Four Shows Competing for the Tony for Best Musical

  Nominees for the most important awards in American theater were announced Tuesday in New York City. Two musicals lead all the candidates with 12 nominations each. Both came from already popular media products. Mean Girls is a morality story set in a high school, from writer, actor and funny woman Tina Fey. It was a huge hit in movie theaters in 2004. In the last year, it has had similar success as a musical on Broadway. Mean Girls’ 12 Tony nominations include one for best musical. Fey was also nominated for a writing award as well. Her husband, Jonathan Richmond, wrote the music. He was nominated for best original score, along with lyrics writer Nell Benjamin. Competing for best musical and 11 other awards is a production developed from the widly popular children’s television show, SpongeBob SquarePants. The lead character is an ocean animal called SpongeBob. He lives in a pineapple under the sea and has much to sing about. Like Fey, SpongeBob writer Kyle Jarrow is nominated for the Tony for best book. It also is up for best original score, created by a number of musical artists. The grown-up musical The Band’s Visit also earned 11 nominations. It is about a clash of cultures that results when an Egyptian orchestra gets lost and ends up in the wrong Israeli town. It is based on a 2007 Israeli film. The Band’s Visit is less well-known than its Tony competitors. However, it has received a lot of critical praise. You have probably heard of the final best musical candidate. Frozen is based on the Disney animated movie of the same name. The 2013 film is the most popular animated picture ever, based on ticket sales. The Broadway version also got nominated for best original score and best book of a musical. I’m Caty Weaver.   Caty Weaver wrote this story for VOA Learning English based on an Associated Press report. ­­­­­­­­­­­­Ashley Thompson was the editor. Here is a complete list of Tony nominees.  _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   original - adj. new; not a copy score - n. the music that is written for a movie or play​ lyrics - n. the words of a song​ animated - adj. produced by the creation of a series of drawings, pictures, etc., that are shown quickly one after another : produced through the process of animation​.

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