The Tony Award nominations came out on Tuesday. We usually don’t cover the Tony noms, but in years past, the Tonys usually nominated all of the biggest names on Broadway. That didn’t happen this year – there are currently so many movie stars doing plays right now, and the Tonys snubbed so many of them. Notably: Denzel Washington, Jake Gyllenhaal and this year’s Best Supporting Actor Oscar-winner Kieran Culkin. How does the greatest living American actor get snubbed for an Oscar nomination AND a Tony nomination in the same year? Bonkers.
Othello, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Denzel Washington, was entirely shut out of the 2025 Tony Award nominations. While the play received mostly mixed reviews, it has been drawing crowds on Broadway and has frequently had the most expensive average ticket price in the industry, at $374.17 last week.
The new musical Redwood, starring Idina Menzel, was also entirely shut out of the Tony nominations, as was the musical The Last Five Years, starring Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren. McNeal, led by Robert Downey Jr. in his Broadway debut, did not receive any Tony nominations.
Though George Clooney got his first Tony Award nomination for his role in Good Night, and Good Luck, the play, which he co-wrote, did not receive a nod for best play, even as it has also been the highest grossing production on Broadway for the past several weeks.
Similarly, the celebrity-driven Glengarry Glen Ross did not get a nomination in the play revival category, but star Bob Odenkirk did. His co-stars Kieran Culkin and Bill Burr did not receive acting nods.
And while Sarah Snook received a Tony nomination for her solo performance in The Picture of Dorian Gray, the production itself was left out of the best play category. Snook won the Olivier Award in 2024 for that role after playing it in the West End.
The best play category also left out Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which won the 2024 Olivier award for best new play. The category instead consisted of more original IP, including English, The Hills of California, John Proctor is the Villain, Oh, Mary and Purpose.
Similarly, while Romeo + Juliet was nominated for best revival of a play, stars Rachel Zegler and Kit Connor missed out on individual acting nods.
What is it about Denzel? Or is it the fact that he was doing Shakespeare? Maybe this version of Othello just isn’t the best production, but still… it’s Denzel doing Shakespeare on Broadway. If this was a production in London starring one of the greatest British actors, you can bet that the Olivier Awards would be falling all over themselves to reward the production. It’s also sick that they gave George Clooney a nom for his Lurch look (but hilarious that the play was snubbed). No nomination for Kieran too… they were like, sure, Kieran swept the awards season, but we’re going to gatekeep the f–k out of him at the Tonys.
You can see the full list of 2025 Tony nominations here.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
