TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS : ‘LES MISERABLES,’ ‘ME AND MY GIRL’ TOP THE 1987 LIST

NEW YORK — “Me and My Girl” and “Les Miserables,” two lavish British musicals, topped the list of 1987 Tony award nominations, announced Monday by the American Theater Wing.

The wing also announced that this year’s resident-theater Tony will go to the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Another special Tony will go to Jackie Mason, whose “The World According to Me” began in Los Angeles.

“Me and My Girl,” the story of a Cockney scamp who rises in society, picked up 13 nominations, while “Les Miserables,” a retelling of the Victor Hugo novel, captured 12. Both shows were nominated for best musical, along with “Starlight Express,” another English extravaganza, and “Rags,” an American musical starring Teresa Stratas that ran only four performances.

“Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of an 18th-Century novel-in-letters by Choderlos de Laclos, picked up seven nominations, including one for best play. It will compete for best play against “Fences,” winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize; “Coastal Disturbances” by Tina Howe and Neil Simon’s “Broadway Bound.”

Best actor nominations went to James Earl Jones of “Fences,” Richard Kiley in “All My Sons,” Philip Bosco for “You Never Can Tell” and Alan Rickman, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses.”

Another heated contest will be the battle for best actor in a musical, with Robert Lindsay, the Cockney song-and-dance man in “Me and My Girl,” going against Colm Wilkinson of “Les Miserables.” Also nominated were Terrence Mann of “Les Miserables” and Roderick Cook, “Oh Coward!”

Best actress competitors include Linda Lavin for “Broadway Bound”; Lindsay Duncan, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”; Geraldine Page, “Blithe Spirit,” and Amanda Plummer, “Pygmalion.”

Only three actresses were nominated in the top musical category. Besides Miss Stratas, who starred in “Rags,” the nominees include Maryann Plunkett for “Me and My Girl” and Catherine Cox, “Oh Coward!” Winners will be announced June 7.

The complete list of nominations:

PLAY

“Broadway Bound,” Neil Simon; “Coastal Disturbances,” Tina Howe; “Fences,” August Wilson; “Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” Christopher Hampton.

MUSICAL

“Les Miserables,” “Me and My Girl,” “Rags,” “Starlight Express.”

REVIVAL

“All My Sons,” “The Front Page,” “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby,” “Pygmalion.”

ACTOR, PLAY

Philip Bosco, “You Never Can Tell”; James Earl Jones, “Fences”; Richard Kiley, “All My Sons”; Alan Rickman, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses.”

ACTRESS, PLAY

Lindsay Duncan, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”; Linda Lavin, “Broadway Bound”; Geraldine Page, “Blithe Spirit”; Amanda Plummer, “Pygmalion.”

ACTOR, MUSICAL

Roderick Cook, “Oh Coward!”; Robert Lindsay, “Me and My Girl”; Terrence Mann, “Les Miserables”; Colm Wilkinson, “Les Miserables.”

ACTRESS, MUSICAL

Catherine Cox, “Oh Coward!”; Maryann Plunkett, “Me and My Girl”; Teresa Stratas, “Rags.”

BOOK, MUSICAL

Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, “Les Miserables”; L. Arthur Rose, Douglas Furber, Stephen Fry and Mike Ockrent, “Me and My Girl”; Joseph Stein, “Rags”; Howard Ashman, “Smile.”

SCORE, MUSICAL

Claude-Michel Schonberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer, “Les Miserables”; Noel Gay, L. Arthur Rose, Douglas Furber, Stephen Fry and Mike Ockrent, “Me and My Girl”; Charles Strouse and Stephen Schwartz, “Rags”; Andrew Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe, “Starlight Express.”

DIRECTOR, PLAY

Howard Davies, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”; Mbongeni Ngema, “Asinamali!”; Lloyd Richards, “Fences”; Carole Rothman, “Coastal Disturbances.”

DIRECTOR, MUSICAL

Brian Macdonald, “The Mikado”; Trevor Nunn and John Caird, “Les Miserables”; Trevor Nunn, “Starlight Express”; Mike Ockrent, “Me and My Girl.”

FEATURED ACTOR, PLAY

Frankie R. Faison, “Fences”; John Randolph, “Broadway Bound”; Jamey Sheridan, “All My Sons”; Courtney B. Vance, “Fences.”

FEATURED ACTRESS, PLAY

Mary Alice, “Fences”; Annette Bening, “Coastal Disturbances”; Phyllis Newman, “Broadway Bound”; Carole Shelley, “Stepping Out.”

FEATURED ACTOR, MUSICAL

George S. Irving, “Me and My Girl”; Timothy Jerome, “Me and My Girl”; Michael Maguire, “Les Miserables”; Robert Torti, “Starlight Express.”

FEATURED ACTRESS, MUSICAL

Jane Connell, “Me and My Girl”; Judy Kuhn, “Les Miserables”; Frances Ruffelle, “Les Miserables”; Jane Summerhays, “Me and My Girl.”

SCENIC DESIGN

Bob Crowley, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”; Martin Johns, “Me and My Girl”; John Napier, “Les Miserables”; Tony Walton, “The Front Page.”

COSTUME DESIGN

Bob Crowley, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”; Ann Curtis, “Me and My Girl”; John Napier, “Starlight Express”; Andreane Neofitou, “Les Miserables.”

LIGHTING DESIGN

Martin Aronstein, “Wild Honey”; David Hersey, “Les Miserables”; David Hersey, “Starlight Express”; Chris Parry and Beverly Emmons, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses.”

CHOREOGRAPHY

Ron Field, “Rags”; Gillian Gregory, “Me and My Girl”; Brian Macdonald, “The Mikado”; Arlene Phillips, “Starlight Express.”

SPECIAL AWARDS

For continued excellence by a regional theater: San Francisco Mime Troupe.

Others: George Abbott and Jackie Mason.