The nominations were announced this morning, and here are the four shows with a shot at the fat trophy this year:

Cry Baby
In The Heights
Passing Strange
Xanadu

Ok, ok, so in my prediction, I knew I was hanging out on a limb by choosing YF over Xanadu, but the shock of this set is Cry Baby getting a big nod over YF and A Catered Affair.  I can’t help but think that Brooks backlash had a big part in the YF snub, but the ignoring of A Catered Affair (in so many categories) will be the talk of Joe Allen’s for days to come.

Unfortunately, the nominators fooled all of you as well.  Only one of you chose Cry Baby as a nominee (Kudos, Catherine bdg), and most of you chose Affair.

But since it was such an odd year, I’m going to get everyone that took a shot at the nominees the Starbucks card anyway.  So check your email and have a couple of frappuccinos on me.

Here’s some insider Tony nomination trivia:  The Edison Cafe (aka The Polish Tea Room), which has been the preferred diner of Broadway muckety-mucks for decades (and was featured in the Neil Simon Play 45 Seconds From Broadway), becomes a conference room at 1 PM on the day before the nominations.  The cafe closes up, they black out the windows, and the nominators meet there to make history . . . probably over matzoh ball soup.

Love to hear your thoughts on all of the nominations, so let the commenting begin!