While Broadway has the Tonys to honor excellence in the theater, the best of off-Broadway is celebrated with the Lucille Lortel Awards. Nominations for the 23rd annual edition of these kudos were announced Monday and mark the beginning of a busy awards season in Gotham.

Last year, "Spring Awakening," which went on to win the Tony for best musical, led with six nods. This year "The Adding Machine," tallied up half a dozen nominations, including best musical, actor and director. It's an adaptation of Elmer Rice's 1923 breakthrough play (considered to be the first American Expressionist stage drama) about an accountant who murders his boss when he's replaced on the job by a newfangled machine.

It scored twice the number of bids as the popular Broadway transfer "Passing Strange," a fanciful retelling of indie musician Stew's early years, which had to settle for three noms: best director, musical and lighting design.

Manhattan Theater Club's acclaimed production of David Harrower's "Blackbird" last spring was remembered fondly with four noms, including best play. Star Jeff Daniels, who played the predatory, student-chasing professor, got a nod. He is one of the few well-known names in the running this year, with past Oscar nominees Lynn Redgrave ("Grace") and Mare Winningham ("10 Million Miles") being the others.