Jonathan Groff 2 2019 (copy)

In this December 2019 file photo, Ronks native Jonathan Groff talks about his career after a Wednesday, Dec. 4, performance as Seymour in the off-Broadway "Little Shop of Horrors" at the Westside Theatre in New York. Groff was nominated for a 2020 Lucille Lortel Award for outstanding lead actor in a musical for his performance.

 MARY ELLEN WRIGHT | Staff

 

Jonathan Groff has been nominated for a 2020 Lucille Lortel Award for outstanding lead actor in a musical, for his work in last year's revival of "Little Shop of Horrors" off Broadway.

Groff, a stage, film and TV actor who grew up in Ronks, played the lead role of Seymour Krelborn in the show from October 2019 through mid-January of this year. Seymour is a hapless flower-shop worker who gains notoriety for cultivating a beautiful plant that also happens to require human blood to thrive.

The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize work in off-Broadway musicals and plays. The nominations were announced online Tuesday. "Little Shop of Horrors" earned three other nominations, including outstanding revival and outstanding featured actor and actress in a musical for Christian Borle and Ari Groover.

The 35th Lucille Lortel Awards will be presented in an online ceremony on May 3. 

"Sing Street," the new musical in which 17-year-old Max Bartos, of Lancaster, has been performing in off-Broadway — it's set to move to Broadway's Lyceum Theatre once theaters are allowed to reopen safely after the coronavirus threat — received one Lortel nomination: best featured actor in a musical for Gus Halper.

New York theaters are closed until at least June 7 by order of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

In addition to his two Tony Award-nominated performances in Broadway musicals — as Melchior Gabor in "Spring Awakening" and King George III in "Hamilton" — Groff has performed in several off-Broadway shows including "Hair." in 2011, he starred in "The Submission" at the Lucille Lortel Theater.

Groff has been cast in the "Matrix 4" film sequel, which has shut down production because of the COVID-19 threat.

Groff, a Conestoga Valley High School alumnus, has starred in Netflix's "Mindhunter" and HBO's "Looking," has voiced Kristoff in the animated Disney blockbusters "Frozen" and "Frozen II" and had a recurring role on Fox's "Glee." His previous film work includes roles in "The Conspirator," "Taking Woodstock" and "American Sniper."

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