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[0:00] Jillian Hochman: Okay, good morning. It is April 30th, 2019. It is 5:55 in the morning. I am not a morning person.

[0:13] Jillian Hochman: I am about to leave home to go to the Tony Award nominations. Very excited, or I will be once I've had some coffee in me. Okay, time to wake up!

[0:26] Jillian Hochman: This is a collect call from The Theatre Podcast, bringing you exclusive behind-the-scenes access to The Theatre Awards Season 2019.

[0:40] Jillian Hochman: This is Cereal. Part of a Broadway Lover's Complete Breakfast.

[0:45] Jillian Hochman: In this special five-part miniseries, we bring you stories and interviews from some of the most hard-to-access places throughout the month of May, leading up to the red carpet and press room of the Tony Awards themselves, which took place on June 9th, 2019. Our story begins on a wet and rainy New York City morning back on April 30th with Jillian Hochman.

[1:07] Jillian Hochman: I'm going to be going to the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. I'm really, really excited. This year, it's Brandon Victor Dixon and Bebe Neuwirth announcing the Tony nominations at 8 AM, which is an ungodly hour for anybody, but you know what? It's like Christmas morning. So I'm about to make the trek from Brooklyn all the way up to Midtown, and I will let you know how it goes. It is now 7:57 AM. I'm at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, and we are filling in the auditorium for the Tony nominations. Everyone is so excited, and there's lots of different people from all different outlets here, and the buzz is absolutely electric this morning. Everyone's so excited. I'm literally living my dream right now, and I'm so happy to share all of this with you. So I'll check back soon, and we'll find out who's nominated for a Tony this year.

[2:11] Jillian Hochman: Bebe Neuwirth and Brandon Victor Dixon announced the 73rd annual Tony Award nominations live on Tuesday, April 30th. Also taking the stage was Gayle King, real-life BFF to Oprah, chief anchor for CBS News and co-host of its flagship morning program, CBS This Morning. As the shutters from the cameras in the room quickly capture the moments as they pass, we take you back there now.

[2:33] Brandon Victor Dixon: I didn't know there was going to be an audience. I like this. I thought it was just going to be us chickens.

[2:39] Brandon Victor Dixon: So Brandon, let's start with you, because you know what this is like. You know, the morning you wake up, it's a Tony nomination. What do you think most people are feeling? And do you always buy when people go, I was sleeping, I didn't know. I don't have to do that. It's true. I'm not doing shows.

[2:58] Brandon Victor Dixon: Everybody's different, I think. Some people are probably not waiting. I say I usually sleep with my mother in the living room. That's usually what happens. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I always picture it, you're up for it, that you're sort of sitting by the phone and watching the TV to see what's going to happen. That's reality, that's not how it goes. I never bought that. You're going to know. You know you're going to know if it happens.

[3:21] Brandon Victor Dixon: So I think there's a level of not wanting to build up anticipation and just wanting like, we're just going to treat it like it's a regular day. I'm going to pretend I didn't know they came out today.

[3:31] Jillian Hochman: Are you nervous of people you're waiting for?

[3:37] Brandon Victor Dixon: Yeah, I love the sleeping team. I stay asleep. And it's true, you're going to know. Someone will tell you one way or the other, you know, what, with your name not written. But I'm sort of in the team that goes, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[3:50] Jillian Hochman: You're also a Tony winner, so you know what a difference a Tony nomination can make for a play.

[3:55] Brandon Victor Dixon: Such as?

[3:56] Jillian Hochman: Such as? What is the difference that a Tony nomination can mean for a play?

[4:02] Brandon Victor Dixon: The nominations, which come with far less pizzazz as all of the award shows themselves, are presented quickly, one category at a time via slides, with each name and category announced by either Bebe or Brandon. But now it's time to hear the nominees for 2019. We begin with the best performance for a leading actor in a play. Bebe, start us off, please.

[4:23] Bebe Neuwirth: Patti Considine, The Ferryman.

[4:30] Bebe Neuwirth: Network.

[4:33] Bebe Neuwirth: Daniels, To Kill a Mockingbird.

[4:37] Bebe Neuwirth: Adam Driver, Burn This.

[4:41] Bebe Neuwirth: Jeremy Pope, The Choir Boy.

[4:47] Bebe Neuwirth: And the nominees for best performance by an actress in a leading role in a play are.

[4:52] Jillian Hochman: And so on and so forth as the top eight categories are announced while they are still live streaming publicly to CBS. There was even a moment when Gayle asks why Network and To Kill a Mockingbird were not nominated for best play, a sentiment a lot of theatergoers also took to social media to ask as well.

[5:11] Jillian Hochman: There are some favorites there, but I have to ask you, are you surprised that neither Network or To Kill a Mockingbird were nominated for best play?

[5:16] Brandon Victor Dixon: And the actors were nominated. Jeff Daniels was nominated and Bryan Cranston. But did it surprise you?

[5:21] Brandon Victor Dixon: I wish everything could be nominated. Wonderful year for plays. There's a wonderful work, so it was a tough year, but I'm glad that they chose Gayle Duncan.

[5:33] Brandon Victor Dixon: All right, Brandon and Bebe, we thank you guys. Thank you for joining us. So there you have it, Gora and John, the top eight categories for the 2019 Tony Awards. The nominations will continue here, but we're going to go back to you in the studio. What do you guys think of the list?

[5:51] Jillian Hochman: Best get John and Nora.

[5:54] Jillian Hochman: Once the live feed is cut, they continue on locally with the rest of the categories and nominations. The nominees for best book of a musical are...

[6:04] Jillian Hochman: 13 more minutes pass as the remainder of the nominations are announced. Hadestown walked away with the most nominations with a total of 14. Trailing closely behind was Ain't Too Proud, The Life and Times of the Temptations with 12. Joining those two shows in the best musical category were Beetlejuice, The Prom, and Tootsie. In plays, The Ferryman and To Kill a Mockingbird racked up the most nominations with nine each, though strangely, as mentioned earlier, only The Ferryman was up for best play. Spoiler alert, it won. Rounding out that category were Choir Boy, Gary, A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, Inc., and What the Constitution Means to Me.

[6:40] Jillian Hochman: Wow. That's amazing. Amazing people. Please log on to tonyawards.com for a full list of this year's nominations and other Tony news. Be sure to also like the Tony Awards on Facebook, follow the Tonys on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat at the Tony Awards. And it's a whole new language. And tag your posts with hashtag Tony Awards.

[7:22] Jillian Hochman: Thanks for listening to Episode 1 of Cereal, part of The Broadway Lover's Complete Breakfast. Visit us online via theatre_podcast on Instagram and Twitter, via thetheatrepodcast.com, or send us an email via feedback@thetheatrepodcast.com. And make sure to follow Parodybill on Instagram for more amazing Playbill mashups.