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Tony Award

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What is popularly called the Tony Award (formerly, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater, primarily honoring productions on Broadway in New York.

Contents

History of the Tony Award

Awarded by a panel of approximately 700 judges from various areas of the entertainment industry and press, it is generally regarded as the theatre's equivalent to the Oscars (which are awarded for excellence in film arts), the Grammys (excellence in musical performance), and the Emmys (excellence in television arts). The award was founded in 1947 by a committee of theatrical producers headed by Brock Pemberton, but not until the third awards ceremony in 1949 was the first Tony medallion actually given to award winners.

The award ceremony is broadcast on television, and includes songs from the nominated musicals, as well as video clips of or presentations about nominated plays.

The effect of winning a Tony Award

Winning a Tony award in a major category (Best Play, Best Musical, Best Play Revival, Best Musical Revival, Best Actor, Best Actress) can dramatically increase a show's ticket sales. A shortlist for the award is published several weeks before the award ceremony; between then and the announcement of the winners, plays advertise how many Tonys they have been nominated for. Often this advertisement is disingenuous, critics contend, as many shows are nominated by default in years where there are few new plays and musicals.

Origin of the name \"Tony,\" rules, and current categories

Rules for a \"new\" play or musical

For the purposes of the award, a "new" play or musical is one that has not previously been produced on Broadway and is not part of the "historical or popular repertoire." This phrase has been the subject of some controversy, as some shows have been ruled ineligible for the "new" categories, meaning that their authors did not have a chance to win the marquee awards of Best Play or Best Musical (or Best Score or Best Book for musicals). On the other hand, some people feel that allowing plays and musicals which are commonly produced to be eligible as new gives them an unfair advantage, because they will have benefited from additional development time as well as additional familiarity with the Tony voters. Shows recently transferred from Off-Broadway or London theater are eligible as new; so are productions based closely on movies .

Tony categories as of 2006

In 2006, awards were given in the following categories:

Categories from previous years

Other categories used in past years include:

2006 Tonys

New category

Beginning with the 2006 awards, an additional category has been added: Best Recreation of a Leading Role by an Actor/Actress. This category will honor actors and actresses who were cast as replacements and joined a long-running show after its official opening, and would not have otherwise had the chance to be recognized for a potentially Tony-worthy performance.

2006 Tony Awards broadcast

The 2006 Tony Awards took place at Radio City Music Hall on June 11. In the United States, CBS broadcast the awards live from 8pm to 11pm Eastern time.

A complete list of nominations for the 60th annual Tony Awards, with winners shown in bold.:

Play: The History Boys; The Lieutenant of Inishmore; Rabbit Hole; Shining City.

Musical: The Color Purple; The Drowsy Chaperone; Jersey Boys; The Wedding Singer.

Book-Musical: The Color Purple, Marsha Norman; The Drowsy Chaperone, Bob Martin and Don McKellar; Jersey Boys, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice; The Wedding Singer, Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy.

Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics): The Color Purple, Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray; The Drowsy Chaperone, Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison; The Wedding Singer, Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin; The Woman in White, Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Zippel.

Revival-Play: Awake and Sing!; The Constant Wife; Edward Albee's Seascape; Faith Healer.

Revival-Musical: The Pajama Game; Sweeney Todd; The Threepenny Opera.

Actor-Play: Ralph Fiennes, Faith Healer; Richard Griffiths, The History Boys; Zeljko Ivanek, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial; Oliver Platt, Shining City; David Wilmot, The Lieutenant of Inishmore.

Actress-Play: Kate Burton, The Constant Wife; Judy Kaye, Souvenir; Lisa Kron, Well; Cynthia Nixon, Rabbit Hole; Lynn Redgrave, The Constant Wife.

Actor-Musical: Michael Cerveris, Sweeney Todd; Harry Connick, Jr., The Pajama Game; Stephen Lynch, The Wedding Singer; Bob Martin, The Drowsy Chaperone; John Lloyd Young, Jersey Boys.

Actress-Musical: Sutton Foster, The Drowsy Chaperone; LaChanze, The Color Purple; Patti LuPone, Sweeney Todd; Kelli O'Hara, The Pajama Game; Chita Rivera, [[Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life]].

Featured Actor-Play: Samuel Barnett, The History Boys; Domhnall Gleeson, The Lieutenant of Inishmore; Ian McDiarmid, Faith Healer; Mark Ruffalo, Awake and Sing!; Pablo Schreiber, Awake and Sing!

Featured Actress-Play: Tyne Daly, Rabbit Hole; Frances de la Tour, The History Boys; Jayne Houdyshell, Well; Alison Pill, The Lieutenant of Inishmore; Zoe Wanamaker, Awake and Sing!

Featured Actor-Musical: Danny Burstein, The Drowsy Chaperone; Jim Dale, The Threepenny Opera; Brandon Victor Dixon, The Color Purple; Manoel Felciano, Sweeney Todd; Christian Hoff, Jersey Boys.

Featured Actress-Musical: Carolee Carmello, [[Lestat: The Musical]]; Felicia P. Fields, The Color Purple; Megan Lawrence, The Pajama Game; Beth Leavel, The Drowsy Chaperone; Elisabeth Withers-Mendes, The Color Purple.

Direction-Play: Nicholas Hytner, The History Boys; Wilson Milam, The Lieutenant of Inishmore; Bartlett Sher, Awake and Sing!; Daniel Sullivan, Rabbit Hole.

Direction-Musical: John Doyle, Sweeney Todd; Kathleen Marshall, The Pajama Game; Des McAnuff, Jersey Boys; Casey Nicholaw, The Drowsy Chaperone.

Choreography: Rob Ashford, The Wedding Singer; Donald Byrd, The Color Purple; Kathleen Marshall, The Pajama Game; Casey Nicholaw, The Drowsy Chaperone.

Orchestrations: Larry Blank, The Drowsy Chaperone; Dick Lieb and Danny Troob, The Pajama Game; Steve Orich, Jersey Boys; Sarah Travis, Sweeney Todd.

Scenic Design-Play: John Lee Beatty, Rabbit Hole; Bob Crowley, The History Boys; Santo Loquasto, Three Days of Rain; Michael Yeargan, Awake and Sing!

Scenic Design-Musical: John Lee Beatty, The Color Purple; David Gallo, The Drowsy Chaperone; Derek McLane, The Pajama Game; Klara Zieglerova, Jersey Boys.

Costume Design-Play: Michael Krass, The Constant Wife; Santo Loquasto, A Touch of the Poet; Catherine Zuber, Awake and Sing!; Catherine Zuber, Edward Albee's Seascape

Costume Design-Musical: Gregg Barnes, The Drowsy Chaperone; Susan Hilferty, [[Lestat: The Musical]]; Martin Pakledinaz, The Pajama Game; Paul Tazewell, The Color Purple.

Lighting Design-Play: Christopher Akerlind, Awake and Sing!; Paul Gallo, Three Days of Rain; Mark Henderson, Faith Healer; Mark Henderson, The History Boys.

Lighting Design-Musical: Ken Billington and Brian Monahan, The Drowsy Chaperone; Howell Binkley, Jersey Boys; Natasha Katz, Tarzan; Brian MacDevitt, The Color Purple.

Regional Theater Tony Award: Intiman Theatre, Seattle

Special Tony Award: Sarah Jones, Bridge and Tunnel.

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre: Harold Prince.

See also

External links

 

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