Spring Awakening Tops Tony Noms

Forget Springtime for Hitler. These days it's all about Spring Awakening.

The Duncan Sheik-Steven Sater rock musical based on a play about adolescent sexual hunger in 19th century Germany scored 11 Tony nominations Tuesday, the most of the 2006-07 Broadway season.

Spring Awakening originally opened off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre Company last May and ran for three months to rave reviews before moving to the Great White Way's Eugene O'Neill Theater in December. It's also up for 10 Drama Desk Awards and was named Best Musical by the Outer Critics Circle and New York Drama Critics Circle.

Spring Awakening will compete for Best Musical with Grey Gardens, Curtains and Mary Poppins.

Tying with 10 nods apiece was Tom Stoppard's epic drama trilogy, The Coast of Utopia, and Grey Gardens, a musical based on a 1975 documentary of the same name about the fall from grace of Jacqueline Kennedy's eccentric aunt and first cousin, Ewing Bouvier Beale ("Big Edie") and Edith Bouvier Beale ("Little Edie").

Curtains, the John Kander and Fred Ebb tuner 1950s-era backstage murder mystery comedy, nabbed eight nominations, including Best Actor for star David Hyde Pierce.

Legally Blonde The Musical, inspired by Reese Witherspoon's hit 2001 film comedy, was in the pink with seven nods including Best Actress for Laura Bell Bundy, although it failed to warrant Best Musical consideration. Mary Poppins, Cameron Mackintosh's elaborate stage version of P.L. Travers children's books and the classic Disney movie, also tallied seven nominations.

In the Best Plays race, the favorite seems to be The Coast of Utopia, which is actually made up of three productions—Voyage, Shipwreck and Salvage—each of which could be seen separately or in one marathon sitting. The drama chronicles the history of intellectual progressive thought among 19th century Russian thinkers and features an A-list cast of Ethan Hawke, Billy Crudup, Martha Plimpton and Jennifer Ehle, all of whom were nominated in the Featured Actor/Actress categories.

Perhaps its biggest challenger is Frost/Nixon, from British playwright and screenwriter Peter Morgan  (The Queen) about a series of interviews Richard Nixon gave to journalist David Frost in 1977. Frank Langella is up for Best Actor for channeling Nixon.

Rounding out the Best Play race: The Little Dog Laughed, a social comedy about Hollywood from veteran playwright and screenwriter Douglas Carter Beane, and Radio Golf, the final episode in Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson's acclaimed cycle of 10 plays—each focusing on a decade of the African-American experience in the 20th century.

Revivals also made a strong showing. Journey's End, the R.C. Sheriff play about the lives of British officers in World War I, garnered six nominations. Inherit the Wind, the fictional tale of the 1925 Scopes Monkey trial, earned two-time Tony winner Christopher Plummer another Lead Actor nod for his performance opposite vet Brian Dennehy. A revival of 1960s tuner 110 in the Shade tallied five nominations, including Best Actor for John Cullum, while A Chorus Line and Stephen Sondheim's Company each managed two nods.

Finally, four-time Tony winner Angela Lansbury could add a fifth trophy to her shelf for her role as a retired tennis pro in Terrence McNally's play Deuce. 

Tony winner Jane Krakowski and former Rent and Chicago star Taye Diggs announced the 61st Annual Tony Award nominees from Lincoln Center. This year's ceremony will air live from Radio City Music Hall  June 10 on CBS.

Here's a complete rundown of the nominees:

BEST MUSICAL: Curtains, Grey Gardens, Mary Poppins, Spring Awakening

BEST PLAY: The Coast of Utopia, Frost/Nixon, The Little Dog Laughed, Radio Golf

BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL: The Apple Tree, A Chorus Line, Company, 110 in the Shade

BEST PLAY REVIVAL: Inherit the Wind, Journey's End, Talk Radio, Translations

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR, MUSICAL: Michael Cerveris, LoveMusik, Raul Esparza, Company, Jonathan Groff, Spring Awakening, Gavin Lee, Mary Poppins, David Hyde Pierce, Curtains

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS, MUSICAL: Laura Bell Bundy, Legally Blonde The Musical, Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens, Audra McDonald, 110 in the Shade, Debra Monk, Curtains,Donna Murphy, LoveMusik

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR, PLAY: Boyd Gaines, Journey's End, Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon, Brian F. O'Byrne, The Coast of Utopia, Christopher Plummer, Inherit the Wind, Live Schreiber, Talk Radio

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS, PLAY: Eve Best, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Swoosie Kurtz, Heartbreak House, Angela Lansbury, Deuce, Vanessa Redgrave, The Year of Magical Thinking, Julia White, The Little Dog Laughed

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR, MUSICAL: Brooks Ashmanskas, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Christian Borle, Legally Blonde The Musical, John Cullum, 110 in the Shade,  John Gallagher Jr., Spring Awakening, David Pittu, LoveMusik

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS, MUSICAL: Charlotte d'Amboise, A Chorus Line,  Rebecca Luker, Mary Poppins, Orfeh, Legally Blonde the Musical, Mary Louise Wilson, Grey Gardens, Karen Ziemba, Curtains

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR, PLAY: Anthony Chisholm, Radio Golf, Billy Crudup, The Coast of Utopia, Ethan Hawke, The Coast of Utopia, John Earl Jelks, Radio Golf, Stark Sands, Journey's End

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS, PLAY: Jennifer Ehle, The Coast of Utopia, Xanthe Elbrick, Coram Boys, Dana Ivey, Butler, Jan Maxwell, Coram Boy, Martha Plimpton, The Coast of Utopia

BEST DIRECTOR, MUSICAL: John Doyle, Company, Scott Ellis, Curtains, Michael Greif, Grey Gardens, Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening

BEST DIRECTOR, PLAY: Michael Grandage, Frost/Nixon, David Grindley, Journey's End, Jack O'Brien, The Coast of Utopia, Melly Still, Coram Boy

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY: Curtains, Mary Poppins, Spring Awakening, Legally Blonde The Musical BEST SCORE: Curtains, Grey Gardens, Legally Blonde The Musical, Spring Awakening

BEST BOOK: Curtains, Grey Gardens, Legally Blonde the Musical, Spring Awakening

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS: Grey Gardens, Spring Awakenings, LoveMusik, 110 in the Shade

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY: The Coast of Utopia, Journey's End, Radio Golf, Coram Boy

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Mary Poppins, Spring Awakening, High Fidelity, Grey Gardens

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY: Coram Boy, Heartbreak House, Inherit the Wind, The Coast of Utopia

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Legally Blonde the Musical, Mary Poppins, Spring Awakening, Grey Gardens

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY: Coram Boy, Inherit the Wind, The Coast of Utopia, Journey's End

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Spring Awakening, 110 in the Shade, Mary Poppins, Grey GardensB

BEST SPECIAL THEATRICAL EVENT: Kiki and Herb: Alive on Broadway, Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!

REGIONAL THEATER TONY AWARD: Alliance Theater, Atlanta