Hairspray — with 13 Nods — Tops 2003 Tony Award Nominations

By Robert Simonson
and Andrew Gans and Ernio Hernandez
May 12, 2003

The Tony Award nominations for the 2002-03 Broadway season were announced 8:30 AM (ET) May 12 at Sardi's restaurant by John Lithgow and Melanie Griffith. The 57th annual Tony ceremony will take place June 8 at Radio City Music Hall, to be televised live on CBS (8-11 PM, ET).

The hit musical Hairspray garnered the most nominations of the season — 13 nods — including those for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Harvey Fierstein), Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Marissa Jaret Winokur) and Best Musical. Hairspray will vie for the Best Musical trophy against A Year with Frog and Toad, Movin’ Out and Amour. The latter, the short-lived Michel Legrand musical, received a surprising five nominations, including one for its leading actress Melissa Errico.

Other shows that fared well include Movin' Out (10 nominations), Nine (8 nominations), Long Day's Journey Into Night (7 nominations) and La Boheme (6 nominations). Productions up for the coveted Best Play Tony include Enchanted April, Take Me Out, Say Goodnight Gracie and Vincent in Brixton.

A surprising omission from the list of nominees is Academy Award winner Sam Mendes, the director of the current revival of Gypsy at the Shubert Theatre. That production, however, did receive nominations for its star, Bernadette Peters (Leading Actress in a Musical), as well as those for John Dossett (Featured Actor in a Musical), Tammy Blanchard (Featured Actress in a Musical) and one for Best Revival of a Musical. Another surprise: no nominations for the star-studded production of Oscar Wilde’s Salome: The Reading. Although Al Pacino — who stars in the Wilde opus at the Barrymore — was deemed ineligible for a nomination since he had played the role previously on Broadway, his starry castmates — Marisa Tomei, Dianne Wiest and David Straithairn — were eligible.

The regional theatre Tony Award will be presented to The Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Broadway producer Cy Feuer, who is also Chairman of the League of American Theatres and Producers, will be awarded a Special Tony for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.

Four Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre will be awarded to the principal ensemble of La Bohème; hair and wig designer Paul Huntley; the Broadway casting agency Johnson-Liff Casting Associates; and The Acting Company, America’s leading touring theatre company. The Tony Honors will not be presented at the June 12 celebration at Radio City but at a mid-season Tony Awards Community Celebration that will be announced in the coming months by Tony Award Productions.

The complete list of 2003 Tony Award nominees follows:

BEST PLAY:
Enchanted April
Say Goodnight, Gracie
Take Me Out
Vincent in Brixton

BEST MUSICAL:
Amour
Hairspray
Movin' Out
A Year With Frog and Toad

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL:
Gypsy
La Bohème
Man of La Mancha
Nine

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY:
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
Dinner at Eight
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Long Day's Journey Into Night

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY:
Brian Bedford, Tartuffe
Brian Dennehy, Long Day's Journey
Eddie Izzard, Joe Egg
Paul Newman, Our Town
Stanley Tucci, Frankie and Johnny

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY :
Jayne Atkinson, Enchanted April
Victoria Hamilton, Joe Egg
Clare Higgins, Vincent in Brixton
Vanessa Redgrave, Long Day's Journey
Fiona Shaw, Medea

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL :
Antonio Banderas, Nine
Harvey Fierstein, Hairspray
Malcolm Gets, Amour
John Selya, Movin' Out
Brian Stokes Mitchell, Man of La Mancha

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL:
Melissa Errico, Amour
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Man of La Mancha
Elizabeth Parkinson, Movin' Out
Bernadette Peters, Gypsy
Marissa Jaret Winokur, Hairspray

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY :
Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Long Day's Journey
Robert Sean Leonard, Long Day's Journey
Denis O'Hare, Take Me Out
Daniel Sunjata, Take Me Out

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY:
Christine Ebersole, Dinner at Eight
Linda Emond, Life x 3
Kathryn Meisle, Tartuffe
Michele Pawk, Hollywood Arms
Marian Seldes, Dinner at Eight

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL :
Michael Cavanaugh, Movin’ Out
John Dossett, Gypsy
Dick Latessa, Hairspray
Corey Reynolds, Hairspray
Keith Roberts, Movin’ Out

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL:
Tammy Blanchard, Gypsy
Jane Krakowski, Nine
Mary Stuart Masterson, Nine
Chita Rivera, Nine
Ashley Tuttle, Movin' Out

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY:
Laurence Boswell, Joe Egg
Robert Falls, Long Day's Journey
Joe Mantello, Take Me Out
Deborah Warner, Medea

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL :
David Leveaux, Nine
Baz Luhrmann, La Bohème
Jack O'Brien, Hairspray
Twyla Tharp, Movin' Out

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL:
Didier van Cauwelaert, English adaptation by Jeremy Sams, Amour
Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, Hairspray
Willie Reale, A Year with Frog and Toad
David Henry Hwang, Flower Drum Song

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Michel Legrand, Didier van Cauwelaert, English adaptation by Jeremy Sams, Amour
Willie and Robert Reale, A Year with Frog and Toad
Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Hairspray
Various composers, Urban Cowboy

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY:
Robert Longbottom, Flower Drum Song
Jerry Mitchell, Hairspray
Melinda Roy, Urban Cowboy
Twyla Tharp, Movin' Out

BEST SCENIC DESIGN:
John Lee Beatty, Dinner at Eight
Santo Loquasto, Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Catherine Martin, La Bohème
David Rockwell, Hairspray

BEST COSTUME DESIGN :
Gregg Barnes, Flower Drum Song
William Ivey Long, Hairspray
Catherine Martin, Angus Strathie, La Bohème
Catherine Zuber, Dinner at Eight

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN :
Donald Holder, Movin' Out
Nigel Levings, La Bohème
Brian MacDevitt, Nine
Kenneth Posner, Hairspray

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS:
Billy Joel and Stuart Malina, Movin’ Out
Nicholas Kitsopoulos, La Bohème
Jonathan Tunick, Nine
Harold Wheeler, Hairspray

SPECIAL THEATRICAL EVENT:
The Play What I Wrote
Prune Danish
Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam
Bill Maher's Victory Begins at Home

SPECIAL TONY AWARDS:

Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre:
The principal ensemble of La Bohème
Paul Huntley
Johnson-Liff Casting Associates
The Acting Company

Cy Feuer for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre

The Children's Theatre Company (Minneapolis, MN) - Regional Theatre Tony Award

Productions with multiple nominations follow:
Hairspray, 13
Movin' Out, 10
Nine, 8
Long Day's Journey Into Night, 7
La Bohème, 6
Amour, 5
Dinner at Eight, 5
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, 4
Gypsy, 4
Take Me Out, 4
A Year with Frog and Toad, 3
Flower Drum Song, 3
Man of La Mancha, 3
Enchanted April, 2
Frankie and Johnnie in the Clair de Lune, 2
Medea, 2
Tartuffe, 2
Urban Cowboy, 2
Vincent in Brixton, 2

Those wishing to attend the Tony Awards ceremony June 8 at Radio City Music Hall may purchase tickets by calling (212) 307-4544 or by logging on-line to www.tonyawards.com.