Roaring past early wins for Ragtime, The Lion King took the Best New Musical Tony Award, June 7. The show also won the most awards of the night, 6, including two nods to Julie Taymor for her direction and costumes. Ragtime had led the field with 13 nominations, but won only 4 awards.
It was also Wilkommen - bienvenue for Cabaret, winner of the Best Revival of a Musical Tony Award. Todd Haimes accepted the award from presenter Angela Lansbury, who noted that 18 musicals are currently running on Broadway. Natasha Richardson won the award for Best Actress in a Musical, thanking choreographer Rob Marshall, "whose work takes down and dirty to an all-time high." The award was presented by James Naughton.
Towards evening's end, Scottish actor Alan Cumming thanked his many agents when taking the honor for Best Actor in a Musical. His award brought Cabaret's total to 4, including Ron Rifkin's Featured Actor win.
Playwise, it had been a Leenane night until Art won the Best Play Award for author Yasmina Reza, who thanked her "very attractive producers" (among them Sean Connery).
As for The Beauty Queen of Leenane, lead actress Marie Mullen, featured performers Anna Manahan and Tom Murphy, and director Garry Hynes all won Tonys. Christine Lahti presented the Best Featured Actor Tony to newcomer Tom Murphy of Leenane. Murphy beat out cast-mate Brian F. O'Byrne for the honor, as well as Max Wright and Sam Trammell. The actor also shocked the crowd a bit by using Beauty Queen's Irish-ized curse, "feck," a few times in his acceptance.
Joel Grey gave the award to Manahan, who made note of her recovery from an illness, thanking her doctor and those who lit candles for her. Gerry Hynes, winning for her Direction of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, paid special tribute to Galway's Druid Theatre and the Atlantic Theatre, instrumental in bringing Martin McDonagh's play to Broadway.
In other big Tony news, it's a triple play! Audra McDonald has won her third Tony Award, winning for Carousel, Master Class and now Ragtime. Like Leenane and Cabaret, Ragtime won 4 Tony Awards.
The Roundabout Theatre Company and director Michael Mayer had a good view of the Tony Awards - literally. A View From The Bridge won the Best Play Revival honor, beating out Anne Frank, Ah, Wilderness! and The Chairs. John Lithgow presented the award - the first given in the 9 PM, CBS portion of the 3-hour Tony broadcast. Later on, Anthony LaPaglia called it "mind-blowing" when he won the Award for Best Actor. Cabaret won its first Tony at 9:30, with Ron Rifkin taking the Featured Actor honor, presented by Bebe Neuwirth. The first 1998 Tony Award was given to Garth Fagan, choreographer of The Lion King. Fagan took a moment took a moment to remind audiences he believed in the not-for-profit theatre and exhorted the audience to "feel the love."
Winning for Best Score were Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty of Ragtime. Nell Carter presented the award.
Carter also presented the award for orchestrations - and she kept the award for William David Brohn, who wasn't in attendance. Best Book of a Musical went to Ragtime's Terrence McNally. In his speech, McNally didn't mention his embattled Manhattan Theatre Club play, Corpus Christi, by name, but he did thank the theatre community for standing up for artistic freedom and helping reinstate the show despite threats from the religious right.
Mark Linn-Baker then gave the award for costume design to Julie Taymor, bringing The Lion King total to 4. Taymor took the stage again a few minutes later, accepting the Best Musical Director Award from Sandy Duncan. Taymor stressed the importance of not-for-profit theatre to her work.
Punning wildly on the word "lighting," Swoosie Kurtz gave out the Best Lighting Tony to Donald Holder for The Lion King and then went on to present the Best Set Award to Richard Hudson for The Lion King. The Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards began at 8 PM (EST) tonight, June 7, on PBS-TV. Ten awards will be distributed during the first, mostly documentary-style hour. The second two hours, 9-11 PM (EST) will be broadcast on CBS-TV. Talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell will host for the second year in a row.
Here is the complete list of winners (in bold) for the 1998 Antoinette Perry Awards:
BEST MUSICAL
THE LION KING
Ragtime
Scarlet Pimpernel
Side Show
BEST PLAY
ART by Yasmina Reza
Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh
Golden Child by David Henry Hwang
Freak by John Leguizamo
BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
CABARET
The Sound of Music
1776
BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE
The Diary of Anne Frank
Ah, Wilderness!
The Chairs
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
NATASHA RICHARDSON, Cabaret
Betty Buckley, Triumph of Love
Marin Mazzie, Ragtime
Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner, Side Show
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
ALAN CUMMING, Cabaret
Peter Friedman, Ragtime
Brian Stokes Mitchell, Ragtime
Douglas Sills, The Scarlet Pimpernel
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY
ANTHONY LAPAGLIA, A View From The Bridge
Richard Briers, The Chairs
John Leguizamo, Freak
Alfred Molina, Art
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
MARIE MULLEN, The Beauty Queen of Leenane
Jane Alexander, Honour
Allison Janney, A View From the Bridge
Geraldine McEwan, The Chairs
BEST DIRECTOR OF A PLAY
GARRY HYNES, The Beauty Queen of Leenane
Matthew Warchus, Art
Michael Mayer, A View From the Bridge
Simon McBurney, The Chairs
BEST DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL
JULIE TAYMOR, The Lion King
Frank Galati, Ragtime
Scott Ellis, 1776
Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall, Cabaret
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
GARTH FAGAN, The Lion King
The Forever Tango Dancers, Forever Tango
Graciela Daniele, Ragtime
Rob Marshall, Cabaret
BEST SCORE
LYNN AHRENS and STEPHEN FLAHERTY, Ragtime
Paul Simon and Derek Walcott, The Capeman
Henry Krieger and Bill Russell, Side Show
Elton John, Tim Rice, Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Julie Taymor and Hans Zimmer, The Lion King
BEST BOOK
TERRENCE MCNALLY, Ragtime
Nan Knighton, The Scarlet Pimpernel
Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi, The Lion King
Bill Russell, Side Show
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
TOM MURPHY, The Beauty Queen of Leenane
Brian F. O'Byrne, The Beauty Queen of Leenane
Sam Trammell, Ah, Wilderness!
Max Wright, Ivanov
BEST PEFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
ANNA MANAHAN, The Beauty Queen of Leenane
Enid Graham, Honour
Linda Lavin, The Diary of Anne Frank
Julyana Soelistyo, The Golden Child
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
RON RIFKIN, Cabaret
Gregg Edelman, 1776
John McMartin, High Society
Samuel E. Wright, The Lion King
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
AUDRA MCDONALD, Ragtime
Anna Kendrick, High Society
Tsidii Le Loka, The Lion King
Mary Louise Wilson, Cabaret
BEST SCENIC DESIGN
RICHARD HUDSON, The Lion King
Bob Crowley, The Capeman
Eugene Lee, Ragtime
Quay Brothers, The Chairs
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
JULIE TAYMOR The Lion King
William Ivey Long, Cabaret
Santo Loquasto, Ragtime
Martin Pakledinaz, Golden Child
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN
DONALD HOLDER, The Lion King
Paul Anderson, The Chairs
Peggy Eisenhauer and Mike Baldassari, Cabaret
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Ragtime
BEST ORCHESTRATIONS
WILLIAM DAVID BROHN, Ragtime
Robert Elhai, David Metzger and Bruce Fowler, The Lion King
Michael Gibson, Cabaret Stanley Silverman, The Capeman
A special Tony for regional theatre was presented to the Denver Center Theatre Company, accompanied by a $25,000 grant from Clairol. Jane Seymour presented the Award to the theatre, founded in 1979. Artistic director Donovan Marley and chairman Donald R. Seawell accepted the prize, with Seawell punning on Clairol's "Nice n' easy" slogan.
Other special awards went to theatrical attorney, Edward E. Colton and set designer, Ben Edwards.
A Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre was also given to the International Theatre Institute of the United States.
Here are the winner totals:
Art - 1 (Play)
The Beauty Queen of Leenane - 4 (Director, Actress, Featured Actor (Murphy), Featured Actress)
Cabaret - 4 (Musical Revival; Actor, Actress, Featured Actor)
The Lion King -- 6 (Musical, Director, Choreography, Set, Lighting, Costumes)
Ragtime -- 4 (Musical Featured Actress, Orchestrations, Musical Book, Score)
A View From The Bridge - 2 (Play Revival, Actor)
O'Donnell opened the CBS broadcast with a spoof-medley of Chicago's "Roxie," sadly noting that she sang like "Rhoda Morgenstern." Proving here right were three true Divas: Patti LuPone followed with an excerpt of her signature tune from Evita, "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina." Jennifer Holliday then arrived with Dreamgirls' "And I Am Telling You, I Am Not Going," followed by Betty Buckley singing Cats' "Memory."
In her opening remarks, O'Donnell joked about the rebirth and family friendly reshaping of 42nd Street, saying, "Last night I saw four hookers dressed like Teletubbies." She also spoke few sentences that included the title of every nominated show.
Highlights of the PBS hour included segments on the creation of Capeman, an interview with Terrence McNally, Ragtime's librettist, and choreographer Garth Fagan explaining how he integrated The Lion King's costumes into dance numbers.
The evening's first production number was the title tune of Ragtime, causing O'Donnell to joke that a musical about Newt Gingrich might be titled "Gagtime." The Sound Of Music later arrived with a medley, including "Do-Re-Mi" and the title tune. Later, "Wilkommen" welcomed Cabaret -- " a show that needs no Viagra," kidded O'Donnell.
Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner sang together -- literally - "I Will Never Leave You" from Side Show. Douglas Sills and company offered "Into The Fire" from The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Introducing the opening segment from 1776, O'Donnell joked that the musical's title could also refer to Tony Randall and his wife; (the joke being she's 17, he's 76). O'Donnell also joshed that Carol Channing would make a great new Spice Girl: "If you wanna be my lover, you gotta do it more than twice in forty years!"
In a pre-taped interview on the PBS broadcast, Julie Taymor said, "She wanted to keep humanity involved. Costuming is the art of manipulation. You know it's not an animal, but you forget about that and the audience fills in the blanks."