'Book of Mormon' gets 14 Tony nominations

To nobody's surprise, "The Book of Mormon," the irreverent musical by the creators of "South Park," swept 14 nominations for the 2011 Tony Awards. This is just one fewer than the record 15 lavished on "The Producers" in 2001 and "Billy Elliot" in 2009.

What is shocking is the almost complete shutout of the big-name stars that producers believe they need to succeed these days on Broadway. Those left out of yesterday's announcements include Daniel Radcliffe, Robin Williams, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Kiefer Sutherland and Kathleen Turner. Edie Falco ("The House of Blue Leaves") and Ellen Barkin ("The Normal Heart") are nominated.

In the musical category, the biggest surprise is the 12 nominations for "The Scottsboro Boys," a serious musical about the framing of black men in the South, which closed in December after failing to find an audience. Nominations include best musical, the score by John Kander and the late Fred Ebb, and both direction and choreography by Susan Stroman.

"Scottsboro Boys" aced out "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" (two nominations) in the best musical category, which also includes "Mormon," "Catch Me If You Can" (four nominations) and "Sister Act (five, including lead Patina Miller but not director Jerry Zaks).

Nominees for best play, an especially competitive category this year, are "The -- -- With the Hat" by Stephen Adly Guirgis, "Jerusalem" by Jez Butterworth, "Good People" by David Lindsay-Abaire and Nick Stafford's "War Horse," which also will receive a special Tony for the astonishing Handspring Puppet Company. Not nominated is "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo," starring Williams.

Best lead actor nominees are Al Pacino for "The Merchant of Venice" (which has seven nominations, including best revival, actress Lily Rabe and director Daniel Sullivan), Mark Rylance for "Jerusalem," (which has six nominations, but not for director Ian Rickson), Bobby Cannavale for "The -- -- with the Hat" (six nominations, including director Anna D. Shapiro).

Also nominated are Joe Mantello for "The Normal Heart" (five nominations, including play revival, Barkin, directors Joel Grey and George C. Wolfe) and Brian Bedford for "The Importance of Being Earnest" (three nominations, including revival).

In addition to Rabe, best actresses in a play -- a far less competitive category this year than the one for actors -- include Frances McDormand for "Good People" (two nominations), Vanessa Redgrave for "Driving Miss Daisy" (though nothing for co-star James Earl Jones), Nina Arianda for "Born Yesterday" (two nominations, but not for co-stars Jim Belushi and Robert Sean Leonard) and Hannah Yelland for "Brief Encounter."

Plays nominated for best revival are "Merchant of Venice," "The Normal Heart," "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "Arcadia" (which received only two nominations, including featured actor Billy Crudup). The only two musical-revival nominations are the only two musical revivals of the season, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" (eight nominations, including Radcliffe's co-star John Larroquette and director Rob Ashford) and "Anything Goes" (nine, including star Sutton Foster and director Kathleen Marshall).

"Book of Mormon" marks the Broadway debut of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of "South Park." With co-collaborator Robert Lopez, they were nominated for the musical's score and book. Parker and nominated choreographer Casey Nicholaw were also nominated as co-directors.

Also remembered from short runs last fall are "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" (two nominations, including best book) and "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" (three nominations, including David Yazbek's score and featured actresses Patti LuPone and Laura Benanti).

The Tony Awards will be telecast June 12 on CBS.