WATCH: Highlights from this year's Tony Award nominees

The nominees for the 2013 Tony Awards were announced this morning, highlighting the year's most impressive Broadway theatrical productions. This year's list of nominees include everything from musicals based on Roald Dahl's 1988 novel Matilda and 2000's cinematic cheerleading hit Bring It On; famous actors, including Tom Hanks and David Hyde Pierce; and well-known writers, such as Cyndi Lauper and the late Nora Ephron. (Read a full list of nominees at the Tony Awards website.) Of course, most people won't make it to Broadway before the Tony Awards air on June 9. So here, watch highlights from this year's nominees for Best Musical and Best Play:

BEST MUSICAL

Bring It On: The Musical

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This musical, which was inspired by the popular 2000 movie of the same name, follows rival high school cheerleading squads as they compete to come out on top before they graduate.

A Christmas Story, The Musical

Drawing inspiration from the 1983 Christmas classic, this musical follows 11-year-old Ralphie Parker over an eventful Christmas packed with leg lamps, bunny pajamas, and more as he attempts to secure the only thing he wants in life: An Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle.

Kinky Boots

This based-on-a-true-story musical, which comes on the heels of 2005 British film of the same name, follows the owner of a struggling shoe factory who decides to make ends meet by teaming up with a local drag queen to manufacture "kinky boots": The tall stilettos favored by many drag performers. The play's music and lyrics were written "Time After Time" singer Cyndi Lauper.

Matilda The Musical

This play, adapted directly from Roald Dahl's 1988 children's novel of the same name, follows a young child prodigy with unusual powers as she squares off against a cruel, abusive headmistress.

BEST PLAY

The Assembled Parties, by Richard Greenberg

Previous Tony winner Richard Greenberg's dramedy tracks an Upper West Side Jewish family over two holiday evenings, set 20 years apart, in an attempt to show how families and relationships change with the passage of time.

Lucky Guy, by Nora Ephron

This final play by the late Nora Ephron tells the real-life story of Mike McAlary (Tom Hanks), a crusading tabloid journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for his exposure of New York Police Department corruption before he died of cancer in 1998. The play also features actors Maura Tierney and Peter Scolari.

The Testament of Mary, by Colm Tolbin

Fiona Shaw plays Mary, the mother of Jesus, in this quiet drama based on the novella of the same name by acclaimed Irish author Colm Tolbin. In the years following Jesus' crucifixion, his disciples visit Mary, who does not believe that her son was the son of God.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, by Christopher Durang

Christopher Durang's absurdist comedy centers on two cohabiting step-siblings (David Hyde Pierce and Kristine Neilsen) who are surprised by the sudden appearance of their famous Hollywood starlet sister (Sigourney Weaver) and her hunky new boyfriend (Billy Magnusson). Hijinks ensue.