Arts News

Fela leads Tony nominations with 11 nods

May 4, 2010, 22:32 GMT

New York - Fela, the rousing musical about Nigerian composer and activist Fela Kuti, topped the list of Tony Award nominees Tuesday as it earned 11 nominations for the top US theatrical awards.

Produced by rap mogul Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter and Hollywood glamour couple Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, the musical traces the story of the legendary African musician whose Afrobeats were among the first to cross over into the western mainstream.

Other nominees for best musical were Memphis with eight bids, punk rocker Green Day's political protest American Idiot and Million Dollar Quartet.

Also scoring 11 nominations was a revival of gay farce La Cage Aux Folles, while a remake of the August Wilson play Fences picked up 10 nods, including best actor nominations for Denzel Washington and Viola Davis.

Other Hollywood stars nominated for the awards, which is limited to Broadway productions, included Jude Law for Hamlet, Christopher Walken in A Behanding in Spokane, Catherine Zeta-Jones for the musical A Little Night Music, and Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson for the revival of the Arthur Miller play, A View From the Bridge.