Denzel, Jude Law snag nominations

May 5, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

2010 Tony Awards

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Star wattage will burn bright at the 2010 Tony Awards with Denzel Washington, Jude Law, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Kelsey Grammer among those receiving nominations Tuesday.

Washington and Law were each cited for best actor performances in “Fences” and “Hamlet,” respectively. Zeta-Jones was nominated for best performance by a leading actress in a musical, “A Little Night Music,” and Grammer was nominated for lead actor in a musical, “La Cage aux Folles.”

“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,” Zeta-Jones said Tuesday. “And now to be nominated for a Tony. In my dreams, I couldn’t imagine a better way to make my Broadway debut.”

Washington said that being on Broadway again — he last appeared in 2005 in “Julius Caesar” — was “like coming home again for me, and sharing a Tony nomination for ‘Fences’ with so many wonderfully talented people associated with this play makes it seem like one big family reunion.”

“Fela!” — nominated for best musical — and “La Cage aux Folles” — nominated for the best musical revival — each received 11 nominations, followed by “Fences” with 10 nods.

Nominated for best play were “In the Next Room [or the vibrator play]” by Sarah Ruhl; “Next Fall,” by Geoffrey Nauffts; “Red,” by John Logan; and “Time Stands Still,” by Donald Margulies.

Best musical nominations went to Green Day’s “American Idiot”; “Memphis”; “Million Dollar Quartet”; and “Fela!”

“I am very proud and humbled by this extraordinary recognition of our work today,” said Michael Grandage, artsitic director of Britain’s Donmar Warehouse, who was nominated for directing “Red.”

Besides Washington and Law, the actor-play nominees include Alfred Molina, “Red”; Liev Schreiber, “A View From the Bridge”; and Christopher Walken, “A Behanding in Spokane.”

In the actress-play category, the nominees were Viola Davis, “Fences”; Valerie Harper, “Looped”; Linda Lavin, “Collected Stories”; Laura Linney, “Time Stands Still”; and Jan Maxwell, “The Royal Family.”

Harper, whose play has closed, said the nomination was “bittersweet” because “Looped” had closed. “That was sad and disappointing, but boy does this sweeten the pot,” she said.

The performers competing with Zeta-Jones for the actress-musical prize were Kate Baldwin, “Finian’s Rainbow”; Montego Glover, “Memphis”; Sherie Rene Scott, “Everyday Rapture”; and Christiane Noll, “Ragtime.”

Besides Grammer, the actor-musical nominees were Sean Hayes, “Promises, Promises”; Douglas Hodge, “La Cage aux Folles”; Chad Kimball, “Memphis”; and Sahr Ngujah, “Fela!”

Nominees for 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.”

“It has been a dream come true to be a part of the Broadway community,” Johansson said. “I am deeply honored to be nominated and so proud to have been a part of this extraordinary production.”

Featured actor in a play nominees included David Alan Grier, “Race”; Stephen McKinley Henderson, “Fences”; Jon Michael Hill, “Superior Donuts”; Stephen Kunken, “Enron”; Eddie Redmayne, “Red.”