Best play
Rock 'n' Roll
by Tom Stoppard
Unlikely to be Stoppard's year, especially since his Coast of Utopia nabbed seven Tonys last year - the most ever for a non-musical.
The 39 Steps
by Patrick Barlow
The Hitchcock pastiche is the sleeper non-musical hit of the season, but it's too fluffy to go the distance.
Best director of a play
Maria Aitken for The 39 Steps.
In a year in which many prominent British directors on Broadway - Trevor Nunn (Rock 'n' Roll), David Leveaux (Cyrano de Bergerac), James Macdonald (Top Girls) - went unmentioned, Aitken's nomination is her award.
Matthew Warchus for Boeing Boeing. As with Aitken, the citation is the prize.
Best director of a musical
Sam Buntrock for Sunday In the Park with George. Broadway first-timer Buntrock faces stiff competition from Gypsy/ South Pacific juggernaut. So, too, do his nominated stars, Jenna Russell and Daniel Evans.
Best actor in a play
Ben Daniels in Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
Daniels has New Yorkers casting aside memories of Alan Rickman in this same part 21 years ago. He takes his kit off, too, which on Broadway never hurts.
Mark Rylance in Boeing Boeing.
A Shakespearean capable of playing silly and sweet: the Tony is his to lose.
Rufus Sewell in Rock 'n' Roll.
Gone and more or less by now forgotten, Stoppard's play won't bring Sewell a fourth trophy to add to his London trio.
Patrick Stewart in Macbeth.
Gone but fondly remembered, Macbeth is neck and neck with Boeing Boeing for best play revival, locking its two leading men in a tight race as well.
Best actress in a play
Eve Best in The Homecoming.
Eve at her, well, best, but in a production that closed and also lost money.
Kate Fleetwood in Macbeth.
Her director (and husband) Rupert Goold wasn't nominated, so the abiding surprise is that Fleetwood was.
