'Billy Elliot' lads not alone in sharing Tony noms

The three lads who opened the British musical hit on Broadway — David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish — were nominated Tuesday for the best actor-musical prize.

Nominations have been shared in the past by Donal Donnelly and Patrick Bedford for "Philadelphia, Here I Come!" in 1966; John Kani and Winston Ntshona for the double bill of "Sizwe Banzi Is Dead" and "The Island" in 1975; and Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner for "Side Show" in 1998.

Kani and Ntshona took home the actor-play prize.

The oddest shared Tony nomination happened in 1960. It went to Laurie Peters and the six other young actors who played the von Trapp children in the original production of "The Sound of Music." The nomination was in the featured actress-musical category even though two of those nominated were boys.

They all lost — to Patricia Neway who portrayed the Mother Abbess in the musical.