No team woke up on Tony-nominations morning happier than the group working on Stereophonic — the play scored 13 nominations on April 30, tied with Hell’s Kitchen for most nominations of any show this year and officially the highest amount of nominations ever for a play. That means it beat the previous record holder, Slave Play, which had 12 nominations, and that show scored its noms in a much sparser year owing to the pandemic. Stereophonic, running through August 18 at the Golden Theatre, follows a Fleetwood Mac–esque band through the recording of an album that mirrors Rumours not only in sound but in behind-the-scenes drama. It is one of the most acclaimed plays of the season. But still … 13 nominations is a lot for any play, much less one by a playwright (David Adjmi) making his Broadway debut. So other than the fact that it’s really good, how’d the team make it happen?
The simplest explanation is a smart gaming of actor categorizations. Stereophonic managed five (five!) acting nominations. For a show with no big stars, that’s especially remarkable. Stereophonic was partially able to clinch all five by pushing its entire cast into the supporting categories. That includes Sarah Pidgeon and Tom Pecinka, who lead the show but are both nominated in supporting. In the Lead Actress category, Pidgeon would have had to face off against A-list actresses like Sarah Paulson, Jessica Lange, and Rachel McAdams. Meanwhile, Pecinka’s opponents would have included names like Jeremy Strong and William Jackson Harper, but this season, even Steve Carell in his Broadway debut couldn’t sneak into the category.
While lots of plays are ensemble pieces, no other play got 13 nominations. The other, more unique explanation is that while Stereophonic scored most of its nominations in the slightly less competitive play categories (21 musicals opened on Broadway this season versus 16 plays), it also got into some categories that are usually reserved for musicals. Stereophonic, despite being classified as a play, has music sung throughout its run time, earning eligibility for Best Score. It has become more common in recent years to see plays nominated in the category with 2020 having only plays nominated because of a lack of eligible musical scores. The nomination that tipped Stereophonic over Slave Play was in Best Orchestrations, a packed category up against jukebox musicals that rarely includes plays. But the Stereophonic live instrumentation was too much for the Tony nominating committee to pass up. And ultimately, that’s what set the record for Stereophonic.