"Nice Work If You Can Get It". Photo by Joan Marcus.

The Outer Critics Circle, the first awards body to include Broadway shows each season, announced their nominations this morning. The “new” Gershwin musical Nice Work If You Can Get It leads the way with 9 nominations. Winners will be announced May 14 before the annual ceremony on May 24 at Sardi’s (that way, nominees can skip the event unless they want a free cocktail and a conciliatory shrug).

Comparing these nominations as a predictor of the Tony’s is complicated; Off-Broadway is included in some categories and eligibility may differ (I particularly note the lack of Peter and the Starcatcher, Venus in Fur & Other Desert Cities nods on this front). Check out the full list and a few quick observations after the jump:

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY

The Lyons

One Man, Two Guvnors

Seminar

Stick Fly

[With a crop of likely nominees not eligible, the snub for Chinglish is particularly bad news for that crew.]

[As I stated above, the lack of nods for Clyboune Park and Venus in Fur must be eligibility based.  I hope.]

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL

Bonnie & Clyde

Newsies

Once

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

[Well, well...here comes Spider-Man. And interesting that Nice Work isn't here though it has most nominations overall.]

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY

Blood and Gifts

The School for Lies

Sons of the Prophet

Tribes

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL

Death Takes a Holiday

Lucky Guy

Play It Cool

Queen of the Mist

[Nice of them to recall the 20 years in the making Lucky Guy...but what about Silence!]

OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL

(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Newsies

Nice Work If You Can Get It

Once

Queen of the Mist

OUTSTANDING NEW SCORE

(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Bonnie & Clyde

Death Takes a Holiday

Newsies

Queen of the Mist

[Clearly, they don't care if Bono shows up or not.  This ain't the Golden Globes.]

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY

(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

The Best Man

Death of a Salesman

The Lady From Dubuque

Private Lives

[Doesn't it feel like their not even bothering to compete with Death of a Salesman here?]

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL

(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Carrie

Evita

Follies

Porgy and Bess

[Carrie rises again. I would say Follies has it...until you look at best director of a musical and Evita pops up. Three great but with their detractors musicals here for the Tony fight. Should be interesting.]

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A PLAY

Mark Brokaw   The Lyons

David Cromer   Tribes

Nicholas Hytner   One Man, Two Guvnors

Mike Nichols   Death of a Salesman

[Tony question for the day: is The Lyons a strong contender or merely popping up because other big plays are not eligible? Very curious.]

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL

Jeff Calhoun   Newsies

Michael Grandage   Evita

Kathleen Marshall   Nice Work If You Can Get It

John Tiffany   Once

[Is it just me or is it shaping up to be a crowdpleaser Newies vs artsy Once in the musical categories this year?]

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER

Rob Ashford     Evita

Christopher Gattelli   Newsies

Steven Hoggett   Once

Kathleen Marshall   Nice Work If You Can Get It

[Solid crew, indeed. Hard to remember a year with so much good choreographic work...but we have to give a special shout out to our friend Christopher Gattelli!]

OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN

(Play or Musical)

Bob Crowley   Once

Derek McLane   Nice Work If You Can Get It

Christopher Oram   Evita

George Tsypin   Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN

(Play or Musical)

Gregg Barnes   Follies

Eiko Ishioka   Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

William Ivey Long   Don’t Dress for Dinner

Martin Pakledinaz   Nice Work If You Can Get It

[Lovely way to honor the recently deceased and hugely influential Ishioka.]

OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN

(Play or Musical)

Neil Austin   Evita

Donald Holder   Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Brian MacDevitt   Death of a Salesman

Hugh Vanstone   Ghost: The Musical

[Glad to see Evita on this list given how much I loved the lighting. And Ghost is certainly a big contender given it has the wildest lighting.] 

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY

James Corden   One Man, Two Guvnors

Santino Fontana   Sons of the Prophet

Russell Harvard   Tribes

Philip Seymour Hoffman   Death of a Salesman

Hamish Linklater   The School for Lies

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Tracie Bennett   End of the Rainbow

Tyne Daly   Master Class

Linda Lavin   The Lyons

Nicole Ari Parker   A Streetcar Named Desire

Laila Robins   The Lady From Dubuque

[Subtract Parker & Robins and add back in Nina Arianda & Stockard Channing and this looks like a likely and highly competitive Tony list...though perhaps Parker has more support than I'd have guessed. But what about nothing for Cynthia Nixon here?!]

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Danny Burstein   Follies

Raúl Esparza   Leap of Faith

Jeremy Jordan   Newsies

Steve Kazee   Once

Norm Lewis   Porgy and Bess

[Husband and wife nods in the Burstein/Luker household this morning!]

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Jan Maxwell   Follies

Marin Mazzie   Carrie

Audra McDonald   Porgy and Bess

Cristin Milioti   Once

Kelli O’Hara   Nice Work If You Can Get It

[Looks like a solid Tony list, but who will replace Marin's Off-Broadway nod? Bernadette, Elena Roger or Caissie Levy?]

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY

Will Brill   Tribes

Tom Edden   One Man, Two Guvnors

Andrew Garfield   Death of a Salesman

James Earl Jones   The Best Man

Jefferson Mays   Blood and Gifts

[Love seeing Jefferson Mays applauded here. One of my favorites last year.]

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Joanna Gleason   Sons of the Prophet

Spencer Kayden   Don’t Dress for Dinner

Angela Lansbury   The Best Man

Judith Light   Other Desert Cities

Daphne Rubin-Vega   A Streetcar Named Desire

[OK, given Light's much deserved nod here, I will assume that as a new cast member to Cities, eligibility must have to do with whether you've been eligible in years past for an Off-Broadway production.]

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Phillip Boykin   Porgy and Bess

Andrew Keenan-Bolger   Newsies

Michael McGrath   Nice Work If You Can Get It

Patrick Page   Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Chris Sullivan   Nice Work If You Can Get It

[My internet crush Andrew is now a nominee.  Should we send him some flowers?]

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Jayne Houdyshell   Follies

Judy Kaye   Nice Work If You Can Get It

Rebecca Luker   Death Takes a Holiday

Da’Vine Joy Randolph   Ghost: The Musical

Melissa Van Der Schyff   Bonnie & Clyde

[Some sweet surprise names here: Houdyshell popping out of the ensemble of Follies, Luker and Van Der Schyff rising up for providing the best moments in a less beloved pieces. Surprised that they didn't find room for at least one Godspell up-and-comer in the supporting lists.]

OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE

Judy Gold   My Life as a Sitcom

David Greenspan   The Patsy

Denis O’Hare   An Iliad

Stephen Spinella   An Iliad

[Well, that's just cruel. Iliad boys having to duke it out. Talk about a Trojan War.]

JOHN GASSNER AWARD

(Presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright)

Robert Askins   Hand to God

Gabe McKinley    CQ/CX

Erika Sheffer   Russian Transport

Jeff Talbot   The Submission