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.
Scarlett Johansson 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.
And the nominations are... The nominees for the
64th Tony Awards were unveiled in New York City today by actors Jeff
Daniels and Glee star Lea Michele
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
Scarlett Johansson 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
Scarlett is often voted one of the world's sexiest women
Looking like a grungy teenager? Scarlett Johansson
Anyone for tennis: Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson is the face
of a new sportswear range for Reebok called Scarlett Hearts Rbk
Scarlett has designed a versatile range of street-chic
sportswear
The pretty actress' next project is rumoured to be an album of
Tom Waits covers
Getting Ziggy with it: friends say the male model tried to bag 
Back on: Ziggy and Chanelle are spending time together again
The pair have resumed flirting after days of fighting
Party: the housemates get into the spirit for Big Brother's
birthday
Nicky's stand up comedy didn't go down well
Carol gives Liam a one-two punch
Leading lady: Scarlett Johansson fails to impress in The Other
Boleyn Girl
Natural: Scarlett says she's has not had plastic surgery
Claims: a magazine has speculated that Scarlett has had work
done on her nose
Sister act: Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johnasson as the Boleyn
girls
Force to be reckoned with: Eric Bana plays the insatiable Henry
VIII who vies for the Boleyn girls attention
The Other Boleyn Girl is released on 7th March
