Fountains of Wayne's Schlesinger Gets Tony Nod

After four-and-a-half years of work, Fountains of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger was nominated for two Tonys for his involvement with Broadway's 'Cry-Baby: The Musical.'

"It's very exciting and also very surprising," Schlesinger tells Spinner. "We were a bit of a dark horse so everybody involved with the show is really excited about it. It's a great honor and it's very exciting."

He was nominated for Best Original Score and Best Musical with collaborator David Javerbaum, executive producer of 'The Daily Show.' This marks the first time Schlesinger has scored for Broadway. He received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for the title song to the Tom Hanks' film 'That Thing You Do,' and Fountains of Wayne was nominated for two Grammy Awards. He said writing for a musical is similar to the work he did with 'That Thing You Do.'

"The biggest difference is Broadway is very collaborative," Schlesinger says. "It's really about everyone working together. Even if you write something that you think is great, you may have to change it because [the choreography may change]. It's a constant push and pull between all the different departments."

Currently, Schlesinger is writing songs for the next Fountains of Wayne and Ivy albums, and hard at work producing the new Dashboard Confessional album, due out in the fall.

"It's amazing," Schlesinger says of Dashboard Confessional's album. "It sounds like Dashboard Confessional, but it's a bit poppier. It's a very loose record. [Frontman] Chris Carrabba said he had spent over a year on his last record. For this record we tried to just work fast and have fun. We had a great time. I think it shows in the music."