Tony Awards dominated by Hollywood as Catherine Zeta-Jones, Scarlett Johansson and Jude Law lead nominations

Movie stars Catherine Zeta-Jones and Jude Law led Britain's assault on Broadway's Tony Awards.
It was a year where the theatre season in New York saw many big names from the celluloid screen treading the boards in Manhattan.
was nominated for a best supporting actress Tony for her debut stage performance in A View From The Bridge.

'Bewitching': Catherine Zeta-Jones wowed critics in A Little Night Music - and now had a Tony Award nomination

While Denzel Washington and Viola Davis both being recognised for their leading roles in the smash hit play Fences.
Zeta-Jones was nominated for leading actress in a musical for. A Little Night Music, her co-star Angela Lansbury was listed in the best supporting actress in a musical category.
In A Little Night Music, Zeta-Jones, 40, plays an actress, Desiree Armfeldt , who rekindles a romance with an old flame.
The Welsh star gets to sing the famous Stephen Sondheim song Send In The Clowns.
In the past couple of years her film career hasn't handed her the kind of roles an actress of her stature deserved (she won an Oscar for Chicago), so moving back to the stage was a shrewd move and now she has a Tony nomination to prove it.
Commenting on her nomination today, she said: 'What a thrill to be nominated! The experience of doing this incredible show and working every night with such a talented group of people has truly been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career.

Hot contest: Jude Law (left) and Denzel Washington are going head-to-head for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

'And now to be nominated for a Tony, in my dreams, I couldn't imagine a better way to make my Broadway debut.'
Other nominations for A Little Night Music included those for the mainly British creative team led by director Terry Johnson and choreographer Lynne Page.
Law was nominated in the lead actor section for his Hamlet which he originally performed for the Donmar West End before the production transferred to Manhattan in October.

 

Unfortunately there were no nods for his girlfriend Sienna Miller, whose performance in the Patrick Marber play After Miss Julie failed to impress critics.
Law,clearly thrilled with his Tony nomination for the Donmar Theatre's Hamlet , commented tonight: 'What a great honour. Bringing our production of Hamlet to New York will always be one of the highlights of my career and to receive this recognition amongst these other brilliant actors only makes this experience sweeter.'
Fellow British actor Alfred Molina was also nominated for his portrait of the artist Mark Rothko in Red. His co-star Eddie Redmayne was also short-listed in the best supporting actor line-up.
Douglas Hodge, a much lauded actor from TV and productions of plays by Harold Pinter found himself nominated for leading actor in a musical for his performance as a transvestite nightclub singer in La Cage Aux Folles.

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The show, originally presented at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London, opened on Broadway to rave reviews for Hodge last month.
The Menier Chocolate Factory took a huge chunk of nominations for La Cage and A Little Night Music, both of which originated at the theatre near London Bridge.
Hodge was thrilled with his nomination and today he told the Daily Mail:'if you had told me five years ago that I'd be on Broadway in a musical wearing a dress I'd have laughed in your face. But here I am doing just that.'
Hodge said that with eight performances. A week it was a little difficult to find time to celebrate his nomination.
The Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden did equally well with a total of nine nominations for Red and Hamlet including a nomination for the Donmar's artistic director Michael Grandage.
Last year, Billy Elliot an import from London to Broadway became the toast of the town when it won the best musical award and a raft of others.

Double nods: Both and Liev Schreiber are up for acting nods for A View From The Bridge

Brits generally do well on Broadway and Eddie Redmayne is a shining example of a Brit doing well.
He and Alfred Molina originated their roles at the Donmar Warehouse where the latter portrayed artist Mark Rothko and Redmayne his assistant Ken.
Initially, Redmayne was nervous about taking a play featuring American characters played by British actors to New York.
'We were also taking the play Red to a much bigger theatre and re-defining it but as soon as I heard the police sirens outside and the sound coming through the walls of the theatre I knew we were in the right place.' Redmayne told the Daily Mail.
There's a tradition on Broadway where a new show puts on a 'gypsy run' at a special matinee for performers from neighbouring shows.
'So, there we are with Angela Lansbury and Christopher Walken in the audience it was like some terrible trial by fire but we got through it and the theatre community here are great,' Redmayne explained.
He also got a visit from Johansson, who was his leading lady in the film The Other Boleyn Girl.

West End bound: Sahr Ngaukah as Fela Kuti in the musical Fela!

'She was down the road in A View From A Bridge and suddenly you get a message that Scarlett Johansson's in the house.'
He said that the news of his Tony nomination has made him feel like an 'excitable child'.
He explained: 'It's early in the morning over here. And the idea of so much activity is very excitable.actors who were on stage last night or out at some function are usually still in bed so to be up at this hour talking about a Tony award nomination is very exciting whichever way you look at it.'
The Tony Awards on June 13 in New York will almost rival the Oscars with a starry line-up expected to attend.
Other mega star power will be provided by the producers of the much nominated musical Fela!
The show, which heads to London's National Theatre in November, collected eleven nominations.
The producers include Shawn Carter - better known as rapper Jay -Z , and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.
Jay-Z's going to the ceremony with Beyonce and the Smiths will certainly be there.
As fellow Fela! Producer Stephen Hendel remarked: 'There are going to be more stars at this year's Tony show than we've seen in years'.
He said that he has asked Jay-Z and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith to come to the opening of Fela! In London in the Autumn.

The main nominations are...

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

Jude Law - Hamlet
Alfred Molina - Red
Liev Schreiber - A View From The Bridge
Christopher Walken - A Behanding In Spokane
Denzel Washington - Fences

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play

Viola Davis - Fences
Valerie Harper - Looped
Linda Lavin - Collected Stories
Laura Linney - Time Stands Still
Jan Maxwell - The Royal Family

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

Kelsey Grammer - La Cage Aux Folles
Sean Hayes - Promises, Promises
Douglas Hodge - La Cage Aux Folles
Chad Kimball - Memphis
Sahr Ngaujah - Fela!

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical

Kate Baldwin - Finian's Rainbow
Sherie Rene Scott - Everyday Rapture
Montego Glover - Memphis
Christiane Noll - Ragtime
Catherine Zeta-Jones - A Little Night Music

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

David Alan Grier - Race
Stephen McKinley Henderson - Fences
Jon Michael Hill - Superior Donuts
Stephen Kunken - Enron
Eddie Redmayne - Red

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

Maria Dizzia - In The Next Room (Or The Vibrator Play)
Rosemary Harris - The Royal Family
Jessica Hecht - A View From The Bridge
Scarlett Johansson - A View From The Bridge
Jan Maxwell - Lend Me A Tenor