By Michael Buckley
04 Jun 2003

In the Featured Actor categories, there are two front runners: Denis O'Hare will probably score for Take Me Out (though Philip Seymour Hoffman could slide in), and Dick Latessa seems likely to win for Hairspray. The Featured Actress in a Play race would seem to be between Michelle Pawk, who garnered much praise for Hollywood Arms, and the much revered Marian Seldes, for Dinner at Eight. Pawk's never won; Seldes took the trophy for A Delicate Balance—36 years ago.

Chita Rivera (a two-time Tony winner), Mary Stuart Masterson and Jane Krakowski are nominees as Featured Actress in a Musical, as were the trio who originated their roles in Nine: Liliane Montevecchi (who won), Karen Akers and Anita Morris. One assumes that Krakowski's spectacular telephone call will make her a winner over Rivera for merely being spectacular.

***

"The fact that we have three hours is lovely," observes Gary Smith. "Now there's time for more entertainment elements—and I don't mean only song and dance. I believe the tribute to Al Hirschfeld is entertainment. It's predominantly a Hirschfeld piece, but Hugh Jackman mentions that we also lost two other artists [during the past year]: Adolph Green and Peter Stone."

Might Jackman perform? "He may do a little bit of singing," says Smith. "We're still working on that. We've been talking to him. If he's comfortable with it, he'll sing something. He gets in so late. We've arranged for a private plane to bring him in from L.A., Saturday night. He shows up [at Radio City Music Hall] Sunday morning.

"He flies back right after the show, and has to be on a movie set at 6 AM, Monday morning. He really wants to do the show that badly. I think it's the first time that the Tonys are being hosted by someone who has never appeared on Broadway. Of course, he's coming [in October].

"We're not going with the theory that presenters had to have appeared on Broadway at some time. For instance, the theatre has had a wonderful impact on Barbara Walters. She talks about going to opening nights with her dad. You know who he was. [Lou Walters operated the Latin Quarter nightclub.] A couple of people fall into that category.

"The thank you speeches are the only variable; everything else is pretty much locked in. Having a little more breathing time on an acceptance speech can be entertaining—if the person uses it not just to read a laundry list, but to speak from the heart."

It was suggested in Arts & Leisure that ratings for the Tony telecast could be improved if performers such as Sting and Madonna sang Broadway tunes. Perhaps; I know I'd tune in to the Grammys if they had Nathan Lane and Barbara Cook.

***

The first Antoinette Perry Awards were handed out in 15 minutes. On Easter Sunday, April 6, 1947, at Manhattan's Waldorf Astoria, the ceremony followed dinner, dancing and entertainment, and was broadcast by the Mutual Radio Network, WOR in New York. Awards—gold money clips with initials engraved for men, sterling silver vanity cases with initials engraved for women—were accompanied by scrolls. The Tony medallion, designed by Herman Rosse, was first presented in 1949.

Easter Sunday, April 1, 1956, marked the first Tony telecast, shown locally, from 9 to 10:30 PM, on the Dumont network, Channel 5, WABD in New York. Co-hosts (an odd couple) were Helen Hayes, then president of the American Theatre Wing, and comic Jack Carter. The first nationwide telecast occurred Easter Sunday, March 26, 1967, on ABC. I Do! I Do! co-stars Mary Martin and Robert Preston hosted from the Shubert Theatre, and it was the first of 20 mostly memorable ceremonies produced by Alexander Cohen, and written by Mrs. Cohen, Hildy Parks.

***

Native New Yorker Gary Smith was "born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens." An only child, he's "always loved theatre, probably because my [maternal] grandfather, David Abrams, was a critic for the Yiddish Theatre. He wrote for The Freiheit. When I was a baby, my mother would take me down to Second Avenue, and I'd be in the company of Maurice Schwartz, Molly Picon, Luther Adler. In high school, I had an afternoon job at Triangle Studios; I painted scenery for Guys and Dolls and Top Banana."

Smith studied scenic design, graduating from Carnegie Tech in 1956. "I came to Manhattan, took the union exam and got in. Got a job at CBS, went over to NBC for 'The Perry Como Show,' and to California to work as designer and associate producer on 'The Judy Garland Show.' After five weeks, I was asked to produce the show; I was 27 years old, which I think is a record [for young TV producers]. What a baptism!"

He created and produced "Hullabaloo" (NBC, 1965-66), a rock-music series with guest hosts and a company of ten dancers, including Michael Bennett and Donna McKechnie. "That's where they met, and that's where I met my [second] wife," says Smith. Married 31 years, he's the father of five, but has no grandchildren ("I wish, I wish").

Smith's producing credits include a number of TV shows involved with the American Film Institute, inaugural galas, the last four Democratic conventions, and the two most recent Emmy Awards. As the Tony producer, Gary Smith tries "to get as much good stuff as possible on the show." His biggest challenge with "The Tony Awards" remains not getting the show on, but getting it off on time.

***

As another season starts, one show heading to Broadway is the delightful Avenue Q ("Her name is Alberta, She lives in Vancouver. . . "). Others include Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, Never Gonna Dance, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Fiddler on the Roof. Hugh Jackman makes his bow in The Boy from Oz, and another Boy (George) offers a Taboo musical, produced by Rosie O'Donnell (a David Merrick-in-the-making). Wicked brings back Kristin Chenoweth and the most welcome return of Robert Morse—if ever, oh ever, a Wiz there was!

Elwood P. Dowd heads back to the Main Stem, along with friend Harvey. Antoinette Perry directed the original production, starring Frank Fay. This time around, Charles Nelson Reilly directs, Dick Van Patten stars, and—in tribute to another Harvey (Fierstein)—the title character will play Act Two in drag.

Hope springs eternal. As always, we want to enjoy exciting performances, as we experienced this past season with John Selya, Elizabeth Parkinson, Jayne Atkinson, Brian Bedford, Stanley Tucci, Edie Falco, Daniel Sunjata and numerous others. We look forward to many things during the new season, especially Tony night 2004.

***

END QUIZ: Who were co-hosts of the second national Tony telecast (NBC, April 21, 1968): a) Angela Lansbury and Peter Ustinov; b) Diahann Carroll and Alan King; c) Julie Andrews and Walter Matthau? (Answer: Next column, July 6)

The May 11 question was: Who played the Spencer Tracy role in the 1961-62 TV series of "Father of the Bride": a) Stuart Erwin; b) Robert Young; c) Leon Ames? The answer is c).

—Michael Buckley also writes for TheaterMania.com and The Sondheim Review (and is pleased to have an article in the souvenir Tony Awards Playbill).