The 51st Annual Tony Awards was broadcast by CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 from Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...

 on June 1, 1997; "Launching the Tonys" was telecast on PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 television . The event was hosted by Rosie O'Donnell

Rosie O'Donnell

Roseann "Rosie" O'Donnell is an American stand-up comedian, actress, author and television personality. She has also been a magazine editor and continues to be a celebrity blogger, LGBT rights activist, television producer and collaborative partner in the LGBT family vacation company R Family...

. The awards ceremony moved away from Broadway for the first time in 30 years, to Radio City Music Hall, which allowed members of the general public to attend the ceremony.

The opening number: "On Broadway" - Rosie O'Donnell; "Rent" - cast of Rent

Rent (musical)

Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème...

; "Jellicle Cats" - cast of Cats

Cats (musical)

Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...

; "I'm A Woman" - female cast of Smokey Joe's Cafe

Smokey Joe's Cafe

Smokey Joe's Cafe is a musical revue showcasing 39 pop standards, including rock and roll, rhythm and blues songs written by songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller...

, "Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk" - cast of Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk; "Greased Lightnin'" - Rosie O'Donnell and cast of Grease

Grease (musical)

Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...

; "Be Our Guest" - cast of Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast (musical)

Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, based on the 1991 Disney film of the same name. Seven new songs were written for the stage musical...

.

Presenters: Julie Andrews, Lauren Bacall, Alec Baldwin, Christine Baranski, Dixie Carter, Savion Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Joel Grey, Marilu Henner, Hal Holbrook, Swoosie Kurtz, Liza Minnelli, Mary Tyler Moore, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Roseanne, Susan Sarandon, Jimmy Smits, Marisa Tomei, Rip Torn, Leslie Ann Warren, Raquel Welch.

Musicals represented:

Steel Pier

Steel Pier (musical)

Steel Pier is a musical written by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb from the original book by David Thompson.-Productions:Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, it opened on Broadway on April 24, 1997 and closed on June 28, 1997, running for 76 performances...

 — "Everybody Dance" - Karen Ziemba, Gregory Harrison and Company;

The Life

The Life (musical)

The Life is a musical with a book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman, music by Coleman, and lyrics by Gasman.Based on an original idea by Gasman, the show explores the underbelly of Times Square's 42nd Street, inhabited by pimps and prostitutes, druggies and dealers, and runaways and street...

 — "My Body" - Sam Harris, Lillias White and Company;

Annie

Annie (musical)

Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...

 — "Tomorrow" - Brittny Kissinger;

Candide

Candide (operetta)

Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. The operetta was first performed in 1956 with a libretto by Lillian Hellman; but since 1974 it has been generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler which is more faithful to...

 — "Bon Voyage" - Jim Dale and Company;

Once Upon a Mattress

Once Upon a Mattress

Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway...

 — "Shy" - Sarah Jessica Parker and male company);

Chicago

Chicago (musical)

Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...

 — "All That Jazz"/"Hot Honey Rag" - Bebe Neuwirth, Ann Reinking, Company;

Titanic

Titanic (musical)

Titanic is a musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone that opened on Broadway in 1997. It won five Tony Awards including the award for Best Musical...

 — "There She Is" - Michael Cerveris and Company.

Production

Best Play

Tony Award for Best Play

The Tony Award for Best Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theatre, including musical theatre, honoring productions on Broadway in New York. It currently takes place in mid-June each year.There was no award in the Tony's first year...

• The Last Night of Ballyhoo
  The Last Night of Ballyhoo
  -Plot:The comedy is set in the upper class German-Jewish community living in Atlanta, Georgia in December 1939. Hitler has recently conquered Poland, Gone with the Wind is about to premiere, and Adolph Freitag and his sister Boo and nieces Lala and Sunny - a Jewish family so highly assimilated...
  
  by Alfred Uhry
  Alfred Uhry
  Alfred Fox Uhry is an American playwright, screenwriter, and member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He is one of very few writers to receive an Academy Award, Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for dramatic writing....
  
  

Nominees:

• Skylight
  Skylight (play)
  Skylight is a play by British dramatist David Hare. It opened at the Royal National Theatre, Cottesloe, directed by Richard Eyre, in 1995. The production then moved to the Wyndham's Theatre for a short run from 13 February 1996, after winning the Laurence Olivier Award for the 1995...
  
   by David Hare
  David Hare (dramatist)
  Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
  
  
• Stanley
  Stanley (play)
  Stanley is a 1996 play written by English playwright, Pam Gems. The play was premiered at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre in London.-Plot synopsis:...
  
   by Pam Gems
  Pam Gems
  Pam Gems was a British playwright. The author of numerous original plays, as well as of adaptations of works by major European playwrights of the past, Gems is best known for the 1978 musical play Piaf.-Personal life:...
  
  
• The Young Man From Atlanta
  The Young Man From Atlanta
  The Young Man From Atlanta is a drama written by American dramatist, Horton Foote first produced Off Broadway by the Signature Theatre on 27 January 1995. Foote received the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work...
  
   by Horton Foote
  Horton Foote
  Albert Horton Foote, Jr. was an American playwright and screenwriter, perhaps best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplays for the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird and the 1983 film Tender Mercies, and his notable live television dramas during the Golden Age of Television...
  
  

Best Musical

Tony Award for Best Musical

This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack...

• Titanic
  Titanic (musical)
  Titanic is a musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone that opened on Broadway in 1997. It won five Tony Awards including the award for Best Musical...
  
  

Nominees:

• Juan Darien
• Steel Pier
  Steel Pier (musical)
  Steel Pier is a musical written by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb from the original book by David Thompson.-Productions:Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, it opened on Broadway on April 24, 1997 and closed on June 28, 1997, running for 76 performances...
  
  
• The Life
  The Life (musical)
  The Life is a musical with a book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman, music by Coleman, and lyrics by Gasman.Based on an original idea by Gasman, the show explores the underbelly of Times Square's 42nd Street, inhabited by pimps and prostitutes, druggies and dealers, and runaways and street...
  
  

Best Revival of a Play

Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play

The Tony Award for Best Revival has only been awarded since 1994. Prior to that, plays and musicals were considered together for the Tony Award for Best Revival...

• A Doll's House
  A Doll's House
  A Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month....
  
  

Nominees:

• London Assurance
  London Assurance
  London Assurance is a five-act comedy by Dion Boucicault. It was the second play that he wrote, but his first to be produced. Its first production, from March 4, 1841 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden was Boucicault's first major success...
  
  
• Present Laughter
  Present Laughter
  Present Laughter is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1939 and first staged in 1942 on tour, alternating with his lower middle-class domestic drama This Happy Breed...
  
  
• The Gin Game
  The Gin Game
  The Gin Game is a two-person, two-act play by D.L. Coburn that premiered at American Theater Arts in Hollywood in September 1976, directed by Kip Niven. It was Coburn's first play, and the theater's first production.-Plot:...
  
  

Best Revival of a Musical

Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical

The Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical has been awarded since 1994. Before that time, both plays and musicals were considered together for the Tony Award for Best Revival....

• Chicago
  Chicago
  Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
  
  

Nominees:

• Annie
  Annie (musical)
  Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
  
  
• Candide
  Candide (operetta)
  Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. The operetta was first performed in 1956 with a libretto by Lillian Hellman; but since 1974 it has been generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler which is more faithful to...
  
  
• Once Upon a Mattress
  Once Upon a Mattress
  Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway...
  
  

Performance

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play presented since 1947, is awarded to actors in productions of new or revival plays.-1940s:*1947 - José Ferrer – Cyrano de Bergerac / Fredric March – Years Ago...

• Christopher Plummer
  Christopher Plummer
  Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
  
  (Barrymore
  Barrymore (play)
  Barrymore is a two-person play by William Luce which depicts John Barrymore a few months before his death in 1942 as he is rehearsing a revival of his 1920 Broadway triumph as Richard III....
  
  )

Nominees:

• Brian Bedford
  Brian Bedford
  Brian Bedford is an English actor. He has appeared on the stage and in film, and is known for both acting in and directing Shakespeare.-Life and career:...
  
   (London Assurance
  London Assurance
  London Assurance is a five-act comedy by Dion Boucicault. It was the second play that he wrote, but his first to be produced. Its first production, from March 4, 1841 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden was Boucicault's first major success...
  
  )
• Michael Gambon
  Michael Gambon
  Sir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlowe in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as...
  
   (Skylight
  Skylight (play)
  Skylight is a play by British dramatist David Hare. It opened at the Royal National Theatre, Cottesloe, directed by Richard Eyre, in 1995. The production then moved to the Wyndham's Theatre for a short run from 13 February 1996, after winning the Laurence Olivier Award for the 1995...
  
  )
• Antony Sher
  Antony Sher
  Sir Antony Sher, KBE is a double Olivier Award winning South African-born British actor, writer, theatre director and painter.- Early years :...
  
   (Stanley
  Stanley (play)
  Stanley is a 1996 play written by English playwright, Pam Gems. The play was premiered at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre in London.-Plot synopsis:...
  
  )

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play

Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play

This is a list of the winners and nominations of Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. The award has been presented since 1947, and is for performance in new productions or revivals.-1940s:...

• Janet McTeer
  Janet McTeer
  Janet McTeer, OBE is a British actress.-Life and career:McTeer was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom, the daughter of Jean and Alan McTeer...
  
  (A Doll's House
  A Doll's House
  A Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month....
  
  )

Nominees:

• Julie Harris
  Julie Harris
  Julia Ann "Julie" Harris is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame...
  
   (The Gin Game
  The Gin Game
  The Gin Game is a two-person, two-act play by D.L. Coburn that premiered at American Theater Arts in Hollywood in September 1976, directed by Kip Niven. It was Coburn's first play, and the theater's first production.-Plot:...
  
  )
• Shirley Knight
  Shirley Knight
  Shirley Enola Knight is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth....
  
   (The Young Man From Atlanta
  The Young Man From Atlanta
  The Young Man From Atlanta is a drama written by American dramatist, Horton Foote first produced Off Broadway by the Signature Theatre on 27 January 1995. Foote received the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work...
  
  )
• Lia Williams
  Lia Williams
  Lia Williams is an English actress and film director, notable for many stage, film, and television appearances. She is possibly best known for her role in the motion picture, Dirty Weekend...
  
   (Skylight
  Skylight (play)
  Skylight is a play by British dramatist David Hare. It opened at the Royal National Theatre, Cottesloe, directed by Richard Eyre, in 1995. The production then moved to the Wyndham's Theatre for a short run from 13 February 1996, after winning the Laurence Olivier Award for the 1995...
  
  )

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical is awarded to the actor who was voted as the best actor in a musical play, whether a new production or a revival...

• James Naughton
  James Naughton
  James Naughton is an American director, theater, film and television actor.-Early life:Naughton was born in Middletown, Connecticut, the son of Rosemary and Joseph Naughton, both of whom were teachers He is the brother of actor David Naughton.-Career:Naughton graduated from Brown University and...
  
  (Chicago
  Chicago (musical)
  Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...
  
  )

Nominees:

• Robert Cuccioli
  Robert Cuccioli
  Robert Cuccioli is an American actor and singer born in Hempstead, New York. He is best known for originating the lead dual title roles in the musical Jekyll and Hyde, for which he received a Tony Award nomination and won the Joseph Jefferson Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk...
  
   (Jekyll and Hyde)
• Jim Dale
  Jim Dale
  Jim Dale, MBE is an English actor, voice artist, singer and songwriter. He is best known in the United Kingdom for his many appearances in the Carry On series of films and in the US for narrating the Harry Potter audiobook series, for which he received two Grammy Awards, and the ABC series Pushing...
  
   (Candide
  Candide (operetta)
  Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. The operetta was first performed in 1956 with a libretto by Lillian Hellman; but since 1974 it has been generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler which is more faithful to...
  
  )
• Daniel McDonald (Steel Pier
  Steel Pier (musical)
  Steel Pier is a musical written by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb from the original book by David Thompson.-Productions:Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, it opened on Broadway on April 24, 1997 and closed on June 28, 1997, running for 76 performances...
  
  )

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical

Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical

The Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical is the Tony Awards award given to the actress who was voted as the best leading actress in a musical, whether a new production or a revival...

• Bebe Neuwirth
  Bebe Neuwirth
  Beatrice "Bebe" Neuwirth is an American actress, singer and dancer. She has worked in television and is known for her portrayal of Dr. Lilith Sternin, Dr. Frasier Crane's wife , on both the TV sitcom Cheers , and its spin-off Frasier...
  
  (Chicago
  Chicago (musical)
  Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...
  
  )

Nominees:

• Pamela Isaacs
  Pamela Isaacs
  -Theatre:In 1987 Isaacs appeared in Conrack, a musical based on Pat Conroy's novel The River Is Wide, at AMAS Repertory Theater. The show is set in 1969 and recounts the adventures of Pat Conroy, a young white teacher who teaches black children on the remote South Carolina island of Yamacraw....
  
   (The Life
  The Life (musical)
  The Life is a musical with a book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman, music by Coleman, and lyrics by Gasman.Based on an original idea by Gasman, the show explores the underbelly of Times Square's 42nd Street, inhabited by pimps and prostitutes, druggies and dealers, and runaways and street...
  
  )
• Tonya Pinkins
  Tonya Pinkins
  Tonya Pinkins is an American actress and author known for her portrayal of Livia Frye on the soap opera All My Children and for her roles on Broadway, for which she won a Tony Award.-Biography:...
  
   (Play On!)
• Karen Ziemba
  Karen Ziemba
  Karen Ziemba is an American actress, singer and dancer, best known for her work in musical theatre.-Biography:Ziemba was born in St. Joseph, Michigan, and went on to attend the University of Akron , where she studied dance and joined the Ohio Ballet in her sophomore year.Her Broadway debut was in...
  
   (Steel Pier
  Steel Pier (musical)
  Steel Pier is a musical written by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb from the original book by David Thompson.-Productions:Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, it opened on Broadway on April 24, 1997 and closed on June 28, 1997, running for 76 performances...
  
  )

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

This is a list of the winners and nominations of Tony Award for the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play. The award has been presented since 1949.-1950s:* 1951: Eli Wallach – The Rose Tattoo* 1952: John Cromwell – Point of No Return...

• Owen Teale
  Owen Teale
  Owen Teale is a Welsh actor.Trained at the Guildford School of Acting, Teale made his television debut in The Mimosa Boys in 1984. He later appeared in Knights of God , Great Expectations , Waterfront Beat and Boon before being cast as Will Scarlet in the 1991 TV movie Robin Hood...
  
  (A Doll's House
  A Doll's House
  A Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month....
  
  )

Nominees:

• Terry Beaver (The Last Night of Ballyhoo
  The Last Night of Ballyhoo
  -Plot:The comedy is set in the upper class German-Jewish community living in Atlanta, Georgia in December 1939. Hitler has recently conquered Poland, Gone with the Wind is about to premiere, and Adolph Freitag and his sister Boo and nieces Lala and Sunny - a Jewish family so highly assimilated...
  
  )
• Brian Murray (The Little Foxes
  The Little Foxes
  The Little Foxes is a 1939 play by Lillian Hellman. Its title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15 in the Song of Solomon in the King James version of the Bible, which reads, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." Set in a small town in Alabama in...
  
  )
• William Biff McGuire (The Young Man From Atlanta
  The Young Man From Atlanta
  The Young Man From Atlanta is a drama written by American dramatist, Horton Foote first produced Off Broadway by the Signature Theatre on 27 January 1995. Foote received the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work...
  
  )

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

This is a list of winners and nomination of the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress. The award was first presented in 1947.-1940s:* 1947: Patricia Neal – Another Part of the Forest* 1949: Shirley Booth – Goodbye, My Fancy-1950s:...

• Lynne Thigpen
  Lynne Thigpen
  Cherlynne Theresa “Lynne” Thigpen was an American stage and television actress, most famous as "The Chief" in the various Carmen Sandiego television series.-Early life:...
  
  (An American Daughter
  An American Daughter
  An American Daughter is a play written by Wendy Wasserstein. The play takes place in a living room in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.-Production history:...
  
  )

Nominees:

• Helen Carey (London Assurance
  London Assurance
  London Assurance is a five-act comedy by Dion Boucicault. It was the second play that he wrote, but his first to be produced. Its first production, from March 4, 1841 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden was Boucicault's first major success...
  
  )
• Dana Ivey
  Dana Ivey
  Dana Robins Ivey is an American character actress, who has performed on Broadway and other stage roles, in film and on television.-Early life and family:Ivey was born in Atlanta, Georgia...
  
   (The Last Night of Ballyhoo
  The Last Night of Ballyhoo
  -Plot:The comedy is set in the upper class German-Jewish community living in Atlanta, Georgia in December 1939. Hitler has recently conquered Poland, Gone with the Wind is about to premiere, and Adolph Freitag and his sister Boo and nieces Lala and Sunny - a Jewish family so highly assimilated...
  
  )
• Celia Weston
  Celia Weston
  Celia Weston is an American actress of stage, film and television, and a character actress. Professionally, she may be best known for her role as Jolene Hunnicutt on Alice.-Life and career:...
  
   (The Last Night of Ballyhoo
  The Last Night of Ballyhoo
  -Plot:The comedy is set in the upper class German-Jewish community living in Atlanta, Georgia in December 1939. Hitler has recently conquered Poland, Gone with the Wind is about to premiere, and Adolph Freitag and his sister Boo and nieces Lala and Sunny - a Jewish family so highly assimilated...
  
  )

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical

Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical

This is a list of the winners and nominations of Tony Award for the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. The award has been presented since 1947...

• Chuck Cooper
  Chuck Cooper (actor)
  This article is about the African-American actor. For the late former pioneering African-American NBA basketball player, see Chuck Cooper .Chuck Cooper is an American actor....
  
  (The Life
  The Life (musical)
  The Life is a musical with a book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman, music by Coleman, and lyrics by Gasman.Based on an original idea by Gasman, the show explores the underbelly of Times Square's 42nd Street, inhabited by pimps and prostitutes, druggies and dealers, and runaways and street...
  
  )

Nominees:

• Joel Blum (Steel Pier
  Steel Pier (musical)
  Steel Pier is a musical written by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb from the original book by David Thompson.-Productions:Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, it opened on Broadway on April 24, 1997 and closed on June 28, 1997, running for 76 performances...
  
  )
• Andre De Shields (Play On!)
• Sam Harris
  Sam Harris (singer)
  Sam Harris is an American pop and musical theatre recording artist as well as a television, stage and film actor.-Singing:...
  
   (The Life
  The Life (musical)
  The Life is a musical with a book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman, music by Coleman, and lyrics by Gasman.Based on an original idea by Gasman, the show explores the underbelly of Times Square's 42nd Street, inhabited by pimps and prostitutes, druggies and dealers, and runaways and street...
  
  )

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical

Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical

This is a list of the winners and nominations of the Tony Award for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical. The award, introduced in 1950, was previously named as Best Performance by a Featured or Supporting Actress in a Musical until 1976....

• Lillias White
  Lillias White
  Lillias White is an American singer and actress.The Brooklyn, New York native made her Broadway debut in Barnum in 1981. She understudied the role of Effie in the original 1981 production of Dreamgirls and played the part in the 1987 revival...
  
  (The Life)

Nominees:

• Marcia Lewis
  Marcia Lewis
  Marcia Lewis was an American character actress and singer. She has been nominated twice for the Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Musical and twice for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical .-Biography:Lewis was born in Melrose, Massachusetts and raised in...
  
   (Chicago
  Chicago (musical)
  Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...
  
  )
• Andrea Martin
  Andrea Martin
  Andrea Louise Martin is an American and Canadian actress and comedienne. She has appeared in films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, on stage in productions such as My Favorite Year, Fiddler on the Roof and Candide, and in the television series, SCTV.-Personal life:Martin, the oldest of three...
  
   (Candide
  Candide (operetta)
  Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. The operetta was first performed in 1956 with a libretto by Lillian Hellman; but since 1974 it has been generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler which is more faithful to...
  
  )
• Debra Monk
  Debra Monk
  Debra Monk is an American actress, singer, and writer.Monk was born in Middletown, Ohio. She was voted "best personality" by the graduating class at Wheaton High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. She graduated from Frostburg State University in 1963...
  
   (Steel Pier
  Steel Pier (musical)
  Steel Pier is a musical written by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb from the original book by David Thompson.-Productions:Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, it opened on Broadway on April 24, 1997 and closed on June 28, 1997, running for 76 performances...
  
  )

Craft

Best Direction of a Play

Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play

The Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play has been given since 1960. Before 1960 there was only one award for both play direction and musical direction, then in 1960 the award was split into two categories: Dramatic and Musical. In 1976 the Dramatic category was renamed to Play...

• Anthony Page
  Anthony Page
  Anthony Page is a British stage- and film director.-Filmography:*Male of the Species 3-episode TV special that featured Sir Laurence Olivier, Paul Scofield, Sean Connery and Michael Caine. The Scofield episode, Emlyn, won an Emmy Award...
  
  (A Doll's House
  A Doll's House
  A Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month....
  
  )

Nominees:

• John Caird
  John Caird (director)
  John Newport Caird is a British stage director and writer of plays, musicals and operas. He is an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, a regular director with the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and the Principal Guest Director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre,...
  
   (Stanley
  Stanley (play)
  Stanley is a 1996 play written by English playwright, Pam Gems. The play was premiered at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre in London.-Plot synopsis:...
  
  )
• Richard Eyre
  Richard Eyre
  Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre CBE is an English director of film, theatre, television, and opera.-Biography:Eyre was educated at Sherborne School, an independent school for boys in the market town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset in south-west England, followed by Peterhouse at the University...
  
   (Skylight
  Skylight (play)
  Skylight is a play by British dramatist David Hare. It opened at the Royal National Theatre, Cottesloe, directed by Richard Eyre, in 1995. The production then moved to the Wyndham's Theatre for a short run from 13 February 1996, after winning the Laurence Olivier Award for the 1995...
  
  )
• Charles Nelson Reilly
  Charles Nelson Reilly
  Charles Nelson Reilly was an American actor, comedian, director and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in theater, movies, children's television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show Match Game....
  
   (The Gin Game
  The Gin Game
  The Gin Game is a two-person, two-act play by D.L. Coburn that premiered at American Theater Arts in Hollywood in September 1976, directed by Kip Niven. It was Coburn's first play, and the theater's first production.-Plot:...
  
  )

Best Direction of a Musical

Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical

This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. Prior to 1960, category for direction included plays and musicals.-1950s:Note: this category was for both dramatic and musical productions...

• Walter Bobbie
  Walter Bobbie
  Walter Bobbie is an American theatre director, choreographer, and occasional actor and dancer. Bobbie has directed both musicals and plays on Broadway and Off-Broadway, and was the Artistic Director of the New York City Center Encores! concert series...
  
  (Chicago
  Chicago (musical)
  Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...
  
  )

Nominees:

• Michael Blakemore
  Michael Blakemore
  Michael Howell Blakemore OBE is an Australian actor, writer and theatre director. In 2000 he became the only individual to win Tony Awards for best Director of a Play and Musical in the same year for Copenhagen and Kiss Me, Kate....
  
   (The Life
  The Life (musical)
  The Life is a musical with a book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman, music by Coleman, and lyrics by Gasman.Based on an original idea by Gasman, the show explores the underbelly of Times Square's 42nd Street, inhabited by pimps and prostitutes, druggies and dealers, and runaways and street...
  
  )
• Scott Ellis
  Scott Ellis
  Scott Ellis is an American stage director and television director.-Biography:Ellis has directed numerous Off-Broadway and Broadway productions, including the New York City Opera Company revivals at the New York State Theatre: A Little Night Music and 110 in the Shade up to his current show, the...
  
   (Steel Pier
  Steel Pier (musical)
  Steel Pier is a musical written by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb from the original book by David Thompson.-Productions:Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, it opened on Broadway on April 24, 1997 and closed on June 28, 1997, running for 76 performances...
  
  )
• Julie Taymor
  Julie Taymor
  Julie Taymor is an American director of theater, opera and film. Taymor's work has received many accolades from critics, and she has earned two Tony Awards out of four nominations, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design, an Emmy Award and an Academy Award nomination for Original Song...
  
   (Juan Darien)

Best Choreography

Tony Award for Best Choreography

-1940s:* 1947: Agnes de Mille – Brigadoon / Michael Kidd – Finian's Rainbow* 1948: Jerome Robbins – High Button Shoes* 1949: Gower Champion – Lend An Ear-1950s:* 1950: Helen Tamiris – Touch and Go* 1951: Michael Kidd – Guys and Dolls...

• Ann Reinking
  Ann Reinking
  Ann Reinking is an American actress, dancer, and choreographer. She has worked extensively in musical theatre, both as a dancer and choreographer, as well as appearing in film.-Biography:...
  
  (Chicago)

Nominees:

• Wayne Cilento
  Wayne Cilento
  Wayne Louis Cilento is an American dancer and choreographer. He is best known for originating the role of "Mike" in the Broadway show A Chorus Line, and later becoming one of Broadway's most prolific choreographers.-Early life:...
  
   (Dream
  Dream (musical)
  Dream is a 1997 musical revue based on the songs of Johnny Mercer.The Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Wayne Cilento, opened on April 3, 1997 at the Royale Theatre after twenty-four previews...
  
  )
• Joey McKneely (The Life
  The Life (musical)
  The Life is a musical with a book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman, music by Coleman, and lyrics by Gasman.Based on an original idea by Gasman, the show explores the underbelly of Times Square's 42nd Street, inhabited by pimps and prostitutes, druggies and dealers, and runaways and street...
  
  )
• Susan Stroman
  Susan Stroman
  Susan Stroman is an American theatre director, choreographer, film director, and performer. She has won the Tony Award for both her choreography and direction, notably for the stage musical The Producers.-Early years:...
  
   (Steel Pier
  Steel Pier (musical)
  Steel Pier is a musical written by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb from the original book by David Thompson.-Productions:Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, it opened on Broadway on April 24, 1997 and closed on June 28, 1997, running for 76 performances...
  
  )

Best Book of a Musical

Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical

The Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to librettists of the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play. Eligibility is restricted to works with original narrative framework; plotless revues and revivals are ineligible...

• Peter Stone
  Peter Stone
  Peter Hess Stone was an American writer for theater, television and movies.-Life and career:Stone was born in Los Angeles. His mother, Hilda , was a film writer, and his father, John Stone was the writer and producer of many silent films, including Shirley Temple and Charlie Chan movies...
  
  (Titanic
  Titanic (musical)
  Titanic is a musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone that opened on Broadway in 1997. It won five Tony Awards including the award for Best Musical...
  
  )

Nominees:

• Leslie Bricusse
  Leslie Bricusse
  Leslie Bricusse is an English composer, lyricist, and playwright.Although best known for his partnership with Anthony Newley, Bricusse has worked with many other composers. He was educated at University College School in London and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge...
  
   (Jekyll and Hyde)
• David Thompson
  David Thompson (writer)
  David Thompson is an American writer and playwright. He graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.- Career :His theatre credits include And The World Goes 'Round , The Look of Love, Thou Shalt Not, Flora the Red Menace , Steel Pier , and the 1996...
  
   (Steel Pier
  Steel Pier (musical)
  Steel Pier is a musical written by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb from the original book by David Thompson.-Productions:Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, it opened on Broadway on April 24, 1997 and closed on June 28, 1997, running for 76 performances...
  
  )
• David Newman, Ira Gasman
  Ira Gasman
  Ira Gasman is an American theatre writer and lyricist and newspaper columnist.Gasman was nominated for both Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his contributions to The Life, the 1997 Broadway musical that had its first production at off-Broadway's Westbeth Theatre seven years earlier.Gasman's other...
  
   and Cy Coleman
  Cy Coleman
  Cy Coleman was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.-Life and career:He was born Seymour Kaufman on June 14, 1929, in New York City to Eastern European Jewish parents, and was raised in the Bronx. His mother, Ida was an apartment landlady and his father was a brickmason...
  
   (The Life
  The Life (musical)
  The Life is a musical with a book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman, music by Coleman, and lyrics by Gasman.Based on an original idea by Gasman, the show explores the underbelly of Times Square's 42nd Street, inhabited by pimps and prostitutes, druggies and dealers, and runaways and street...
  
  )

Best Original Score Written for the Theatre

Tony Award for Best Original Score

The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical in that year. The score consists of music and lyrics...

• Titanic
  Titanic (musical)
  Titanic is a musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone that opened on Broadway in 1997. It won five Tony Awards including the award for Best Musical...
  
  Music and lyrics by Maury Yeston
  Maury Yeston
  Maury Yeston is an American composer, lyricist, educator and musicologist.He is known for writing the music and lyrics to Broadway musicals, including Nine in 1982, and Titanic in 1997, both of which won Tony Awards for best musical and best score. He also won a Drama Desk Award for Nine...
  
  

Nominees:

• Juan Darien Music and lyrics by Elliot Goldenthal
  Elliot Goldenthal
  Elliot Goldenthal is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was a student of Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, and is best known for his distinctive style and ability to blend various musical styles and techniques in original and inventive ways...
  
  
• Steel Pier
  Steel Pier (musical)
  Steel Pier is a musical written by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb from the original book by David Thompson.-Productions:Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, it opened on Broadway on April 24, 1997 and closed on June 28, 1997, running for 76 performances...
  
   Music by John Kander
  John Kander
  John Harold Kander is the American composer of a number of musicals as part of the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb.-Life and career:Kander was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Bernice and Harold S. Kander...
  
  , lyrics by Fred Ebb
  Fred Ebb
  Fred Ebb was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera....
  
  
• The Life
  The Life (musical)
  The Life is a musical with a book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman, music by Coleman, and lyrics by Gasman.Based on an original idea by Gasman, the show explores the underbelly of Times Square's 42nd Street, inhabited by pimps and prostitutes, druggies and dealers, and runaways and street...
  
   Music by Cy Coleman
  Cy Coleman
  Cy Coleman was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.-Life and career:He was born Seymour Kaufman on June 14, 1929, in New York City to Eastern European Jewish parents, and was raised in the Bronx. His mother, Ida was an apartment landlady and his father was a brickmason...
  
  , lyrics by Ira Gasman
  Ira Gasman
  Ira Gasman is an American theatre writer and lyricist and newspaper columnist.Gasman was nominated for both Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his contributions to The Life, the 1997 Broadway musical that had its first production at off-Broadway's Westbeth Theatre seven years earlier.Gasman's other...
  
  

Best Orchestrations

Tony Award for Best Orchestrations

-1990s:1997*Jonathan Tunick – Titanic**Michael Gibson - Steel Pier**Luther Henderson - Play On!**Don Sebesky and Harold Wheeler - The Life1998*William David Brohn – Ragtime**Robert Elhai, David Metzger and Bruce Fowler - The Lion King...

• Jonathan Tunick
  Jonathan Tunick
  Jonathan Tunick is an American orchestrator, musical director, and composer, one of twelve people to have won all four major American show business awards: the Tony, Oscar, Emmy and Grammy. He has also worked with all of the other eleven people. His principal instrument is the clarinet...
  
  (Titanic
  Titanic (musical)
  Titanic is a musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone that opened on Broadway in 1997. It won five Tony Awards including the award for Best Musical...
  
  )

Nominees:

• Michael Gibson (Steel Pier
  Steel Pier (musical)
  Steel Pier is a musical written by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb from the original book by David Thompson.-Productions:Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, it opened on Broadway on April 24, 1997 and closed on June 28, 1997, running for 76 performances...
  
  )
• Luther Henderson
  Luther Henderson
  Luther Henderson was an African American arranger, composer, orchestrator, and pianist.Born in Kansas City, Missouri, he was educated at the Juilliard School of Music where he received a B.S. in 1942...
  
   (Play On!)
• Don Sebesky
  Don Sebesky
  Don Sebesky is an American jazz trombonist and arranger.-Biography:Sebesky trained in trombone at the Manhattan School of Music; in his early career, he played with Kai Winding, Claude Thornhill, Tommy Dorsey, Warren Covington, Maynard Ferguson and Stan Kenton...
  
   and Harold Wheeler (The Life
  The Life (musical)
  The Life is a musical with a book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman, music by Coleman, and lyrics by Gasman.Based on an original idea by Gasman, the show explores the underbelly of Times Square's 42nd Street, inhabited by pimps and prostitutes, druggies and dealers, and runaways and street...
  
  )

Best Scenic Design

• Stewart Laing (Titanic
  Titanic (musical)
  Titanic is a musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone that opened on Broadway in 1997. It won five Tony Awards including the award for Best Musical...
  
  )

Nominees:

• John Lee Beatty
  John Lee Beatty
  John Lee Beatty is an American scenic designer. He was born in Palo Alto, California and grew up in Claremont. His father was dean of students at Pomona College and his mother had also work in academia. While he was English major at Brown University, he also directed, wrote, acted and drew posters...
  
   (The Little Foxes
  The Little Foxes
  The Little Foxes is a 1939 play by Lillian Hellman. Its title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15 in the Song of Solomon in the King James version of the Bible, which reads, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." Set in a small town in Alabama in...
  
  )
• G. W. Mercier and Julie Taymor
  Julie Taymor
  Julie Taymor is an American director of theater, opera and film. Taymor's work has received many accolades from critics, and she has earned two Tony Awards out of four nominations, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design, an Emmy Award and an Academy Award nomination for Original Song...
  
   (Juan Darien)

Tony Walton (Steel Pier

Steel Pier (musical)

Steel Pier is a musical written by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb from the original book by David Thompson.-Productions:Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, it opened on Broadway on April 24, 1997 and closed on June 28, 1997, running for 76 performances...

)

Tony Award for Best Costume Design

Tony Award for Best Costume Design

These are the winners and nominees for the Tony Award for Best Costume Design. The award was first presented in 1947 and included both plays and musicals...

• Judith Dolan (Candide
  Candide (operetta)
  Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. The operetta was first performed in 1956 with a libretto by Lillian Hellman; but since 1974 it has been generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler which is more faithful to...
  
  )

Nominees:

• Ann Curtis
  Ann Curtis
  Ann Curtis is a former competitive swimmer and Olympic Gold Medal winner for the United States. She was coached by Charlie Sava and was a member of the San Francisco Crystal Plunge team. Curtis participated in London’s 1948 Olympic Games winning the gold medal in the 400 m freestyle...
  
   (Jekyll and Hyde)
• William Ivey Long
  William Ivey Long
  William Ivey Long is an American costume designer for stage and film. His most notable work includes The Producers, Hairspray, Nine, Crazy for You, Grey Gardens and Young Frankenstein.-Early life and education:...
  
   (Chicago
  Chicago (musical)
  Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...
  
  )
• Martin Pakledinaz
  Martin Pakledinaz
  Martin Pakledinaz is an American costume designer for stage and film.He won his Tony Awards for designing the costumes of Thoroughly Modern Millie and the 2000 revival of Kiss Me Kate, which also earned him the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design.He worked on the 1995 production of...
  
   (The Life
  The Life (musical)
  The Life is a musical with a book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman, music by Coleman, and lyrics by Gasman.Based on an original idea by Gasman, the show explores the underbelly of Times Square's 42nd Street, inhabited by pimps and prostitutes, druggies and dealers, and runaways and street...
  
  )

Tony Award for Best Lighting

• Ken Billington
  Ken Billington
  Ken Billington is an American lighting designer. He began his career in New York City working as an assistant to Tharon Musser....
  
  (Chicago
  Chicago (musical)
  Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...
  
  )

Nominees:

• Beverly Emmons
  Beverly Emmons
  Beverly Emmons is a lighting designer for the stage, dance and opera.-Career:Emmons graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1965 and then worked as an assistant to Jules Fisher. Her first credit as a lighting designer was with the Off-Broadway play Sensations in 1970. Emmons first Broadway work...
  
   (Jekyll and Hyde)
• Donald Holder
  Donald Holder
  Donald Holder is an American lighting designer in theatre, opera, and dance based in New York. He has been nominated for eight Tony Awards, winning the 1998 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design as well as the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for The Lion King. He won a second Tony in...
  
   (Juan Darien)
• Richard Pilbrow
  Richard Pilbrow
  Richard Pilbrow is an internationally renowned stage lighting designer, author, theatre consultant, and theatrical producer, film producer and television producer...
  
   (The Life
  The Life (musical)
  The Life is a musical with a book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman, music by Coleman, and lyrics by Gasman.Based on an original idea by Gasman, the show explores the underbelly of Times Square's 42nd Street, inhabited by pimps and prostitutes, druggies and dealers, and runaways and street...
  
  )

Special awards

• Regional Theater Tony Award

Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a regional theater company located in Berkeley, California. It was founded in 1968, as the East Bay’s first resident professional theatre. Michael Leibert was the founding artistic director, who was then succeeded by Sharon Ott in 1984. The company runs seven...

• Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre

Bernard B. Jacobs (posthumously)

External links

• Official Tony Awards site