Bruce Glikas/FilmMagicThe Great White Way is buzzing this morning with the unveiling of the 2012 Tony nominations, and many of Broadway's usual suspects were singled out with nods—see James Earl Jones, Audra McDonald and John Lithgow, for starters.
Alas, there's only so much Tony love to go around (sorry, Samuel L. Jackson!). Here's a quick look at five of the biggest snubs:
1. Ricky Martin: He's been getting nightly raves in the role of Che in the Broadway revival of Evita, but unfortunately he won't be "Livin' la Vida Loca" at the awards ceremony on June 10 after Tony voters found the pop superstar a total bore. He was passed over for a nomination, though Evita scored three, including Best Revival of a Musical and a nod for his costar Michael Cerveris. But don't cry for Ricky entirely: He did score a Drama League nomination earlier this month.
2. Angela Bassett: What's a girl to do when you have stage mainstays like Linda Lavin, Stockard Channing and Cynthia Nixon hogging the noms in the Lead Actress in a Play category? Such was the problem for Angela, who, despite earning major plaudits playing a motel maid opposite Samuel L. Jackson's Martin Luther King Jr. in Katori Hall's fictional drama about the last night of the civil rights leader's life in The Mountaintop, was overlooked by a mile.
3. Hugh Jackman: He wowed Times Square tourists as Australian songwriter and performer Peter Allen in The Boy from Oz and charmed industry folk when he hosted Broadway's biggest night for three consecutive years. But despite his deep connections to the New York theater scene and an 18-piece orchestra backing him, the erstwhile Wolverine was unable to carve out a Tony nod this year for Best Actor in a Musical with his latest stage affair, Hugh Jackman on Broadway. He will get a nice consolation prize, however, as he will receive a Special Tony Award for his contributions to the Broadway community both as a performer and humanitarian.
4. Angela Lansbury: She owned the stage as a whip-smart party operative in the revival of Gore Vidal's play The Best Man and practically stole the show from fellow castmembers Candice Bergen and Kerry Butler despite the brevity of her role. But this five-time Tony winner was denied a chance to walk away with a sixth trophy when she was passed over in the Featured Actress in a Play category. This Tony contest is a killer, we tell ya.
5. A Streetcar Named Desire: It had a multiracial cast led by hunky Blair Underwood making his Broadway debut in the brooding Marlon Brando role of Stanley Kowalski, and a tour de force performance from Nicole Ari Parker, who more than held her own as Blanche DuBois (in her own Broadway debut). And yet the latest revival of Tennessee Williams' scorching bayou drama failed to spark with Tony folks, who gave the play just one nomination—for costumes. Well, we guess that's something, ain't it?