Jonathan Groff and Jasmine Amy Rogers were nominated for all four theater awards that were announced over the past week, he for portraying Bobby Darin in “Just in Time,” she for the title role in “Boop!”

They were the only performers to be nominated in all four awards, including the Chita Rivera Awards, which honors dancers. But eight other stars received a perhaps telling consensus among the other three awards — the Tonys, the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle, although there are different nominators for each of these awards, and their aims, categories and eligibility criteria differ. The Tonys, for example, only consider Broadway shows, and the others don’t consider Broadway transfers that had Off-Broadway runs in the previous season. (See my Guide and Calendar to New York Theater Awards 2025)

Of course, it worked the other way too: Neither Idina Menzel of “Redwood” nor Denzel Washington or Jake Gyllenhaal of “Othello” received nominations from any of these awards. But it feels better to herald the consensus nominees

Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending

Criss portrays the robot Oliver, looking just as chipper as a cyber Pee Wee Herman in a cheerfully painted face and high-waisted pants.  With stiff (robotic) moves, he brushes his teeth and then his eyes, listens on his record player to his favorite jazz crooner, talks to his plant and waits each day for the delivery of his mail. His routine is disrupted by a female robot.

Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California

Donnelly portrays both Veronica, a stage mother who drilled her four daughters daily in order to polish a marketable musical act, the Webb Sisters, modeled after the Andrews Sister. and, twenty years later, Joan, the most wayward of the daughters whose life was turned upside down. As Joan, she finally makes an entrance near the end of the play, one I found terrifically theatrical, and befitting her character.  

Jonathan Groff, Just in Time

There is a Sinatra vibe that Jonathan Groff nails from the start, in shiny tux and tie, in this biomusical about Bobby Darin, that’s presented as a nightclub act, with Groff merging his own talent and charisma with the character he’s portraying.

Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins

Jordan is nearly immobile while he portrays the title character of Adam Guettel and Tina Landau’s musical, a Kentuckian who becomes trapped while exploring a cave in 1925

Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

The spin-off of the TV series tells the backstory of Henry Creel, who is memorably portrayed by McCartney, persuasively essence-of-nerd, albeit scented with creepy, who is even somewhat sympathetic as he’s tortured into becoming the monster known as Vecna. 

Audra McDonald, Gypsy

With less brass and more heart, Audra McDonald’s distinctive portrayal of Madam Rose, the mother of all stage mother. The distinctiveness of McDonald’s performance first hits with full force at the end of Act I, after June runs away. fter a moment of uncharacteristic silence, Rose turns to Louise and says “I’m going to make you a star,” and launches into the first of the musical’s four showstoppers, “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” But rather than the false bravado of so many Roses I’ve seen, this Rose is all defiance, tinged with desperation. When she rips up June’s letter and thrusts the little pieces in the air, you feel it.

Jasmine Amy Rogers, Boop!

Rogers is making a spectacular Broadway debut as the 1930s cartoon flapper with the oversized head, glistening spit curls and breathy, baby-like voice – but one that can belt with the best of them, doing justice to the jazzy score

Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Blvd.

The intense performance by he former lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, has proven to be catnip for Broadway diva worshippers. Her fading movie queen Norma is a glamorous beauty, barefoot in a shiny black slip, with a kind of vampiric chic

Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray 

Snook portrays some 25 characters as well as the narrator in this dazzling and sometimes dizzying stage-and-video adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s novel.

Kara Young, Purpose

Kara Young portrays a guest in the home of the illustrious Jasper family, a friend of their son, who goes from star-struck to shocked when she sits down to dinner with them.