Breaking: Tony Awards Committee Votes to Allow Up to Five Nominees in Major Categories

In a new move for the theater industry, the Tony Awards administration committee has voted to give nominators the option to expand the four major awards categories - musical, musical revival, play, and play revival - from four nominees, to five.

According to Variety, the committee met last month to okay the change for years moving forward, "if nine shows or more that season are eligible to be considered in a given category." Should the committee decide to go through with the category expansion for the 2014 awards, it would most likely be applied to the ever-growing 'Best Musical' category.

Twelve new musicals have, or will have, opened throughout the 2013-14 season prior to the April 24 eligibility cutoff for the Tonys. Roundabout's VIOLET with Sutton Foster and HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH with Neil Patrick Harris, as Variety suggests, could be classified as new musicals, as neither have previously been mounted on Broadway. In addition, LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL, confirmed to be starring Audra McDonald and classified as a 'musical play', also begins performances next month.

"The number of shows eligible for the Tony Awards, both in the new and revival categories, will now vary based on the number of productions that open each season," the producers of the Tony Awards said in a statement. "The Tony Award Administration Committee's new ruling allows the Nominating Committee the flexibility to acknowledge the best of each season's eligible shows."

The new expansion would also allow the committee to trim the categories to three nominees in a particularly dry season.

The Tony Awards most recently won four Primetime Emmy Awards at the 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards for the June 2012 broadcast of the 66th Annual Tony Awards. The four awards were: Outstanding Special Class Programs; Outstanding Music Direction; Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics; and Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special. To date, the Tony Awards has received 27 Primetime Emmy Awards and 70 nominations.

The 68th-Annual Tony Awards, presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing and hosted by Hugh Jackman, will air live on CBS on Sunday, June 8, 2014.