Emersonians Get Tony Nominations for Best Musical
Three Emerson alumni were nominated for Tony Awards this week for producing Best Musical contenders.
Marylee Fairbanks ’88 is a producer for Schmigadoon!, and Bonnie Comley, MA ’94 for The Lost Boys, which tied for most nominations with 12 apiece. Nathan Gehan ’99 produced TitanĂque.
Additionally, Joe Hornberger III ’17, MA ’24, and Todd McNeel, MA ’21, were producers on Cats: The Jellicle Ball, up for Best Revival of a Musical.
Fairbanks is a producer/performer and co-host of the Stages podcast. She was a co-producer of The Outsiders, which won four Tonys in 2024. She performed in the first American company of Ragtime and sang with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the 2023 concert version of the show.
Comley is a three-time Tony winning producer, and recipient of multiple Olivier, Drama Desk, and Drama League awards for musicals, plays, and theatrical experiences. She is the founder and CEO of BroadwayHD, which streams hundreds of premium live productions to theater fans around the world.
ShowTown Theatricals CEO and founder Gehan is lead producer on Tony-winning A Christmas Carol, and a co-producer for Oh, Mary!, Job, and Into the Woods. Last fall, ShowTown partnered with Emerson to help coordinate the annual BFA Showcases, which give graduating Performing Arts majors the chance to be seen by casting directors, agents, managers, and producers in New York and Boston.
Hornberger founded production company Julie Drive Productions in 2025, producing Cats: The Jellicle Ball and the I Put a Spell on You benefit for the Ali Forney Center. A singer/actor, he most recently played Roger Davies in the National Tour of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.
McNeel is an award-winning marketer, strategist, and performer in opera and theater companies across the country. He is Associate Director of Marketing and Communications for The Theater Offensive in Boston, and teaches public speaking at Bunker Hill Community College.
The 79th Tony Awards will be held June 7, 2026.
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