The 77th Annual Tony Award nominations seemed to have a One Life to Live theme this year as two Llanview residents got their chance to shine. Renee Elise Goldsberry helped announce the nominations along with fellow Broadway star Tyler Ferguson, as Jonathan Groff received a nomination for Best Lead Actor.
As OLTL fans know, Goldsberry brought Evangeline Williamson to life from 2003 to 2007. Groff didn't have quite as long a run on the soap, but he was certainly memorable as Henry Mackler, a member of the show's teen scene with Starr Manning (Kristen Alderson).
Groff is currently playing the starring role of Frank Shepard in the 2023 revival of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, co-starring Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez. The show debuted in September of 2023 and is slated to close in July of 2024 after its run was extended in September. This is Groff's third Tony nomination after previous nods for playing Melchior Gabor in Spring Awakening and King George in Hamilton.
During his time in Spring Awakening, Groff performed double duty at OLTL, getting very little sleep between his Broadway curtain call and his call time for the soap. In 2019, he recalled his first day at OLTL for Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest on their morning show.
"I do remember my first day because I was doing Spring Awakening on Broadway at the time, and One Life to Live was my first time ever being on TV," Groff explained. "So, I got this offer, and I was like, 'Yes, I would love to be in a soap opera,' and we finished Spring Awakening at 11:00 p.m., and I woke up the next morning at 4:00 a.m. to walk uptown to go to do One Life to Live, and I called my agent and left a message, and I said 'You have to get me out of this, I can't wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning.'"
Since then, Groff has certainly done more television, starring in the Netflix series Mindhunter. He was also the voice of Kristoff in Disney's Frozen movies.
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