SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical led the Tony Award nominations, tied with Mean Girls with 12 each. Steppenwolf director Tina Landau co-conceived and helms the Bikini Bottom action. Re-imaginings of Angels in America and Carousel had 11 nominations each, as did the new entry The Band’s Visit.

Best musical nominees are Frozen, Mean Girls, SpongeBob SquarePants, and The Band’s Visit, the story of an Egyptian police band arriving in Israel to play a concert and getting stranded in a remote village. Traditional Middle Eastern instruments are a key component of the music, composed by David Yazbek (The Fully Monty, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), who also wrote the lyrics.

With a book by Tina Fey, Mean Girls features music composed by Fey’s husband Jeff Richmond, with lyrics by Nell Benjamin. Frozen features music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the force behind Disney’s animated 2013 blockbuster film.

SpongeBob SquarePants features music and lyrics by, among others,  Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman, John Legend, Panic! at the Disco, They Might Be Giants and and Plain White T’s.

Nominees for best original score are Angels in America (Adrian Sutton), The Band’s Visit, Frozen, Mean Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants.

See the complete list of nominees.