What Are Some of the Key Races?

Best new play: This Tony Award seems certain to go to “The Lehman Trilogy,” a riveting history lesson that chronicles the rise and fall of the Lehman Brothers financial empire. Two dark comedies are also in the running: “Clyde’s,” by Lynn Nottage, is set in a sandwich shop employing recently incarcerated individuals; and “Hangmen,” by Martin McDonagh, takes place at a bar run by Britain’s second-best executioner just after that country banned capital punishment. The other contenders are “Skeleton Crew,” Dominique Morisseau’s play about a group of workers at an automotive plant facing shutdown, and “The Minutes,” Tracy Letts’s look at the dark secrets kept by a small-town governing body.

Best new musical: The season’s most nominated show, “A Strange Loop,” is favored to win the all-important race for best new musical. The show, a meta-musical about an aspiring composer confronting his doubts and demons, scored 11 Tony nominations. If there is an upset here, it will most likely come from “MJ,” the biographical jukebox musical that follows Michael Jackson as he prepares for a world tour. Also in the mix: “Paradise Square,” which explores shifting race relations — and dance styles — in a Civil War-rocked New York City neighborhood; “Six,” a British pop musical about the wives of King Henry VIII; “Girl From the North Country,” which uses the songs of Bob Dylan to imagine life in a Depression-era Minnesota boardinghouse; and “Mr. Saturday Night,” Billy Crystal’s adaptation of the film with the same name.

Acting races: A number of well-known performers also scored nominations, including Sam Rockwell (“American Buffalo”), Mary-Louise Parker (“How I Learned to Drive”), Billy Crystal “Mr. Saturday Night), Hugh Jackman (“The Music Man”), Uzo Aduba (“Clyde’s), Rachel Dratch (“POTUS”), Phylicia Rashad (“Skeleton Crew”), Ruth Negga (“Macbeth”) and Patti LuPone (“Company”).

The races for best leading musical performers are especially contentious. Voters appear to be evenly split between two young actors, Myles Frost, 22, and Jaquel Spivey, 23, each of whom is making his professional stage debut this season. Frost is nominated for his convincing depiction of a driven Michael Jackson in “MJ,” and Spivey is nominated for his soul-baring performance as the self-doubting protagonist in “A Strange Loop.”

In the race for lead actress in a musical, the voters seem to be torn between Sharon D Clarke, who played the pained but powerful maid at the heart of a revival of “Caroline, or Change,” and Joaquina Kalukango, who plays a determined tavern owner in the new musical “Paradise Square.”