Lively musical In The Heights will be the show to beat at next month's 62nd annual Tony Awards, while family drama August: Osage County leads the play nominees.

Deanna Dunagan is nominated for her turn as Violet Weston in August: Osage County, the leading play nominee for the upcoming Tony Awards. (Joan Marcus/Associated Press)

Past Tony winners Sara Ramirez and David Hyde Pierce on Tuesday morning revealed the contenders for the 26 categories in New York.

After snagging a Pulitzer Prize, Tracey Letts's August: Osage County has scored seven nominations for Broadway's top prize, including best play, recognition for director Anna D. Shapiro and for actors Deanna Dunagan (lead actress, play) and Rondi Reed (featured actress, play).

However, Letts's darkly comedic drama, which charts the lives of a dysfunctional extended family, faces competition for the best play title from Patrick Barlow's Hitchcock spoof The 39 Steps (six nominations), Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll and Conor McPherson's The Seafarer (four nominations each).

Other top drama contenders include Boeing-Boeing, Macbeth (both with six nominations) and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (with five). The trio will all vie for best play revival, as will The Homecoming (three nominations ).

Latino-focused musical leads Tony nominees

In The Heights, the vibrant musical that offered a peek into the Latino community living in the Washington Heights neighbourhood at the top of Manhattan island, scored a leading 13 nominations on Tuesday — including for best musical — beating out the lush revival of Rogers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, which netted 11 nods.

Lin-Manuel Miranda will vie for Tony for his performance in the musical In the Heights, which garnered a leading 13 nominations on Tuesday. (Joan Marcus/Barlow Hartman Public Relations/Associated Press)

Heights, which won acclaim off-Broadway last year before moving onto the Great White Way, is nominated for almost every musical category, including for its book, original score, director Thomas Kail, actors Lin-Manuel Miranda (lead actor, musical), Robin De Jesus (featured actor, musical) and Olga Merediz (featured actress, musical). It is also nominated in a host of technical categories.

Also up for best musical are Cry-Baby and Xanadu, two productions that got their start as movies (the raunchy, 1950s-era John Waters teen romance and the Olivia Newton John disco musical, respectively). Each received four Tony nominations in total.

Rounding out the best musical category is the semi-autobiographical rock tale Passing Strange, nominated in seven categories — with the show's creator and star Stew sharing in four nods.

Competing for best musical revival are Grease, Gypsy, South Pacific and Sunday in the Park with George.

The Chicago Shakespeare Theater will receive the annual Regional Theatre Tony Award, while special trophies will be presented to honour the lifetime achievements of award-winning musical theatre creator Stephen Sondheim and the late composer-arranger Robert Russell Bennett.

The Tony Awards gala, hosted by actress Whoopi Goldberg, will be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall on June 15.

The performance nominees are:

Lead actor, play:	Ben Daniels, Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood; Mark Rylance, Boeing-Boeing; Rufus Sewell, Rock 'n' Roll; Patrick Stewart, Macbeth.
Lead actress, play:	Eve Best, The Homecoming; Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County; Kate Fleetwood, Macbeth; S. Epatha Merkerson, Come Back, Little Sheba; Amy Morton, August: Osage County.
Lead actor, musical:	Daniel Evans, Sunday in the Park with George; Lin-Manuel Miranda, In The Heights; Stew, Passing Strange; Paulo Szot, Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific; Tom Wopat, A Catered Affair.
Lead actress, musical:	Kerry Butler, Xanadu; Patti LuPone, Gypsy; Kelli O’Hara, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific; Faith Prince, A Catered Affair; Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park with George.
Featured actor, play:	Bobby Cannavale, Mauritius; Raul Esparza, The Homecoming; Conleth Hill, The Seafarer; Jim Norton, The Seafarer; David Pittu, Is He Dead?
Featured actress, play:	Sinead Cusack, Rock 'n' Roll; Mary McCormack, Boeing-Boeing; Laurie Metcalf, November; Martha Plimpton, Top Girls; Rondi Reed, August: Osage County.
Featured actor, musical:	Daniel Breaker, Passing Strange; Danny Burstein, Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific; Robin De Jesus, In The Heights; Christopher Fitzgerald, Young Frankenstein; Boyd Gaines, Gypsy.
Featured actress, musical:	de'Adre Aziza, Passing Strange; Laura Benanti, Gypsy; Andrea Martin, Young Frankenstein; Olga Merediz, In The Heights; Loretta Ables Sayre, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific.