Britain’s ‘Me and My Girl,’ ‘Les Miserables’ Top Tony List

“Me and My Girl,” and “Les Miserables,” two lavish British musicals, topped the list of 1987 Tony award nominations for Broadway’s best, the American Theater Wing announced today.

“Me and My Girl,” the story of a Cockney scamp who rises in society, picked up 13 nominations, while “Les Miserables,” a retelling of the Victor Hugo novel, captured 12.

Both shows were nominated for best musical, along with “Starlight Express,” another English extravaganza, and “Rags,” an American musical starring Teresa Stratas that ran only four performances.

Winners will be announced June 7 in ceremonies televised from the Mark Hellinger Theater.

“Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” Christopher Hampton’s play about sex and seduction in 18th-Century France, picked up seven nominations, including one for best play. It will compete for best play against “Fences,” winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize, “Coastal Disturbances” by Tina Howe and Neil Simon’s “Broadway Bound.”

Best actor nominations went to James Earl Jones of “Fences,” and to Richard Kiley (“All My Sons”), Philip Bosco (“You Never Can Tell”) and Alan Rickman (“Les Liaisons Dangereuses.”)

Another heated contest will be battle for actor in a musical, with Robert Lindsay, the Cockney song-and-dance man in “Me and My Girl,” going against Colm Wilkinson of “Les Miserables.” Also nominated were Terrence Mann of “Les Miserables” and Roderick Cook, “Oh Coward!”

The best actress competitors include Linda Lavin for “Broadway Bound,” Lindsay Duncan for “Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” Geraldine Page for “Blithe Spirit” and Amanda Plummer, “Pygmalion.”

Only three actresses were nominated in the top musical category. Besides Stratas, who starred in “Rags,” the nominees include Maryann Plunkett for “Me and My Girl” and Catherine Cox, “Oh Coward!”