A closer look at Tony Awards nominees for Best New Musical
NEW YORK - This year's nominees for the Tony Awards feature many Broadway newcomers, along with some familiar names.
CBS2's Dave Carlin takes a closer look at the performers and shows nominated for Best New Musical.
The corniest new musical of the season is "Shucked." It has nine Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical and two featured performers, Alex Newell and Kevin Cahoon.
"When I got the script, I was reading it and I was cackling in my home," she told Carlin.
"People come to the show dressed as corn, carrying cans of corn, they come with corn cups and they applaud with them," said Robert Horn, who's nominated for Best Book for the show.
"& Juliet" also has nine nominations, powered by a breakout performance by New York City native Lorna Courtney. She earned a Leading Actress in a Musical nomination, playing Shakespeare's tragic young lover with a twist. In this version, her character's death is avoided and she soars.
"I'm 24," she said.
"You have to almost check back in with that 12-year-old who decide to do this," Carlin said.
"The 12-year-old that made up her mind and said, 'You know, I want to go to LaGuardia High School and I want to do voice,'" she said.
The songs are all familiar pop hits, made famous by Katy Perry, Britney Spears, *NSYNC and others - all of them written by one music maestro.
"Max Martin wrote all pf these hit songs. Like, all the number one songs that you know and you hear everywhere," Courtney said.
The best reviewed musical of the season is "Kimberly Akimbo," which has eight nominations. Leading actress nominee Victoria Clark explained how the musical's offbeat premise - with her playing a 15-year-old - becomes relatable and heartwarming.
"It's the story of a girl who's coming into womanhood, who has a disease where she's aging way too fast," Clark said.
Nominated in the Featured Actor and Actress category are Justin Cooley and Bonnie Milligan.
"[What's it like] to be 19 and hit gold like this?" Carlin said.
"To think that I would be 19 getting a Tony nomination, so it's unbelievable," Cooley said. "The stars have aligned in so many beautiful ways, thus far."
The most Tony-nominated show in any category for the past season is "Some Like It Hot," with 13 nominations.
Leading actor nominees for "Some Like It Hot" are Christian Borle and J. Harrison Ghee.
"We can free ourselves to see ourselves beyond our own labels, our own limits, our own boundaries and especially what other people put on us," Ghee said.
The musical "New York, New York" has nine nominations. It's nominated leading man Colton Ryan plays a struggling musician. In timeless musical fashion, misfortune turns to triumph when love enters the picture.
Ryan says the biggest star of this show is New York City.
"How do we celebrate this city, the place that has given all of us so much," Ryan said. "Singing this glorious music, it's pretty humbling."
It's up to you to check out all the fun and razzle dazzle of the Tony Awards on June 11th.
