2018 Tony Award Nominees Announced, ‘SpongeBob’ Faces ‘Mean Girls’ In Epic Showdown

The 2018 Tony Award nominations were announced Tuesday morning in New York, with Hamilton star Leslie Odom Jr. and Waitress and Scorpion star Katharine McPhee doing the honors. Here, now, via ABC News and WCBS-TV (New York) is a list of the nominees in the major categories. NOTE: For the sake of brevity, this article will exclude minor categories such as technical awards, and awards for Best Actor/Actress other than those for the lead roles. Similarly, non-competitive, ceremonial awards will also be excluded from this list.

Best Musical

In the biggest category, it looks like an epic showdown is brewing between Tina Fey’s Mean Girls, the Broadway musical version of her 2004 comedy movie of the same name, and the kid-friendly SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical. Outliers in the category are The Band’s Visit and Disney’s Frozen.

Meanwhile, a few popular new musicals failed to make the nominations. Those include Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, the Donna Summer retrospective Summer, and the Hal Prince revue Prince of Broadway.

Besides picking up a nomination in the Best Musical category, Mean Girls is also nominated for Best Original Score, Best Lead Actress (Taylor Louderman), Best Actor (Grey Henson), Best Actress (Ashley Park), and a handful of technical awards.

Similarly, Spongebob Squarepants also picked up nominations for Best Original Score, Best Lead Actor (Ethan Slater), Best Featured Actor (Gavin Lee), and various technical awards.

Best Play

To almost no one’s surprise, this category is dominated by the Broadway entry to the Harry Potter franchise: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Let the magic begin. The curtain is up on Part 1 of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway! #CursedChildNYC pic.twitter.com/Kl0ulkhvho

— Pottermore (@pottermore) April 22, 2018

Already the play has racked up nine Olivier Awards in London. Will it dominate the New York awards as well?

Its competition includes The Children, Farinelli and the King, Junk, and Latin History for Morons.

Best Revival (Musical)

My Fair Lady
Once On This Island
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel

Best Revival (Play)

Angels In America
Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Lobby Hero
Travesties

Best Original Score

Angels in America
The Band’s Visit
Frozen
Mean Girls
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical

Best Lead Actor (Musical)

Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady
Joshua Henry, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Tony Shalhoub, The Band’s Visit
Ethan Slater, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical

Best Lead Actor (Play)

Andrew Garfield, Angels in America
Tom Hollander, Travesties
Jamie Parker, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Mark Rylance, Farinelli and The King
Denzel Washington, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh

Best Lead Actress (Musical)

Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady
Hailey Kilgore, Once On This Island
LaChanze, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
Katrina Lenk, The Band’s Visit
Taylor Louderman, Mean Girls
Jessie Mueller, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel

Best Lead Actress (Play)

Glenda Jackson, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Condola Rashad, Saint Joan
Lauren Ridloff, Children of a Lesser God
Amy Schumer, Meteor Shower

The Tony Awards will air on Sunday, June 10 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS.