This Year's Tony Nominees Are Celebrating All Your Favorite Childhood Shows & Movies

On Tuesday morning, the 2018 Tony Awards' nominations came out, and the leading nominees all happen to be based on the shows, movies, and books that ruled our childhoods. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child scored 10 nominations, and Mean Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical also came out on top, with 12 Tony nominations each. You'll definitely want to tune into the 2018 Tonys because all of your childhood faves will get recognized as the best Broadway plays — even if you don't know them as plays in the first place. While Mean Girls and SpongeBob both got nominated for Best Musical, according to People, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is up for Best Play.

Taylor Louderman who plays Regina George in Broadway's Mean Girls is nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, and Ethan Slater, who plays SpongeBob in SpongeBob SquarePants earned the nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. Harry Potter, Mean Girls, and SpongeBob also each got nominations for their scenic designs, their costume designs, their lighting designs, their directors' work, and more.

The nominees aren't all strictly Broadway stars, though, either. Tina Fey, who wrote and starred in the movie Mean Girls, got a Tony nomination for writing the book of the musical version, USA Today reported. Fey's husband, Jeff Richmond also got a Tony nomination for writing Mean Girls: The Musical's music, and the two released a joint statement to Deadline. Fey and Richmond said,

"We are honestly too excited and too proud of our ensemble to make a joke about this. We are are so grateful to be embraced by the Broadway community in this way and that we get to work together twenty-five hours a day with the same amount of excitement as our young cast. This is new for all of us.”

While Mean Girls' original writer also wrote the book for the Broadway musical version of it, Broadway's Harry Potter and the Cursed Child didn't have its original author for the script. Jack Thorne wrote The Cursed Child's script for Broadway, but it still uses Rowling's familiar characters that you probably grew up with. Not only that, but Rowling developed the play's story, along with Thorne and John Tiffany — the show's director, according to the New York Times. The play originally ran in London appropriately, and on April 22, it opened in New York.

According to the Times, The Cursed Child lasts a little over five hours, which is probably fine for every Potter Head out there, who would gladly dedicate even more time to watching their favorite wizarding world come to life before their eyes — literally. It's basically an extension to the Harry Potter series, as it picks up during the seventh book's epilogue when Harry and Ginny Potter go to King's Cross to drop off their son on the Hogwarts Express.

“I think we knew pretty quickly that the play would center around Albus,” Rowling told the Times. She continued, “[I've] been interested in Albus Severus. He was the one I thought about. Imagine going to Hogwarts with those two names — which of course I gave him!”

As for SpongeBob's musical story, it's not exactly like the episode of SpongeBob the show, because all of the characters look like humans, and it's about SpongeBob attempting to save the day after a volcano threatens to destroy Bikini Bottom. Even if you don't see a dancing sponge on stage, the best characters from the childhood classic play a part of SpongeBob's heroic journey. Patrick (Danny Skinner), Squidward (Gavin Lee), Sandy Cheeks (Lilli Cooper), and Mr. Krabs (Carlos Lopez) each appear in the Broadway version of the beloved show — so how could it not sweep the Tonys?

As if that's not enough, the SpongeBob soundtrack includes an impressive guest list of the likes of Flaming Lips, T.I., John Legend, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Panic! at the Disco, They Might Be Giants, and more, Pitchfork reported.

For everyone who grew up loving SpongeBob, Mean Girls, and Harry Potter, the Tonys might end up becoming the most important awards show of the year. And if nothing else, it's a reason to return to your middle school musical theater phase because Broadway is killing it right now.