Irish and Irish American stars received nods when the 73 Tony Award nominations were announced on Tuesday

First among the nominated productions was the Broadway smash hit play The Ferryman, which leads in the top category for nominated plays.

The Ferryman picked up nods for best play, best actor in a play and best actress in a play for its stars Paddy Considine and Laura Donnelly, with Fionnula Flanagan also picking up a nomination for best-featured actress in the show.

The Ferryman is playwright Jez Butterworth's drama set in Northern Ireland in 1981 that centers on a farmer who, although previously a member of the Irish Republican Army, now wants to leave his past behind him.

The Ferryman picked up nine nominations but it's the extraordinary new musical Hadestown (featuring Irish American star Reeve Carney) that picked up the most Tony nods in total this year, with an impressive fourteen overall.

Read more: Hadestown - a hell of a new Broadway musical

The new musical is an inspired adaptation of a 2010 folk opera that retells one of Greek mythology's most famous tales. Carney plays the poet and musician Orpheus, who descends into the underworld to retrieve his departed wife, with tragic results.

Meanwhile gifted Irish American Broadway star Kelli O'Hara has picked up a best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical nod for her acclaimed turn in the revival of the Cole Porter's classic Kiss Me, Kate.

O'Hara's great-grandfather, Peter O’Hara, was born in County Clare in the 19 century and came to America looking for a better life. They eventually settled in rural Oklahoma and that's where O'Hara grew up, still deeply connected to her ancestry.

Meanwhile, the Irish American actress Celia Keenan-Bolger picked up a best performance by an actress in a featured role for her unforgettable performance in To Kill a Mockingbird. At 41 Keenan-Bolger is already a Broadway veteran.

She has already received a Drama Desk Award nomination as well as an Outer Critics Circle Award and Drama League Award nomination for her role in the play.

The Tony Awards, hosted by James Corden, will be broadcast live from the Radio City Music Hall on CBS on Sunday, June 9.

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