantasia Angels in America and the gender-bending chorus of SpongeBob SquarePants.
Mean Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants both received 12 nominations each, and Angels in America received 11. Head here to read the full list.
Mean Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants swept the musical categories
Most notably, both Mean Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants were nominated for Best Musical as well as Best Book, Best Original Score, Best Featured Actor, Best Scene Design, Best Costume Design, Best Direction, Best Choreography, Best Orchestration and Best Sound Design.
It’s also worth mentioning that Mean Girls‘ nomination for Best Featured Actor went to Grey Henson, the actor who plays Damian, the show’s visible gay character.
SpongeBob was also nominated for Best Lighting Design (hardly surprising, seeing as it takes place in the animated, madcap ocean bed of Bikini Bottom) as well as for Best Leading Actor.
Mean Girls also received a nomination for Best Lead Actress and Best Featured Actress.
Angels in America also soars among the nominations, over a few other queer-ish works
Meanwhile, Angels in America swept the nominations as well for Best Revival of a Play, Best Original Score, Best Lead Actor (Andrew Garfield), two nominations for Best Featured Actress, Best Scene Design, Best Costume Design, Best Lighting Design, Best Direction and Best Sound Design.
Openly gay actor Nathan Lane also got a Best Featured Actor nomination for his role as closeted monster Roy Cohn, though the play also features queer actor Lee Pace.
While none of the Best Play nominations were overtly gay, the nominated show Farinelli and the King, about an early 18th century Spanish monarch, does feature a castrati character. (The castrated characters were historically considered neither male nor female.
Other nominations also went to three quasi-queer musicals: the My Fair Lady revival, which has a priggish male couple at its heart; Summer: The Donna Summer Musical about the legendary disco diva; and the don’t-need-a-prince sisterly duo in the stage adaptation of Disney’s Frozen.
