The 55th annual Tony Awards ceremony for excellence in Broadway theatre will be held June 3 at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan. The event will be televised live on PBS (8-9 PM) and CBS (9-11 PM). The PBS telecast is officially titled "The First Ten Awards: Tonys 2001."
Tony nominations for the 2000-01 Broadway season were announced 8:30 AM May 7 at Sardi's restaurant by Reba McEntire (Annie Get Your Gun) and Eric McCormack (The Music Man).
Here are the 1999-2000 Tony Award nominees:
BEST PLAY:
Proof
King Hedley II
The Invention of Love
The Tale of the Allergist's Wife
BEST MUSICAL:
The Producers
The Full Monty
A Class Act
Jane Eyre BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL:
42nd Street
Follies
Bells Are Ringing
The Rocky Horror Show
BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY:
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe
Betrayal
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Best Man
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY:
Richard Easton, The Invention of Love
Brian Stokes Mitchell, King Hedley II
Gary Sinise, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Sean Campion, Stones in His Pockets
Conleth Hill, Stones in His Pockets
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY :
Mary-Louise Parker, Proof
Linda Lavin, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife
Juliette Binoche, Betrayal
Jean Smart, The Man Who Came to Dinner
Leslie Uggams, King Hedley II
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL :
Nathan Lane, The Producers
Matthew Broderick, The Producers
Tom Hewitt, The Rocky Horror Show
Patrick Wilson, The Full Monty
Kevin Chamberlin, Seussical
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL:
Randy Graff, A Class Act
Christine Ebersole, 42nd Street
Faith Prince, Bells Are Ringing
Marla Schaffel, Jane Eyre
Blythe Danner, Follies
BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY :
Daniel Sullivan, Proof
Jack O'Brien, The Invention of Love
Marion McClinton, King Hedley II
Ian McElhinney, Stones in His Pockets
BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL :
Susan Stroman, The Producers
Jack O'Brien, The Full Monty
Christopher Ashley, The Rocky Horror Show
Mark Bramble, 42nd Street
BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL:
Mel Brooks and Tom Meehan, The Producers
Terrence McNally, The Full Monty
John Caird, Jane Eyre
Lonny Price and Linda Kline, A Class Act
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Mel Brooks, The Producers
Ed Kleban, A Class Act
David Yazbek, The Full Monty
Paul Gordon and John Caird, Jane Eyre
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY :
Charles Brown, King Hedley II
Larry Bryggman, Proof
Michael Hayden, Judgment at Nuremberg
Robert Sean Leonard, The Invention of Love
Ben Shenkman, Proof
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY:
Michele Lee, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife
Viola Davis, King Hedley II
Johanna Day, Proof
Penny Fuller, The Dinner Party
Marthe Keller, Judgment at Nuremberg
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL :
Gary Beach, The Producers
Roger Bart, The Producers
Andre DeShields, The Full Monty
John Ellison Conlee, The Full Monty
Brad Oscar, The Producers
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL:
Cady Huffman, The Producers
Polly Bergen, Follies
Kate Levering, 42nd Street
Mary Testa, 42nd Street
Kathleen Freeman, The Full Monty
BEST SCENIC DESIGN :
Bob Crowley, The Invention of Love
Heidi Ettinger, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Douglas W. Schmidt, 42nd Street
Robin Wagner, The Producers
BEST COSTUME DESIGN :
Theoni V. Aldredge, Follies
Roger Kirk, 42nd Street
William Ivey Long, The Producers
David C. Woolard, The Rocky Horror Show
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN :
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Jane Eyre
Paul Gallo, 42nd Street
Peter Kaczorowski, The Producers
Kenneth Posner, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY:
Jerry Mitchell, The Full Monty
Jim Moore, George Pinney and John Vanderkloff, Blast!
Randy Skinner, 42nd Street
Susan Stroman, The Producers
BEST ORCHESTRATIONS:
Doug Besterman, The Producers
Larry Hochman, A Class Act
Jonathan Tunick, Follies
Harold Wheeler, The Full Monty
SPECIAL THEATRICAL EVENT
BLAST!
REGIONAL THEATRE
VICTORY GARDENS THEATRE (Chicago, IL)
SPECIAL TONYS
Lifetime Achievement: PAUL GEMIGNANI
Excellence in Theatre: BETTY CORWIN and the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at the New York Public Library; NEW DRAMATISTS, and "THEATRE WORLD."
Multiple Tony nominations were received by:
The Producers: 15
The Full Monty: 10
42nd Street: 9
King Hedley II: 6
Proof: 6
A Class Act: 5
Follies: 5
The Invention of Love: 5
Jane Eyre: 5
The Rocky Horror Show: 4
Stones in His Pockets: 3
The Tale of the Allergist's Wife: 3
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: 2
Bells Are Ringing: 2
Betrayal: 2
Judgment at Nuremberg: 2
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: 2
As expected, The Producers dominated the 2001 Tony Award nominations, collecting 15, including nods for best musical, score, book, direction and choreography. Stars Lane and Broderick received nods, as did featured actors Gary Beach, Roger Bart, Brad Oscar and Cady Huffman. Tony predicters anticipate the show winning 10 Tonys and possibly 11, which would make it the all-time biggest winner in Tonydom.
This year's Awards will present live musical numbers from all the Tony nominated musicals (eight in all), with nominees Faith Prince, Polly Bergen and Nathan Lane among the performers.
As reported by the Daily News and confirmed by the Keith Sherman press office, musical sequences expected to be on the broadcast include:
"Along Came Bialy" (The Producers, with Nathan Lane)
"Let it Go" (The Full Monty, with Patrick Wilson and company
"The Pledge" and "Sirens" (Jane Eyre, with Marla Schaffel and James Barbour)
"I'm Going Back" (Bells are Ringing with Faith Prince)
"The Lullaby of Broadway" and "We're in the Money" (42nd Street company)
"I'm Still Here" (Follies, with Polly Bergen)
"The Time Warp" (Rocky Horror Show company)
Medley (A Class Act with Lonny Price and Randy Graff)
Live excerpts from the four Best Play nominees will also be shown, with the Play Revival nominees featured via pre-taped video excerpts.
Viewers who just can't get enough Tony coverage (the event itself recently sold out its tickets to the public) can even log on to the internet a half hour early (7:30-8 PM) that night to watch the Tony pre show. Available only at www.tonys.org, the pre-show is meant, says Tony producer Elizabeth McCann, to give viewers "a taste of what goes on in Radio City in the minutes leading up to the broadcast. It's an exciting half-hour for the nominees, presenters, performers, and hosts and for our friends throughout cyberspace, it's the next best thing to being there in person."
The annual Tony Brunch for nominees was held at the Marriott Marquis, May 16.
As for presenters of this year's Tony Awards, those include newly-added Heather Headley (a Tony winner for Aida) and Kristin Chenoweth (a Tony winner for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown) presenting the award for Best Book of a Musical. Also lined up are Gwyneth Paltrow ("Shakespeare in Love"), Brian Stokes Mitchell, a past winner (Kiss Me, Kate) and current nominee for King Hedley II and three-time victor Audra McDonald. Henry Winkler, who exits The Dinner Party June 10, has also been added to the presenters list, as has the new Gun-totin' Annie, Reba McEntire.
Previously announced presenters include Lily Tomlin, who just finished a Tony-nominated revival run of The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, The Heidi Chronicles' Joan Allen and Sunset Boulevard Tony winner Glenn Close.
Dame Edna, whose Royal Tour earned a special Tony last year, will also be on hand, as will Gina Gershon, Edie Falco (Side Man), Sigourney Weaver (Sex and Longing), Jane Krakowski (Grand Hotel) and Doris Roberts (TV's "Everybody Loves Raymond"). Mykel Bath, who plays Young Simba in The Lion King and Harrison Chad, who plays Chip in Beauty and the Beast, will serve as "trophy boys" and hand out the actual awards.
Sarah Jessica Parker, who co-starred opposite hubby Matthew Broderick in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, will also be a presenter. Her husband will be extra-busy that night, though, since he's co-hosting the Tonys with his Producers co-star, Nathan Lane. Both are Tony Nominees for Best Actor in a Musical.
— By David Lefkowitz
