Ragtime, The Beauty Queen of Leenane and Cabaret won top honors from the Drama League, the theatrical support group which gave its 64th annual awards at the Grand Ballroom of New York's Plaza Hotel May 8.

Anthony LaPaglia (A View From The Bridge) hosted the gala. The production awards were presented by Veanne Cox and Mark Linn Baker.Glenn Close presented the Distinguished Performance award, and John Rockwell presented the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre award.

Here are some of the major winners:

Distinguished Production of a Musical: Ragtime.

Distinguished Production of a Play: The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Distinguished Revival of a Play or Musical: Cabaret.

Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre: Julie Taymor of The Lion King.

Distinguished Performance: Brian Stokes Mitchell of Ragtime.

Unique Contribution to the Theatre: Harvey Lichtenstein and the Brookyn Academy of Music.

Outstanding Artists of the 1997-98 Season: Chistine Andreas and Douglas Sills (The Scarlet Pimpernel), Jason Bowcutt and Michael Solomon (Never the Sinner), Richard Briers and Geraldine McEwan (The Chairs), Betty Buckley (Triumph of Love), Max Casella and Tsidii Le Loka (The Lion King), Patricia Clarkson (The Maiden's Prayer, Three Days of Rain), Ruaidhri Conroy (The Cripple of Inishmann), Brian Cox (St. Nicholas), Veanne Cox (The Batting Cage), Alan Cumming and Natasha Richardson (Cabaret), Blythe Danner and Edward Herrmann (The Deep Blue Sea), Gregg Edelman (1776), Michael Emerson (Gross Indecency), Melissa Errico, John McMartin and Anna Kendrick (High Society), Peter Friedman, Marin Mazzie and Audra McDonald (Ragtime), Victor Garber (Art), Philip Seymour Hoffmann (Defying Gravity and Shopping and Fucking), Allison Janney, Brittany Murphy and Anthony LaPaglia (A View From the Bridge), Jonathan Kaplan and Harris Yulin (The Diary of Anne Frank), John Leguizamo (Freak), Julyana Soelistyo (Golden Child), Mark Linn-Baker (A Flea in Her Ear), Rebecca Luker (The Sound of Music), Anna Manahan and Marie Mullen (The Beauty Queen of Leenane), Julie McIlvaine (Pride's Crossing), Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner (Side Show), J. Smith-Cameron (As Bees in Honey Drown), John Slattery (Three Days of Rain), Marisa Tomei (Wait Until Dark), Sam Tramell (Ah, Wilderness), and Eli Wallach (Visiting Mr. Green).

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Also nominated for Distinguished Production of a Musical were The Scarlet Pimpernel, High Society, Side Show, The Lion King, Triumph of Love plus the Off-Broadway tuners The Last Session and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The dance revue Forever Tango was counted separately.

Other play nominees were Art, As Bees in Honey Drown, Gross Indecency, Mojo, Never The Sinner, Pride's Crossing and Visiting Mr. Green.

For revival of a play or musical, other nominees were 1776; Ah, Wilderness!; The American Clock, The Chairs, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Sound of Music and A View From The Bridge.

The 1997-98 season marks the 64th for the Drama League Awards. Julia Hansen, president of "New York's oldest theatrical organization," announced the nominees April 21. More than 2,000 Drama League members were eligible to vote.

For 80 years the Drama League has helped foster a Broadway audience and administer The Directors Project, a career development program for emerging directors.