May 04, 2010

By By Ann Donahue, L.A.

"Fela!" the musical produced by Jay-Z, Alicia Keys and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, among others, was nominated for 11 Tony Awards Tuesday morning, tying it for most nominations on the year with "La Cage aux Folles."

In addition to being nominated for Best Musical, "Fela!" was nominated for Best Book of Musical for Jim Lewis & Bill T. Jones and Sahr Ngaujah was nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.

"Fela!" tells the story of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti; the original Broadway cast recording will be available on June 8 from Knitting Factory Records.

"American Idiot," based on Green Day's album, also was nominated for Best Musical, alongside "Memphis" and "Million Dollar Quartet." The nominees for Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre are: Andrew Lippa for "The Addams Family," Adam Cork for music and Lucy Prebble for lyrics for "Enron," Branford Marsalia for "Fences" and David Bryan for music and Joe DiPietro and Bryan for lyrics for "Memphis."

The nominees for Best Revival of a Musical are "Finian's Rainbow," "La Cage aux Folles," "A Little Night Music" and "Ragtime."

The nominations were announced Tuesday morning by Jeff Daniels and "Glee's" Lea Michele. The Tonys will be aired from Radio City Music Hall on CBS on June 13.

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