When this year's Tony Awards nominations were announced on Tuesday morning, many high-profile productions were surprisingly left out. Among the most striking omissions was the play "Proof," directed by Thomas Kail, the director of Hamilton, featuring Don Cheadle and Ayo Edebiri in the lead roles, which was completely excluded from the 2026 Tony Awards nominations. While the play received mixed to positive reviews, its snubbing came as a surprise for this best-selling production. The play was the first project to be named by Barack and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground. Kara Young, who starred in the play, was also expected to receive her fifth consecutive Tony nomination, which would have broken her own historical record.

Another major surprise was Lea Michele's failure to receive a Tony nomination for her role in the musical Chess. While the nomination wasn't guaranteed, industry insiders believed this could be Michele's year, as she had previously received acclaim for her Broadway role in Funny Girl, but was ineligible for a Tony Award since she replaced Beanie Feldstein. Michele's fellow cast members in Chess, Bryce Pinkham, Nicholas Christopher, and Hannah Cruz, all received nominations.

Beaches, The Musical was also completely left out of the Tony nominations, indicating a situation that could lead to the show's imminent closure. Although Jessica Vosk and Kelli Barrett received positive reviews for their performances, the show failed to connect with critics and audiences; it was playing at a 64% occupancy rate last week.

The Fear of 13 received a nomination for sound and lighting design but was not nominated for the significant Best Play award, and lead actors Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson also did not receive nominations. This was somewhat surprising as two-time Oscar winner Brody had won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in the play's West End production in 2024, but the production had not fared well with critics in America either.

The star-studded Dog Day Afternoon did not receive nominations for lead actors Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, but was nominated in the categories of set design, costume, and lighting design. This play received mixed reviews, especially when compared to the film it was based on. Among the positive surprises, Layton Williams, who played the glacier character in Titaníque, received a Tony nomination. Williams had won the 2025 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for this role, delivering a performance as the "Iceberg Girl" that transformed into a Tina Turner-style glacier, seeking revenge on the ship and forcing passengers into a survival competition reminiscent of RuPaul's Drag Race.