65th Tony Awards Receives Five Primetime Emmy Nominations

The June 2011 broadcast of the 65th Annual Tony Awards was honored today with five Prime Time Emmy Award nominations in the categories of:

• Outstanding Special Class Programs – Ricky Kirshner, Executive Producer, Glenn Weiss Executive Producer and Neil Patrick Harris, Host/Producer
• Outstanding Directing For A Variety Special – Glenn Weiss, Director 
• Outstanding Writing For A Variety Special - Written byDave Boone, Special Material by Paul Greenberg
• Outstanding Art Direction For Variety Or Nonfiction Programming - Steve Bass, Production Designer, Seth Easter, Art Director
• Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics “It's Not Just For Gays Anymore” – Music By Adam Schlesinger, Lyrics by David Javerbaum

The nominations were announced live this morning in Los Angeles.

Kirshner and Weiss previously won the Emmy Award in the Outstanding Special Class Programs Category in 2011 for the 64th Annual Tony Awards, 2010 for the 63rd Annual Tony Awards, 2008 for the 61st Annual Tony Awards and 2007 for the 60th Annual Tony Awards. They won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special in 2005 for the 58th Annual Tony Awards. Weiss was also the recipient of the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program in 2003 for the 56th Annual Tony Awards. Kirshner and Weiss have acted as executive producers of the Tony Awards telecast for the past seven years. Dave Boone was honored with an Emmy in 2011 and 2010 in the category of Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special for the 63rd Annual Tony Awards.

The Antoinette Perry “Tony” Award, which was founded by the American Theatre Wing in 1947, is bestowed annually on theatre professionals for distinguished achievement on Broadway. The Tony is one of the most coveted awards in the entertainment industry and the annual telecast – the night America watches Broadway – is considered one of the most prestigious programs on television.