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Over the course of 25 years, Scott Ellis has been nominated at the Tony Awards for directing nine times, but has never emerged victorious. This year, he earned three more bids for producing: Best Play for English, Best Musical Revival for Pirates! The Penzance Musical, and Best Play Revival for Yellow Face. The latter in particular is the current frontrunner in that category. If it prevails, it would mark Ellis' first Tony win after 12 nominations.

As of now, Ellis is among several notable individuals who have earned multiple Tony bids, but never won. Others include director-choreographer Graciela Daniele (10 noms; Lifetime Achievement Award recipient), lighting designer Paul Gallo (eight noms), orchestrator Harold Wheeler (seven noms; Lifetime Achievement Award recipient), and choreographer Onna White (eight noms).

Ellis' nine prior directing nominations were for the following:

1994 for She Loves Me; lost to Nicholas Hytner for Carousel 1997 for Steel Pier; lost to Walter Bobbie for...

Geffen Playhouse presents the world premiere adaptation of Key Largo, directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes Doubt, Farragut North and featuring Academy Award nominee Andy Garcia Mama Mia Here We Go Again, The Godfather Part III as Johnny Rocco. The Geffen Playhouse production is adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher and Andy Garcia, based on the play by Maxwell Anderson and the screenplay by Richard Brooks John Huston. Original music is composed by 10-time Grammy Award winner and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Arturo Sandoval.

UTA has signed screen and stage actor Steven Pasquale. Pasquale most recently starred in Lincoln Center's Broadway production of Junk, written by Ayad Akhtar and directed by Doug Hughes. He previously received Drama Desk and Drama League nominations for his performance in the Broadway musical adaptation of The Bridges of Madison County. Pasquale’s theater credits also include Stephen Sondheim's Assassins and Alex Timber's The Robber Bridegroom. In TV, Pasquale is best…...

Smash may be canceled, but Debra Messing will still be hanging out in the theater district. Come January, she’ll make her Broadway debut in the world premiere play Outside Mullingar, a romantic comedy from writer John Patrick Shanley and director Doug Hughes, the Tony-winning team behind Doubt. In the limited 11-week engagement, Messing will star opposite Brian F. O’Byrne, a Tony winner for Frozen whose four additional nominations include Doubt. They’ll play two introverted, eccentric neighbors in rural Ireland. He’s shy and prefers cattle to humans, and she’s determined to have him — even if his...

By Sam Negin

Theater Editor & Columnist

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A new Broadway season is about to begin and, with it, new life has been brought to my posts. After over 900 posts, 50 comments, over 325 Tony nominees and over 75 winners in the two-and-a-half years I blogged independently about the Tony Awards, I am proud to be joining the team at ScottFeinberg.com.

Without any further ado, I would like to begin with a look ahead at the Broadway shows that will be coming up this year. I have made this list as comprehensive as I could given what information is available but, as is often the case, there is much more data available right now about the fall season (September through the winter holidays) than the spring season (Christmas through the Tony Awards in June) on Broadway. I will update this post with more details as information becomes available.

The list of shows we expect to see this year,...