‘Rent,’ ”Da Noise’ Top Tony Nominations

Two musicals with youthful casts productions that many observers hope will lure a new audience to Broadway Monday won the most nominations for the 1996 Tony Awards. The awards, covering achievement in the 1995-96 Broadway season, will be presented in a televised ceremony June 2.

“Rent,” a pop-rock opera about a group of young people in New York’s East Village, received 10 nominations, including two for its creator, Jonathan Larson, who died in January at the age of 35, just before the show opened. “Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk,” a loose survey of African-American experience expressed in tap dancing, received nine. Both shows debuted OffBroadway and moved to Broadway late in the season.

The two were among four nominees as the season’s best musical. The others, both surprises, were “Chronicle of a Death Foretold,” a dance drama that had a brief run last summer, and “Swinging on a Star,” a long-closed revue of songs with lyrics by Johnny Burke.

The best-musical nominations were a major blow to two lavish, traditional shows still running - “Victor/Victoria,” an adaptation of the 1982 film about a female cabaret singer who becomes the toast of Paris disguised as a man, and “Big,” a musical remake of the 1988 movie about a child who gets his wish when he yearns to be a grown-up. “Victor/Victoria” garnered only one nomination - for its star, Julie Andrews. “Big” was nominated in five categories.

Receiving the most nominations among nonmusical plays was August Wilson’s “Seven Guitars,” with eight. The comedy-drama about a group of African Americans in 1948 Pittsburgh was a best-play nominee along with Sam Shepard’s “Buried Child,” Terrence McNally’s “Master Class” (which premiered last season in a production by the Philadelphia Theatre Company) and David Hare’s “Racing Demon.”

All the straight-play nominees except “Racing Demon” are still running. “Buried Child,” which debuted Off-Broadway in 1978 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, was deemed eligible as a “new” play because it had never been performed on Broadway.

Joining Andrews as nominees for best leading actress in a musical were Crista Moore in “Big,” Donna Murphy in a revival of “The King and I,” and Daphne Rubin-Vega in “Rent.” Named to compete as best leading actress in a play were Carol Burnett in “Moon Over Buffalo,” Zoe Caldwell in “Master Class,” and Rosemary Harris and Elaine Stritch in a revival of Edward Albee’s “A Delicate Balance.”

Nominees for best leading actor in a musical are Savion Glover in “Funk” (he also was nominated as best choreographer); Nathan Lane in a revival of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” Adam Pascal in “Rent” and Lou Diamond Phillips in “The King and I.” Nominations for best leading actor in a play went to Philip Bosco for “Moon over Buffalo,” George Grizzard in “A Delicate Balance,” George C. Scott in “Inherit the Wind” and Martin Shaw in “An Ideal Husband.”