2026 Tony Nominations: Surprises, Standouts and Broadway’s Buzziest Moments

Now that the 2026 Tony nominations are here, there is plenty to unpack beyond who did or did not make the cut. New musicals The Lost Boys and Schmigadoon! tied for most nominations with 12 each, followed by Ragtime with 11. The latest revival of Death of a Salesman received the most nominations on the play front, coming in at nine total nods. Here's a closer look at this year’s nominees.

Marjorie Prime Makes History
June Squibb became the oldest ever Tony nominee at age 96, earning a nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Marjorie Prime. This marks her first nomination after a decades-long career in show business, beginning with her 1959 Broadway debut in the original production of Gypsy. Danny Burstein, who was coincidentally in the most recent production of Gypsy in 2024, also made Tony Awards history with his Best Featured Actor in a Play nomination for Marjorie Prime. This marks his ninth Tony nomination, making Burstein the most recognized male actor in Tony Awards history. In 2020, the performer won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his role as Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge! The Musical.

Best Original Score: Musicals & Plays
This year’s Best Original Score category, usually only featuring musicals, includes two plays and three musicals. Death of a Salesman and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone received nods, while The Lost Boys, Schmigadoon! and Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) were selected out of the six eligible musicals this season. The last play to be nominated in this category was Stereophonic in 2024, which ultimately lost to Shaina Taub’s Suffs. During the truncated 2019-2020 season, there were five plays nominated and zero musicals, a first in Tonys history.

Significant Surprises
Lea Michele is absent from the Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical roster for her performance in Chess, which came as a shock to many awards predictors. The well-received Joe Turner’s Come and Gone has Ruben Santiago-Hudson as its sole acting nomination with his Best Featured Actor in a Play nod. Eligible shows that did not receive nominations were Call Me Izzy, Mamma Mia!, Art, The Queen of Versailles, Proof and Beaches. In 2001, the original Broadway production of David Auburn's Proof received six Tony nominations and won three, including Best Play and nods for the entire cast of four.

Hollywood on Stage
This season was heavy on star power: Oscar winner Adrien Brody and co-star Tessa Thompson made their Broadway debuts in his The Fear of 13. A trio of stars from the hit TV show The Bear also took their first Broadway bows: Dog Day Afternoon's Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as well as Proof's Ayo Edebiri. Stage and screen stalwarts Bobby Cannavale, James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris of Art, Hacks Emmy winner Jean Smart, who performed in the solo show Call Me Izzy, Proof's Don Cheadle and Joe Turner's Come and Gone headliners Cedric the Entertainer and Taraji P. Henson all earned much attention this season. The Queen of Versailles' Kristin Chenoweth returned to Broadway with a Diet Coke in hand for her first original role since Wicked. However, Tony nominators neglected to grace any of these noteworthy performers with a one-way ticket to Radio City on June 7.

Saturday Night Triumph
From 1999-2002, Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer were cast members on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. This year, they are both nominated in the Best Featured Actress in a Musical category for their work in The Rocky Horror Show and Schmigadoon!, respectively. This marks Gasteyer’s first Tony nomination, while Dratch was previously nominated for POTUS in 2022. Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels has also received a Tony nomination as part of the Schmigadoon! producing team. P.S. You can see their SNL pal Maya Rudolph in Oh, Mary! on Broadway through June 20.

First-Time Females
The Best Leading Actress in a Musical category is packed with fabulous first-time nominees: Schmigadoon! star Sara Chase, The Rocky Horror Show's Stephanie Hsu, Caissie Levy in Ragtime, Titanique co-creator and star Marla Mindelle and Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)'s Christiani Pitts. While all five have previously appeared on Broadway, they are all Tony newbies.

Miraculous Marla
Titanique powerhouse Mindelle holds the distinction of being nominated for both Best Actress in a Musical and Best Book of a Musical, which she shares with co-creators Tye Blue and Constantine Rousouli. She joins the ranks of a handful of writer-performers who have received dual-category nominations for their efforts. This includes Harvey Fierstein (who won Best Play and Best Leading Actor in a Play for Torch Song Trilogy in 1983), Lin-Manuel Miranda (who was nominated for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for both In the Heights in 2008 and Hamilton in 2016), Heidi Schreck (the recipient of Best Play and Best Leading Actress in a Play nominations in 2019 for What the Constitution Means to Me) and Taub (the winner of Best Book of a Musical and Best Score for Suffs in 2024, in which she also starred). At last year’s ceremony, Cole Escola won Best Leading Actor in a Play and was nominated for Best Play for Oh, Mary!