Tony Awards Nominations 2020
The nominations for the 2020 Tony Awards were announced virtually by actor James Monroe Iglehart. Eighteen productions were deemed eligible for Tony nominations this year, a fraction compared to last season’s 34, the slimmed-down roster due of course to Broadway’s COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.
When theaters went dark on March 12, the usual deluge of spring openings were postponed or canceled altogether. Three productions – the musicals Six, West Side Story and Girl from the North Country – had already begun preview performances but were not around long enough to accommodate the required number of Tony voters.
With the season’s three planned musical revivals – West Side Story, which had opened, and Company and Caroline, Or Change, which had not – ineligible, the category was eliminated this year.
Freestyle Love Supreme and David Byrne’s American Utopia chose not to invite voters, though both popular productions could be eligible for special awards.
A date for the actual Tony ceremony has not yet been announced, though some insiders are thinking December. The event almost certainly will be entirely virtual on a streaming platform rather than its longtime television broadcast berth on CBS.
The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.
Nominations for the 2020 American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards
Best Play
Grand Horizons
Author: Bess Wohl
Producers: Second Stage Theater, Carole Rothman, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Mandy Greenfield
The Inheritance
Author: Matthew López
Sea Wall/A Life
Author: Simon Stephens & Nick Payne
Slave Play
Author: Jeremy O. Harris
The Sound Inside
Author: Adam Rapp
