Tony nominations’ heart is with ‘Kinky Boots,’ ‘Matilda’

NEW YORK — About seven years ago, the Broadway producer Daryl Roth saw an oddball British movie called “Kinky Boots,� about a struggling shoemaker who turns to the fetish-footwear business, and had a flash of inspiration.

“Not everyone I talked to believed it could work as a Broadway musical,� she said with a laugh on Tuesday. “But the movie had what I thought could be a really good blend: a very different world than many people knew but a lot of heart that they could relate to.�

On Tuesday, Roth’s outlier thinking was validated. With a book by Harvey Fierstein and a score by Cyndi Lauper, the stage adaptation of “Kinky Boots� received 13 Tony Award nominations, more than any other show, including one for best musical.

PHOTOS: 2013 Tonys top nominees

Roth’s comments prove an apt description not only of her show but of the larger Tony field, which Broadway veterans noted Tuesday contained a thread of the idiosyncratic but was still largely accessible. If there were few Disney-style blockbusters, there was also little “Book of Mormon�-style subversiveness among this Tony crop.

“Matilda, the Musical,� the adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel about a British boarding school run by a fearsome headmistress named Miss Trunchbull, picked up 12 nominations, also including best musical. Like “Kinky Boots,� say those involved with the show, “Matilda� walks a line between dark and uplifting.

“People ask me what audiences like about it,� said Bertie Carvel, the actor who, in drag, plays the Miss Trunchbull character. (He received a nomination for lead actor in a musical.) “And I say that while it is a dark show and there are some pretty dark things, it’s about how children view the world, and who can’t relate to that?�

The theme of the slightly challenging crowd pleaser held on the play side as well.

Nora Ephron’s final work, “Lucky Guy,� scored six nominations, including best play and leading actor in a play for Tom Hanks (his first Tony nomination), for its portrayal of the New York tabloid newspaper world through the character of the dying journalist Mike McAlary.

FULL COVERAGE: Tonys 2013

A fellow best play nominee, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,� also picked up six nods, with a mix of comedy and drama. Christopher Durang’s work tells of sibling friction in a dysfunctional family in Bucks County, Pa.

Even arguably the most difficult work of the season, a revival of the brutal Edward Albee drama “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,� had a degree of relatability.

“I think what works about our show is that no matter all the terrible things Martha and George say to each other, there is a love underneath that,� said Amy Morton of the play’s main characters. Morton landed a leading actress in a play nomination.

The Tony committee felt similarly: It handed the show five nominations, including best revival of a play.

The relatability has paid dividends at the box office. Though a number of weeks this year have lagged behind corresponding weeks of a record-setting 2012, when total receipts hit $1.14 billion, returns have still been strong, fueled particularly by new shows such as “Matilda,� “Lucky Guy� and “Motown: The Musical.�

But if the Tony committee was happy to go for accessibility in subject matter, it shied away from that when it came to actors. Well-known Hollywood names were overlooked in the acting categories, including Bette Midler (“I’ll Eat You Last�), Al Pacino (“Glengarry Glen Ross�) and Alec Baldwin (“Orphans�).

The season was marked by a supposed lack of original ideas. The first part of the season, in the fall, saw a host of revivals, many of which received tepid reviews and closed quickly. But the spring, when many of the most highly nominated shows opened, offered some relief.

“There is a lot that’s original out there,� Roth said. “But it’s not easy to do. It’s only easy after it becomes a hit.�

[email protected]