Going for 2013 Tony Gold! Handicapping the Race for Best Actor in a Play

It's Tony time on Broadway, and as always, we can't stop thinking about who'll be going for the gold on June 9! In anticipation of the 2013 nominations, which will be announced on April 30, we're clocking 14 of the top races. Take a look at our forecast, including frontrunners, hopefuls and a “shout out” to one performer or show we hope the Tony nominators won’t forget. Below, our cheat sheet on the race for Best Actor in a Play.

FRONTRUNNERS
Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy
Hanks is the season’s feel-good story, going out on a limb to play tabloid columnist Mike McAlary in the final play by his pal Nora Ephron. Turns out the two-time Oscar winner is a natural stage star, too.

Nathan Lane, The Nance
Two-time Tony winner Lane shows the breadth of his talent in a tour-de-force star turn requiring quick shifts between comic burlesque skits and the heartbreaking offstage love story of his closeted character.

David Hyde Pierce, Vanya and Sonia...
Christopher Durang wrote one of the funniest rants about modern life in recent memory, and Tony winner Pierce performs it perfectly as the depressive Vanya in this comedy about a Chekhovian unhappy family.

IN THE MIX
Alec Baldwin, Orphans
Baldwin is charismatic and just the right amount of funny as the mysterious father figure in Lyle Kessler’s three-man drama.

Alan Cumming, Macbeth
What could be more difficult than performing every role in Macbeth, including the infamous Lady M? Not much! Cumming delivers a riveting performance. 

Douglas Hodge, Cyrano de Bergerac
The Tony-winning British star redefined “swashbuckling” in a bravura turn as the big-nosed French nobleman with a poetic streak.

Tracy Letts, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Letts’ fierce and menacing performance as George was the highlight of the latest revival of Edward Albee’s modern classic.

Tom Sturridge, Orphans
Sturridge would likely have won a featured actor Tony as an innocent, housebound brother. In the lead category, he could nudge Alec Baldwin out of a nod.

Also possible: Norbert Leo Butz (Dead Accounts), Bobby Cannavale (The Big Knife), Ben Foster, (Orphans), Boyd Gaines (An Enemy of the People), Ciaran Hinds (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Jim Parsons (Harvey), Paul Rudd (Grace), Michael Shannon (Grace), David Strathairn (The Heiress), Benjamin Walker (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)

BROADWAY.COM SHOUT OUT
Seth Numrich, Golden Boy
Anchoring a huge cast, Numrich carried this acclaimed Odets revival as title character Joe Bonaparte, a innocent violinist who morphs into a fame-hungry boxer. Fall performances are frequently forgotten; this one shouldn’t be!

Click here for more Broadway.com Tony forecasts!