New York ? It was a “Wicked” day, with the lavish “Wizard of Oz” musical nominated for 10 Tony Awards, Broadway’s highest honor.

“Assassins,” the chilling Stephen Sondheim-John Weidman musical about presidential killers, followed with seven nominations Monday.

Two Pulitzer Prize winners squared off against each other for best play. Doug Wright’s “I Am My Own Wife,” which took the Pulitzer for drama this year, competes against “Anna in the Tropics,” the 2003 winner. Also nominated were “The Retreat From Moscow,” William Nicholson’s story of a crumbling marriage, and “Frozen,” Bryony Lavery’s harrowing tale of a child’s abduction and murder.

Besides “Wicked,” the other candidates for best musical: “Caroline, or Change,” a look at the relationship between a black maid and her white employer’s young son; “Avenue Q,” a saucy little puppet show filled with songs and sex; and “The Boy From Oz,” the Peter Allen musical biography starring Hugh Jackman as the Australian entertainer.

Jackman, who will serve as host for the Tony telecast June 6 on CBS, is a strong favorite in the actor-musical category where he will face Alfred Molina, “Fiddler on the Roof”; Hunter Foster, “Little Shop of Horrors”; Euan Morton, “Taboo”; and John Tartaglia, “Avenue Q.”

“Wicked,” a $14 million extravaganza about the witches of “Oz” before Dorothy arrives on the Yellow Brick Road, is the show to beat. The musical is the season’s biggest success, grossing more than $1 million each week.

Its leading ladies, Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, were both nominated, and the musical also picked up nominations for book, score, choreography, orchestrations, sets, costumes and lighting.

Competing against the “Wicked” witches for best actress in a musical are Donna Murphy for “Wonderful Town,” Tonya Pinkins for “Caroline, or Change” and Stephanie D’Abruzzo, who sings and acts the roles of several puppets in “Avenue Q.”

Kevin Kline and Christopher Plummer were nominated for their roles in two Shakespeare productions, “Henry IV” and “King Lear,” respectively. They face Simon Russell Beale, “Jumpers”; Frank Langella, “Match”; and Jefferson Mays, “I Am My Own Wife.”

Not surprisingly, missing from that strong lineup is Sean Combs, who made a highly publicized if critically dismissive Broadway debut in a revival of “A Raisin in the Sun,” Lorraine Hansberry’s landmark drama.

Yet the show — nominated for best revival-play along with “Henry IV,” “King Lear” and “Jumpers” — is doing exceptional business largely because of the superstar allure of Combs. The actor’s three female co-stars, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald and Sanaa Lathan, received nominations in either the leading or featured categories.

The 2003 Tony Award nominations

Idena Menzel as Elphaba, the wicked witch, flies with her broom over pursuers at the Gershwin Theatre in New York in this publicity photo from the musical Wicked. The musical earned a leading 10 nominations for Tony Awards on Monday.

Best play: “Anna in the Tropics,” “Frozen,” “I Am My Own Wife,” “The Retreat From Moscow.”

Best musical: “Avenue Q,” “The Boy From Oz,” “Caroline, or Change,” “Wicked.”

Best book of a musical: Winnie Holzman, “Wicked”; Tony Kushner, “Caroline, or Change”; book, Martin Sherman and original book, Nick Enright, “The Boy From Oz”; Jeff Whitty, “Avenue Q.”

Best original score (music and/or lyrics): “Taboo,” Boy George (music); “Avenue Q,” Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx (music); “Wicked,” Stephen Schwartz (music); “Caroline, or Change,” Jeanine Tesori (music), Tony Kushner (lyrics).

Best revival of a play: “Henry IV,” “Jumpers,” “King Lear,” “A Raisin in the Sun.”

Best revival of a musical: “Assassins,” “Big River,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Wonderful Town.”

Best performance by a leading actor in a play: Simon Russell Beale, “Jumpers”; Kevin Kline, “Henry IV”; Frank Langella, “Match”; Jefferson Mays, “I Am My Own Wife”; Christopher Plummer, “King Lear.”

Best performance by a leading actress in a play: Eileen Atkins, “The Retreat From Moscow”; Tovah Feldshuh, “Golda’s Balcony”; Anne Heche, “Twentieth Century”; Swoosie Kurtz, “Frozen”; Phylicia Rashad, “A Raisin in the Sun.”

Best performance by a leading actor in a musical: Hunter Foster, “Little Shop of Horrors,” Hugh Jackman, “The Boy From Oz,” Alfred Molina, “Fiddler on the Roof,” Euan Morton, “Taboo,” John Tartaglia, “Avenue Q.”

Best performance by a leading actor in a musical: Kristin Chenoweth, “Wicked”; Stephanie D’Abruzzo, “Avenue Q”; Idina Menzel, “Wicked”; Donna Murphy, “Wonderful Town”; Tonya Pinkins, “Caroline, or Change.”

Best performance by a featured actor in a play: Tom Aldredge, “Twentieth Century”; Ben Chaplin, “The Retreat From Moscow”; Aidan Gillen, “The Caretaker”; Omar Metwally, “Sixteen Wounded”; Br–an F. O’Byrne, “Frozen.”

Best performance by a featured actress in a play: Essie Davis, “Jumpers”; Sanaa Lathan, “A Raisin in the Sun”; Margo Martindale, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”; Audra McDonald, “A Raisin in the Sun”; Daphne Rubin-Vega, “Anna in the Tropics.”

Best performance by a featured actor in a musical: John Cariani, “Fiddler on the Roof”; Michael Cerveris, “Assassins”; Raðl Esparza, “Taboo”; Michael McElroy, “Big River”; Denis O’Hare, “Assassins.”

Best performance by a featured actress in a musical: Beth Fowler, “The Boy From Oz”; Isabel Keating, “The Boy From Oz”; Anika Noni Rose, “Caroline, or Change”; Jennifer Westfeldt, “Wonderful Town”; Karen Ziemba, “Never Gonna Dance.”

Best scenic design: Robert Brill, “Assassins”; Ralph Funicello, “Henry IV”; Eugene Lee, “Wicked”; Tom Pye, “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Best costume design: Jess Goldstein, “Henry IV”; Susan Hilferty, “Wicked”; Mike Nicholls and Bobby Pearce, “Taboo”; Mark Thompson, “Bombay Dreams.”

Best lighting design: Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, “Assassins”; Brian MacDevitt, “Fiddler on the Roof”; Brian MacDevitt, “Henry IV”; Kenneth Posner, “Wicked.”

Best direction of a play: Doug Hughes, “Frozen”; Moises Kaufman, “I Am My Own Wife”; David Leveaux, “Jumpers”; Jack O’Brien, “Henry IV.”

Best direction of a musical: Joe Mantello, “Assassins”; Kathleen Marshall, “Wonderful Town”; Jason Moore, “Avenue Q”; George C. Wolfe, “Caroline, or Change.”

Best choreography: Wayne Cilento, “Wicked”; Kathleen Marshall, “Wonderful Town”; Jerry Mitchell, “Never Gonna Dance”; Anthony Van Laast and Farah Khan, “Bombay Dreams.”

Best orchestrations: Paul Bogaev, “Bombay Dreams”; William David Brohn, “Wicked”; Larry Hochman, “Fiddler on the Roof”; Michael Starobin, “Assassins.”

Special Tony Award for lifetime achievement in the theater: James M. Nederlander.

Regional theater Tony Award: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.