Tony Bites: Landmark Nominations, Angela Lansbury’s Lifetime Honor
variety.comGordon Cox Theater EditorThe Tony Awards Landmarks on This Year’s Nominations ListIn a Broadway season that was the first after the devastating 15-month shutdown caused by the pandemic, the Tony nominations list encompassed some notable landmarks of its own.L Morgan Lee, up for featured actress in “A Strange Loop,” became the first openly transgender artist ever to be nominated for a Tony Award. “Six” composer Toby Marlow is the first non-binary person to get a nom.
Lynn Nottage became the first writer to be nominated for play (“Clyde’s”) and musical (“MJ”) in the same year. Meanwhile, Camille A.
Brown (“For Colored Girls …”) and Lileana Blain-Cruz (“The Skin of Our Teeth”) became the second and third women of color to be nominated for directing a play. (The first such nom, for “Eclipsed” director Liesl Tommy, came just six years ago.) On the one hand, all of this recognition represents a major step forward for an industry working to make strides toward greater equity and inclusion.
On the other hand: What took so long?“It’s all very ‘Yay-question-mark?’” acknowledges Blain-Cruz. “It feels wonderful to be seen and to be recognized, but at the same time I think of all the wonderful artists before us who weren’t seen and weren’t included.
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