NEW YORK — "In the Heights," a little barrio musical that brought a fresh salsa and hip-hop beat to Broadway, dominated the 2008 Tony Award nominations yesterday, picking up 13, more than any other show.

In the best-musical category, "Heights" will compete against high-spirited shows such as "Passing Strange," "Cry-Baby" and "Xanadu."

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the star and composer of "Heights," received two nominations (actor in a musical and score) for the slice of life look at the Latino residents of Upper Manhattan.

"It's so much fun just doing the show — eight times a week," Miranda said. "I'm doing what I love every day. So this is all just icing, gravy, whatever you put on the cake."

Yet Stew, author and star of "Passing Strange," the story of one man's journey through sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, did Miranda two better. He received four nominations for the same show — actor, score, book and orchestrations of a musical.

"I would have been happy with whatever they gave us, because this whole experience has been so unprecedented for us as rock musicians," said Stew, who is making his Broadway debut in "Passing Strange."

Tradition was served by the revival of "South Pacific." The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic received 11 nominations — including one for musical revival, where its competition is "Gypsy," "Sunday in the Park With George" and "Grease."

"August: Osage County," already a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, received a best-play nomination — and six others. The play about a dysfunctional Oklahoma family faces "The 39 Steps," a spoof of the Alfred Hitchcock film; "The Seafarer," a yuletide tale of a devilish poker game; and Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll," a look at recent Czech history interspersed with a cavalcade of pop music.

There were a few starry names in the acting categories, most notably Patrick Stewart, Laurence Fishburne and S. Epatha Merkerson.

Said Fishburne, now playing Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in the one-man show "Thurgood": "I am totally, completely shocked and amazed by all of this. More than that, I am grateful and truly blessed that every night I get to play one of the most compelling and extraordinary men from the 20th century."

His competition for best actor in a play: Ben Daniels, a scheming nobleman in "Les Liaisons Dangereuses"; Mark Rylance, a visitor to Paris in "Boeing-Boeing"; and Rufus Sewell, an accidental Czech dissident in "Rock 'n' Roll."

Merkerson faces Eve Best, the provocative wife in "The Homecoming"; Kate Fleetwood, Stewart's bloody helpmate in "Macbeth"; and Deanna Dunagan and Amy Morton, who play a combative mother and daughter in "August: Osage County."

Patti LuPone as a stage mother in "Gypsy" is up for the best-actress-in-a-musical prize, as are Kelli O'Hara, as the sunny Nellie Forbush of "South Pacific"; Faith Prince, as the unhappily married mother in "A Catered Affair"; Jenna Russell, as the artist's lover in "Sunday in the Park With George"; and Kerry Butler, as a roller-skating Greek muse in "Xanadu."

A lifetime achievement Tony will go to Stephen Sondheim.

The awards will be televised June 15 on CBS.