From indieWire:
The 2011 65th Annual Tony Awards celebration (essentially the stage equivalent of the Oscars - theater's highest honor) airs tonight at 8PM EST on CBS.
This year's list of potentials has a decent representation of African American talent, some who just might actually walk away with hardware before the night ends.
In the Best Performance by a Lead Actress in a Musical category, Patina Miller is nominated; Chris Rock's The Motherf**ker with the Hat is nominated for Best Play; The Book of Mormon, the musical that centers on two young Mormon missionaries who are sent off to spread the word in Uganda, which features a significant black cast, the controversial The Scottsboro Boys, and finally Sister Act are all nominated in the Best Musical category; Joshua Henry is nominated in the Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance in The Scottsboro Boys (I should note that the musical earned a total of 12 nominations - including 2 in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for Colman Domingo and Forrest McClendon - which some may say makes up for its short run, given that its controversial subject matter turned away audiences).
Read more here.