Bruce Springsteen To Receive Honorary Tony Award, Flaming Lips Among Artists Nominated For Spongebob Score

Bruce Springsteen To Receive Honorary Tony Award, Flaming Lips Among Artists Nominated For Spongebob Score

Bruce Springsteen has already extended the run of his Springsteen On Broadway show twice now. There’s a good chance that he’ll never leave Broadway. And now Broadway is rewarding his commitment by giving him an honorary Tony award.

The New York Times reports that even though Springsteen didn’t submit himself for competitive award consideration — he didn’t even invite Tony voters to see his show — he’s still getting an award anyway. Granted, the award makes it more likely that Springsteen will show up or even perform at the Tony Awards, which would be a huge boost for ratings. Previous recipients of special Tonys have included Bette Midler, Lena Horne, John Cameron Mitchell, and Dame Edna.

Meanwhile, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical and Mean Girls lead the competitive nominations with 12 nods each. The Flaming Lips, T.I., They Might Be Giants, Steven Tyler & Joe Perry of Aerosmith, John Legend, Panic! At The Disco, Yolanda Adams, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper & Rob Hyman, Plain White T’s, and Domani & Lil’C are all nominated for Best Original Score (Music And/Or Lyrics) for their contributions to SpongeBob. In addition, Brian Tyree Henry (aka Paper Boi in Atlanta) and Michael Cera are both up for Best Performance by An Actor In A Featured Role In A Play for their work in the Kenneth Lonergan play Lobby Hero.

The 72nd annual Tonys ceremony will air 6/10 on CBS.