Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill earns a leading 15 Tony Award nominations

The sobering musical Jagged Little Pill,which plumbs Alanis Morissette's 1995 breakthrough album to tell a story of an American family spiraling out of control, earned a leading 15 Tony Award nominations Thursday, as the Broadway community took the first steps to celebrate a pandemic-shortened season that upended the theatreworld.

There are three best musical nominees: Jagged Little Pill, Moulin Rouge!The Musical!and TinaThe Tina Turner Musical.And there are five best play nominees: Grand Horizons, The Inheritance, Sea Wall/A Life, Slave Playand The Sound Inside.

The Ottawa-born Morissette and Glen Ballard did the music forJagged Little Pill,which opened on Broadway last December.

David Mirvish of Toronto's Mirvish Productions is among theproducers listed in the best-musical nominations for both JaggedLittle Pilland Tina -- The Tina Turner Musical.And Montreal-raised Adam Blanshay is among the producers listedin the best-musical nomination for Moulin Rouge!The Musical!

The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez nabbed 11 nominations. It's a two-part, seven-hour epic that uses Howards End as a starting point for a play that looks at gay life in the early 21st century.

In a statement, the playwright mourned the fact that the pandemic has left people without a vital resource to gather together and examine themselves and the nation.

"Theatre, at its best, helps call us to those better instincts of our nature. I look forward to the day we can all return safely, joyfully to those sacred spaces and to tell each other stories of our lives and of our nation," Lopez said.

'Not the year any of usimagined'

Nipping on the heels of Jagged Little Pillfor overall numbers of nominations is Moulin Rouge!,a jukebox adaptation of Baz Luhrmann's hyperactive 2001 movie about the goings-on in a turn-of-the-century Parisian nightclub, that got 14 nods.

"It's definitely bittersweet," said Carmen Pavlovic, a lead producer of Moulin Rouge! "It's obviously not the year any of us imagined. At the same time I feel honoured to have the opportunity to be part of such a history-making momentI think we will all remember this year for many decades to come."

"I really just feel pleased to be standing with the rest of the Broadway community at this moment and to have a moment to come together and celebrate the work and just remind ourselves of everything it is we're fighting for and fighting to get back to," Pavlovic added.

Two very different offerings are tied with 12: Slave Play,Jeremy O. Harris' ground-breaking, bracing work that mixes race, sex, taboo desires and class, exploring the legacy of slavery in interracial sexual dynamics, and TinaThe Tina Turner Musical,which tells the rock icon's life with songs that include Let's Stay Togetherand Proud Mary.

Broadway closed March 12 due to pandemic

Broadway theatres abruptly closed on March 12, knocking out all showsincluding 16 that were still scheduled to open in the spring. The cutoff for eligibility for all shows was set at Feb. 19.

The nominations were pulled from just 18 eligible plays andmusicals, a fraction of the 34 shows the season before. During mostyears, there are 26 competitive categories; this year there are 25with several depleted ones.

The category for best performance by an actor in a leading rolein a musical had just one actorAaron Tveit from Moulin Rouge!One categorybest musical revivalhad no eligible shows at alland was cut.

In another sign of a strange season, the best score categoryanhonour for the music and lyrics that is usually dominated bymusicalsis filled this year with five plays.

In the performance categories, Adrienne Warren got a best leadingactress in a musical nomination for inhabiting the lead character inTinaThe Tina Turner Musical. She is joined by ElizabethStanley for playing a woman battling addiction in Jagged LittlePilland Karen Olivo for bringing down the house with Katy Perry'sFireworkin Moulin Rouge! The Musical!

In the best actress in a drama category, Mary-Louise Parker won anod with The Sound Insideand is joined by Laura Linney, who islooking for her first Tony win with the solo show My Name Is LucyBarton,and Joaquina Kalukango, who gave a wrenching performancein Slave Play.Six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald wasn't denieda spot because her revival of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair deLuneclosed early.

Some Hollywood actors got to celebrate Thursday, with BlairUnderwood, David Alan Grier, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Hiddleston and TomSturridge all getting nominations. Broadway mainstays like DannyBurstein and John Benjamin Hickey also were recognized.

The nominations came from 10 new plays, four new musicals and four play revivals. Two high profile showsFreestyle Love Supremeand David Byrne's American Utopiadid not accommodate Tony voters and weren't eligible.

The 2020 Tony Awards ceremony will be broadcast digitally and take place later this year, at a date still to be announced. It's one of few bright spots for theatrefansBroadway will be shut down until at least May 30.

"Theatrewill survive," said James Monroe Iglehart, the nominations host,during Thursday's announcement.