Aaron Sorkin, whose adaptation of the classic Lerner & Loewe musical Camelot opened on Broadway earlier this month, will be eligible for Tony consideration in the Best Book of a Musical category, the Tony administration committee ruled today.
The Camelot book was originally written by Alan Jay Lerner (Frederick Loewe composed the music) but Sorkin’s revisions for the new Lincoln Center Theater production were apparently substantial enough to merit consideration for a Tony Award.
Among other changes, Sorkin vastly revised the dialogue, changed the Morgan Le Fay character from a sorceress to a scientist, and generally did away with the supernatural elements prevalent in the original book. (Camelot was adapted by Lerner and Loewe from T.H. White’s 1958 novel The Once and Future King.)
The Tony committee’s decision was one of a number of rulings that came out of today’s third and final eligibility meeting. Tony nominations will be announced Tuesday, and the awards ceremony is set for Sunday, June 11.
Among its other rulings, the committee determined that both Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play category for their performances in Summer, 1976.
