The musical based on the low-budget 2006 film about an unlikely romance between a Czech flower seller and an Irish street musician in Dublin earned a leading 11 nominations, including nods for best musical, for both its lead actors, its book, lighting, sound, choreography and its set, which offers the audience real drinks before the show in a replica pub.
"Once constantly surprises me. I think it's the power of the music and the storytelling that people connect with," said John Tiffany, who was nominated for best director of a musical.
Two other big winners were Disney and the Gershwin estate: Two musicals using George and Ira Gershwin songs — The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess and Nice Work If You Can Get It — each got 10 nominations.
And Peter and the Starcatcher earned nine nominations, while Disney's energetic song-and-dance musical Newsies got eight nods.
Christian Borle, the Smash star who was nominated for his hysterical performance as Black Stash in Peter and the Starcatcher, was preparing to go on with a big smile on his face. "It's been an amazing day. So, really, I could get hit by a bus right now and think it was a net gain."
Later this summer, Once, Nice Work If You Can Get It, and Newsies will compete for the title of best new musical with a surprise entry — Leap of Faith, which was ravaged by critics.
The autumn revival of Stephen Sondheim's Follies got eight nominations, setting up a face-off in the best revival category with The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, which Sondheim had criticised for messing with a classic.
Actual awards
The nominations, picked by 22 theatre professionals, were announced by Kristin Chenoweth and Jim Parsons. The actual awards will be broadcast on CBS from the Beacon Theatre on June 10. Neil Patrick Harris will be the host.
Broadway's most expensive show, the $75 million (Dh275 million) Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, got only two nominations, for best scenic design and costume.
Once, with songs by Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard, was originally a low-budget movie made for about $150,000. The film earned $20 million, thanks in part to an original score that included the sublime 2007 Oscar-winning song, Falling Slowly.
Once earned its stars, Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti, best actor nominations. It also earned nods for best scenic design, best book of a musical and Elizabeth A. Davis got a nomination for an actress in a featured role.
The best leading actor in a play Tony will pit James Corden from the British import One Man, Two Guvnors, Philip Seymour Hoffman from Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, James Earl Jones from Gore Vidal's The Best Man, Frank Langella from Man and Boy and John Lithgow of The Columnist.
"I expect to go out with the gang tonight, which I don't do very often because this play is so damned exhausting," Lithgow said, laughing. "And I intend to buy all the drinks. That's pretty unusual, too. I am a Scotsman, after all."
The battle in the female leading actress play category will be fierce, with competitors including Nina Arianda of Venus in Fur, Tracie Bennett of End of the Rainbow, Linda Lavin of The Lyons, Cynthia Nixon in Wit and Stockard Channing in Other Desert Cities .
Lavin, the Golden Globe- and Tony Award-winning actress who starred in the long-running TV sitcom Alice, was literally in the air when she learned of her nomination. She was flying back from her home in Wilmington, North Carolina, after seeing a play at her 50-seat Red Barn Studio Theatre.
"I don't think I've hit the ground yet," she said. "I'm sitting in my apartment, having a bowl of soup. It's been quite a whirlwind morning. I just hope I don't die from it. I'm feeling very, very heightened right now."
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