Suburban natives among those nominated for 2010 Tony Awards

Suburban natives figured among the nominees when this year's Tony Award nominations were announced early today in New York City.

Glen Ellyn native Sean Hayes received a nomination for lead actor in a musical for his performance as Chuck, an up-and-coming young executive who lets his superiors use his apartment for their extramarital trysts in the revival of "Promises, Promises."

Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member and Waukegan native Jon Michael Hill received a nomination for featured actor in a play for his role in "Superior Donuts." Tracy Letts' 2008 drama that premiered at Steppenwolf and transferred to Broadway the following year.

Levi Kreis, who earned a 2009 Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for his uncanny performance as Jerry Lee Lewis in "Million Dollar Quartet," received a nomination as featured actor in a musical. A rousing jukebox show about the 1956 Sun Studio jam session involving Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Lewis, "Million Dollar Quartet" ran here for more than a year before Kreis and fellow musician-actors Eddie Clendening, Lance Guest and Rob Lyons decamped to Broadway earlier this year.

"Million Dollar Quartet" also earned nominations in the best musical and best book categories.

"The Addams Family," the big budget, tepidly received musical that previewed in Chicago last year and opened in New York last month, received just two Tony Award nominations for Kevin Chamberlain's Uncle Fester and for composer lyricist Andrew Lippa's original score.

The costumes Santo Loquasto designed for the Kennedy Center's 2009 production of "Ragtime" earned him a nomination. Those costumes can be seen onstage through May 23 in Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre's stellar revival directed by Rachel Rockwell.

Wilmette native Sarah Ruhl's "In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play" received three nominations for best play, featured actress and costume design.

The award ceremony will have plenty of star power with Hollywood mainstays Denzel Washington, Jude Law, Scarlett Johansson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kelsey Grammer and Christopher Walken among the nominees.

By the numbers, the musicals "Fela!" and "La Cage Aux Folles" tied for most nominations with 11 each. The revival of August Wilson's "Fences" starring Denzel Washington led the nominations in the play category with 10. "American Idiot," adapted from the Green Day album with book and music by Billie Joe Armstrong (the latest punk/rock/pop songwriter to migrate to Broadway), received nominations for musical, set and lighting design.

The Tony Awards will be broadcast June 13 on CBS.