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Tony Award
Current: 63rd Tony Awards
File:TonyAward.jpgDesigned by Herman Rosse, 1949
DescriptionExcellence in Broadway theatre
Country United States
Presented byAmerican Theatre Wing and The Broadway League
First awarded1947
Websitehttp://www.tonyawards.com/

The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre. A discretionary non-competitive Special Tony Award and the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre are also given. The awards are named after Antoinette Perry, co-founder of the American Theatre Wing.

The rules for the Tony Awards are set forth in the official document "Rules and Regulations of The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards", which applies for each season only. The Tony Awards are considered the highest U.S. theatre honor, the U.S. theatre industry's equivalent to the Academy Awards (Oscars) for motion pictures. In British theatre, the equivalent of the Tony Award is the Laurence Olivier Award.

Since 1997, the Tony Awards ceremony has generally been held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in June and broadcast live on CBS television. The 63rd Tony Awards ceremony was held on June 7, 2009, at Radio City Music Hall, with a three-hour broadcast on CBS.

History

File:Tonyawardslogo.JPG
Former logo

The award was founded by the American Theatre Wing in 1947 at the suggestion of a committee of theatrical producers headed by Brock Pemberton, but it was not until the third awards ceremony in 1949 that the first Tony medallion was given to award winners. The award is named for Antoinette Perry, an actress, director, producer and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, who had recently died. The first awards ceremony was held on April 6, 1947, at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. Since 1997, the Tony Awards ceremony has been held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in June and broadcast live on CBS television, except in 1999, when it was held at the Gershwin Theatre.

Awarded by a panel of approximately 700 judges from various areas of the entertainment industry and press, the Tony Award is generally regarded as the theatre's equivalent to the Oscars, for excellence in film; the Grammys for the music industry, and the Emmys for excellence in television. In British theatre, the equivalent of the Tony Award is the Laurence Olivier Award. A number of the world's longest-running and most successful shows, as well as some actors, directors, choreographers and designers, have been successful in receiving both Tony Awards and Olivier Awards.

Since 1967, the award ceremony has been broadcast on U.S. national television and includes songs from the nominated musicals, and occasionally has included video clips of, or presentations about, nominated plays. The American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League jointly present and administer the awards. Audience size for the telecast is generally well below that of the Academy Awards shows, but the program reaches an affluent audience, which is prized by advertisers. According to an article in The New York Times: "What the Tony broadcast does have, say CBS officials, is an all-important demographic: rich and smart. Jack Sussman, CBS's senior vice president in charge of specials, said the Tony show sold almost all its advertising slots shortly after CBS announced it would present the three hours. 'It draws upscale premium viewers who are attractive to upscale premium advertisers,' Mr. Sussman said..." For example, the 2008 Tony Awards telecast had 6.2 million viewers, the same as the 2007 telecast but down from 2006, which had 7.79 million. In contrast, the 2009 Oscar telecast had 36.3 million viewers.

The Tony Award trophy consists of a medallion, a mix of mostly brass and a little bronze, with a nickel plating on the outside; a black acrylic glass base, and the nickel-plated pewter swivel.

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Award categories

There are presently 26 categories of awards, plus several special awards. Starting with 11 awards in 1947, the names and number of categories have changed over the years; a complete history of each award category was published in 2005.

A newly established non-competitive award, The Isabelle Stevenson Award, was given for the first time at the awards ceremony in 2009. The award is for an individual who has made a "substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian, social service or charitable organizations."

The category of Special Theatrical Event was "retired" as of the 2009-2010 season.

Special categories

Retired awards

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Criticism

While the theatre-going public may consider the Tony Awards to be the Oscars of live theatre, critics have suggested that the Tony Awards are primarily a promotional vehicle for a small number of large production companies and theatre owners in New York City. Only shows playing in one of 40 large "Broadway" theatres designated by the Tony Awards Management Committee are eligible for the Tony Awards. Only a portion of the Broadway theatres feature a "new" production in any given season, and there are 27 award categories, so most new shows receive one or more nominations.

However, producers say that the Tony Award is the only award that sells tickets. "Winning best musical or best play, they say, means money in the bank."

Award milestones

Some notable records and facts about the Tony Awards include the following:

Productions
  • The most Tony Awards ever received by a musical was The Producers with 12 awards, including best musical. The most Tonys ever received by a non-musical was The Coast of Utopia with seven awards, including best play, in 2007. The musicals that fared the worst on Tony night were Chicago (1976, losing in many categories to A Chorus Line) and Steel Pier (1997), both of which received 11 nominations, but won no awards. Ironically, Steel Pier lost in several categories to the revival of Chicago. Coincidentally, both Chicago and Steel Pier have scores by Kander and Ebb. The play Indiscretions (1995), was nominated for nine awards but did not win any.
  • Three musicals have won all "big six" awards for Best Musical, score, book, leading actor, actress and direction: South Pacific, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Hairspray.
  • South Pacific (1950) is the only show (play or musical) to win Best Production (Musical), Actor (Ezio Pinza), Actress (Mary Martin), Featured Actor (Myron McCormick), Featured Actress (Juanita Hall) and Direction (Joshua Logan).
  • Three musicals have won the Tony Award for Best Musical while the book, music and lyrics were written by one person: The Music Man (Meredith Willson), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Rupert Holmes) and Rent (Jonathan Larson). RENT and The Mystery of Edwin Drood also won the Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score, while the categories did not exist in 1957 when The Music Man was eligible.
  • Seven shows have won the design awards for sets, costumes and lighting: Follies (1972), The Phantom of the Opera (1986), The Lion King (1998), The Producers (2001), The Light in the Piazza (2005), The Coast of Utopia (2007) and the revival of South Pacific (2008). The 2008 revival of South Pacific is the only production to have won all four Creative Arts Tony Awards in Best Scenic Design, Best Costume Design, Best Lighting Design and Best Sound Design.
Individuals
  • Harold Prince has won 21 Tony Awards, more than anyone else, including eight for directing, eight for producing, two as producer of the year's Best Musical, and three special Tony Awards.
  • Stephen Sondheim has won more Tony Awards than any other composer, with eight. Bob Fosse has won the most Tonys for choreography, also eight.
  • Julie Harris and Angela Lansbury tie for the most performance Tony Awards with five each. Harris also has been nominated more often than any other performer, a total of ten times.
  • Four actresses have been nominated in two acting categories in the same year: Amanda Plummer, Dana Ivey, Kate Burton, and Jan Maxwell. Plummer in 1982 was nominated for Best Actress in a Play for A Taste of Honey and Best Featured Actress in a Play for Agnes of God, for which she won. Ivey in 1984 was nominated as Best Featured Actress in Musical for Sunday in the Park with George and Best Featured Actress in a Play for Heartbreak House. In 2002, Burton was nominated for Best Actress in Play for Hedda Gabler and Best Featured Actress in a Play for The Elephant Man. Maxwell was nominated in 2010 for Best Actress in a Play for The Royal Family and Best Featured Actress in a Play for Lend Me a Tenor.
  • Boyd Gaines was the first performer to be nominated for all four performance awards for which a performer is eligible: Best Featured Actor in a Play in 1989 for The Heidi Chronicles, Best Actor in a Musical in 1994 for She Loves Me, Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 2000 for Contact, Best Actor in a Play in 2007 for Journey's End, and again for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 2008 for Gypsy. The only time Gaines was nominated but did not win was for Journey's End. Raúl Esparza was the second performer to be nominated in all four categories, achieving this over a mere six seasons: Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 2004 for Taboo, Best Actor in a Musical in 2007 for Company, Best Featured Actor in a Play in 2008 for The Homecoming, and Best Actor in a Play in 2009 for Speed-the-Plow. He has yet to win.
  • Angela Lansbury is the only actress to be nominated for all four performance awards. She won Best Actress in a Musical for Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), Gypsy (1975), and Sweeney Todd (1979). She was nominated for Best Actress in a Play for Deuce in 2007. She won Best Featured Actress in a Play for Blithe Spirit in 2009. She was nominated for Featured Actress in a Musical for A Little Night Music in 2010.
  • While several performers have won Tonys for roles that have involved cross dressing, only two have won for playing a character of the opposite sex: Mary Martin in the title role of Peter Pan (1955) and Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (2003). However, in 2000, Australian actor Barry Humphries won the Special Tony Award for a live theatrical event at the 55th Annual Tony Awards for Dame Edna: The Royal Tour, Dame Edna is his "Melbourne Housewife" alter-ego who was recently on Broadway in the show All About Me.
  • Oliver Smith has won a record eight scenic design Tony Awards, and Jules Fisher has won the most lighting design awards, also eight. Fisher has received 19 nominations as a lighting designer and one as a producer.
  • The First time that three lead actors were nominated and won in the same category were David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish for Billy Elliot.

References

  1. The League of American Theatres and Producers was renamed "The Broadway League", see Gans, Andrew."League of American Theatres and Producers Announces Name Change", playbill.com, December 18, 2007
  2. Tony Homepage and "About the Tonys: Who We Are"
  3. "Tony Awards Rules and Regulations for 2008-09 season", tonyawards.com, accessed June 1, 2009
  4. "Tony Awards Archive", tonyawards.com, accessed May 31, 2009
  5. McKinley, Jesse."THE TONY AWARDS; Is There a Tony Doctor in the House,"The New York Times, June 1, 2003
  6. Tony Homepage tonyawards.com
  7. Hernandez, Ernio."Sports Beats Songs: 2008 Tony Awards Bested by Basketball and Golf in Sunday Ratings", playbill.com, June 16, 2008
  8. Bierly, Mandi."Ratings: Oscars up, 'Dollhouse' down", hollywoodinsider.ew.com, February 23, 2009
  9. Pincus-Roth, Zachary. "ASK PLAYBILL.COM: Tony Statuettes", playbill.com, May 22, 2008
  10. History of Tony categories
  11. Gans, Andrew."Tony Awards to Present Isabelle Stevenson Award in May 2009", playbill.com, October 8, 2008
  12. Gans, Andrew."Tony Awards Retire Special Theatrical Event Category," playbill.com, June 18, 2009
  13. Okrent, Daniel (May 9, 2004). "There's No Business Like Tony Awards Business". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-10-07.
  14. Pogrebin, Robin (May 21, 2000). "The Tony Awards:The Award Theater People Hate and Love". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
  15. Did You Know, Official Tony Website

See also

External links

Tony Awards
Play
Musical
Special (non-competitive)
Retired
Ceremonies
By country
* Divided into separate awards for plays and musicals
Categories: