Think You Know How Many Performers Will Be Tony-Nommed for Best Actress in a Musical? Think Again!

How many performers are nominated for Tonys in each category? Five as usual? Not this year. Deep in the rulebook for Tony eligibility is a clause stating that because there are less than seven eligible performers in the category, the committee can nominate four (or even three) performers. The Tony eligibility rule reads as follows:

"Committee shall determine whether a sufficient number of eligible candidates exist in quality or quantity to merit the granting of an Award in the applicable category for the current season. There shall be no more than four nominees in each category; provided, that if there are at least seven eligible candidates for nomination in a Best Performance category, then there shall be five nominees in that category; and provided, further, that the Tony Awards Administration Committee shall also have the sole discretion to reduce the number of nominees to fewer than four (or five), but, in no event, fewer than two, in a particular category for the current season or to delegate this discretion to the Nominating Committee."

The list of performers eligible in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical are as follows:

Janet Dacal, Wonderland
Sutton Foster, Anything Goes
Beth Leavel, Baby It's You!
Patina Miller, Sister Act
Donna Murphy, The People in the Picture
Sherie Rene Scott, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Nominations for the Tony Awards will be announced on May 3. Broadway.com will provide full Tony Award coverage.