2003 Tony Awards and Nominations

Tony Award Winners:
(A full list of Tony Award nominations can be found at the bottom of this page.)

Best Play: Take Me Out 
Best Musical: Hairspray 
Best Book of a Musical: Hairspray 
Best Original Score: Hairspray 
Best Revival of a Play: Long Day's Journey Into Night 
Best Revival of a Musical: Nine the Musical 
Best Special Theatrical Event: Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on Broadway 
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play: Brian Dennehy 
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play: Vanessa Redgrave, Long Day's Journey Into Night 
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical: Harvey Fierstein, Hairspray 
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical: Marissa Jaret Winokur, Hairspray 
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play: Denis O'Hare, Take Me Out 
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play: Michele Pawk, Hollywood Arms 
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical: Dick Latessa, Hairspray 
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical: Jane Krakowski, Nine the Musical 
Best Scenic Design: Catherine Martin, La Bohème 
Best Costume Design: William Ivey Long, Hairspray 
Best Lighting Design: Nigel Levings, La Bohème 
Best Direction of a Play: Joe Mantello, Take Me Out 
Best Direction of a Musical: Jack O'Brien, Hairspray 
Best Choreography: Twyla Tharp, Movin' Out 
Best Orchestrations: Billy Joel and Stuart Malina, Movin' Out 
Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater: Cy Feuer 
Regional Theatre Tony Award: The Children's Theater Company (Minneapolis) 
Tony Honors for Excellence in Theater: Principal ensemble of La Bohème 

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Take Me Out, Hairspray Are Top Winners in 2003 Tony Awards; Long Day's Journey, Nine Also Hot
By Kenneth Jones, Playbill.com
9 June 2003 

Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out, a play about the incident-packed season of a Yankees-like baseball team, won the 2003 Tony Award for Best Play, and Hairspray was named Best Musical, June 8.

The satiric, sweet Hairspray teased its way to win eight Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall.

Take Me Out earned three choice Tonys, including nods for direction and featured actor. The play, which has done respectable but not home-run box office, is expected to get a boost from the exposure and the awards. The play was also a 2003 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Harvey Fierstein won the 2003 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for playing blowsy Baltimore housewife Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, the smash based on the John Waters film of the same name, at the 57th annual Tonys.

Minutes earlier, Marissa Jaret Winokur won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for playing optimistic but plus-sized Tracy Turnblad (Edna's daughter) in Hairspray.

She called herself a "4-foot-11-inch chubby New York girl" and said if she can win a Tony for leading actress, then dreams can come true for anyone.

It was thought the race in this category was largely between young newcomer Winokur and veteran Bernadette Peters, who minutes earlier at the ceremony had brought down Radio City Music Hall with a highly-charged "Rose's Turn," the finale of Gypsy.

Roundabout Theatre Company's staging of Maury Yeston, Mario Fratti and Arthur Kopit's Nine won the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical.

Vanessa Redgrave won the 2003 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play for Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. It is Redgrave's first Tony. Her sister, Lynn, was in the house, cheering her on.

By 10:15 PM (ET) it was a rich night for the O'Neill revival: Brian Dennehy won the 2003 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play, for Long Day's Journey. The autobiographical play also won the Tony for Best Revival.

Jack O'Brien won the Tony for Best Direction of a Musical, for Hairspray. He thanked friends and colleagues past and present, and acknowledged the contributions of Hairspray choreographer Jerry Mitchell.

Def Poetry Jam on Broadway won the Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event. The Russell Simmons-created evening of new words and ideas by young hip-hop poets lured a new audience to Broadway, and will tour. Simmons thanked the Broadway audience for being "so open-minded" about the work.

Dick Latessa and Jane Krakowski won respective Tony Awards for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (for Hairspray) and Best Featured Actress in a Musical (for Nine). Latessa has a memorable romantic duet with Harvey Fierstein in his show, and is a much-loved veteran of the New York stage. It is his first Tony win. Krakowski makes a sexy and death-defying entrance and exit in Nine, wrapped in a sheet that circus illusionists are known to use. She descends from the fly space in nothing but linen (actually a specially-formulated fabric) and seduces Antonio Banderas (as Guido Contini) via phone.

Denis O'Hare and Michele Pawk won respective Tony Awards for Best Featured Actor in Play (for Take Me Out) and Best Featured Actress in a Play (for Hollywood Arms).

In Take Me Out, O'Hare plays a nebbishy accountant who falls in love with baseball when he takes on a gay ball star as a client. In Hollywood Arms, the well-reviewed Pawk played Louise, a character based on Carol Burnett's mother in a play by Carol Burnett and Carrie Hamilton. The play closed in January.

Joe Mantello won the 2003 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for staging Richard Greenberg's theme-rich play, Take Me Out, about baseball (and a whole lot more) at the 57th annual Tonys.

Twyla Tharp won the Tony for Best Choreography for her work on the Billy Joel-infused dance musical, Movin' Out. She also directed the show, which uses Joel songs to tell (via dance) the story of high school pals as they grow older in the turbulent '60s and '70s.

The writers of Hairspray won 2003 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical (Mark O'Donnell & Thomas Meehan) and Best Score of a Musical (composer-lyricist Marc Shaiman and lyricist Scott Wittman).

Winners in four 2003 Tony Awards categories were announced in a pre-show ceremony prior to the 8-11 PM (ET) main show June 8: Movin' Out, La Boheme and Hairspray were the first Tony winners of the season. Respectively, Billy Joel and Stuart Malina won for their pop orchestrations for Movin' Out, Nigel Levings won for the sumptuous La Boheme lighting design, William Ivey Long won for his '60s-friendly Hairspray costume design and Catherine Martin won for the 1950s-set Parisian scenic design of La Boheme.

Hugh Jackman, coming to Broadway in the fall in The Boy From Oz, hosted the annual awards celebrating the best of the 2002-03 Broadway season.

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'Hairspray' Spritzed With 8 Tonys 
'Take Me Out,' 'Nine,' 'Long Day's Journey' Also Take Top Awards 
By Peter Marks, Washington Post
9 June 2003

"Hairspray," the rambunctious rock-and-roll musical about a fat girl with dancing feet and a mother who sounds like a longshoreman, was the big winner at last night's Tony Awards, collecting a total of eight prizes, including one for best musical.

The show, based on the 1988 John Waters movie and set in the racially divided Baltimore of 1962, was chosen by Tony voters over "Movin' Out," the Twyla Tharp musical, danced to Billy Joel's music, that was considered its principal competition. The other contenders were the short-lived "Amour" and a musical geared for children, "A Year With Frog and Toad." Among its victories, "Hairspray" won for book, score, costumes, lead actor (Harvey Fierstein), lead actress (Marissa Jaret Winokur), director (Jack O'Brien) and featured actor (Dick Latessa).

"Boy, am I glad this wasn't a beauty contest!" declared Fierstein, who plays a 300-pound woman in "Hairspray."

In a weak year for new plays, the Tony, as expected, was awarded to "Take Me Out," Richard Greenberg's locker room drama about a star baseball player who comes out of the closet. The work was also honored for Joe Mantello's direction and Denis O'Hare's exhilarating supporting performance as a gay financial consultant who finds himself falling in love with the game.

In the more hotly contested revival category, a new incarnation of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night" was named best revival of a play. It also chalked up wins for Vanessa Redgrave's complex and moving Mary Tyrone and Brian Dennehy's contribution as her bewildered, neglectful husband, James. Dennehy now holds the distinction of having won Tonys for playing two of the most powerful tragic figures in American drama; four years ago he was recognized for his Willy Loman in a revival of "Death of a Salesman."

For Redgrave, the award ended an improbable drought: It was the first Tony ever given to her. In her venerable acting clan, only her daughter, Natasha Richardson, had won a Tony before (for "Cabaret," in 1998).

Redgrave appeared to be overcome. As her name was announced, her sister Lynn, seated behind her, broke down in tears and Vanessa was embraced by actor Franco Nero, the father of her son, Franco. "I especially want to thank the actors back in 1956," she said from the stage, apparently referring to the cast of the original "Long Day's Journey," which opened that year.

Among the old musicals brought back this past season, the winner was "Nine," the 1982 Arthur Kopit-Maury Yeston show inspired by the classic Fellini movie "81/2." The eye-filling Roundabout Theatre Company production is headed by Antonio Banderas, whose acclaimed performance was believed to have given Fierstein's a run for its money in the best-actor category. Three of Banderas's cast mates, Chita Rivera, Jane Krakowski and Mary Stuart Masterson, were among the nominees for best supporting actress; Krakowski, who plays Banderas's acrobatic mistress in a see-through beaded gown, took home the statue.

"Nine's" major rival was the most controversial revival of the season, director Sam Mendes' "Gypsy," a show showered with a wild range of brickbats and encomiums. The production was shut out last night. Its star, Bernadette Peters, lost to Winokur, who plays Hairspray's plump heroine.

"If a 4-foot-11 chubby New York girl can be a leading lady in a Broadway show, and win a Tony, anything can happen!" Winokur said in accepting her award.

Peters became the first Momma Rose to be denied a Tony since the role's originator, Ethel Merman, was overshadowed by Mary Martin (who won for "The Sound of Music") in 1960. Angela Lansbury and Tyne Daly both earned Tonys for their portrayals in subsequent versions of the show.

The 57th annual awards to Broadway's best were handed out live on CBS in a three-hour broadcast from Radio City Music Hall, hosted by actor Hugh Jackman. He is to make his Broadway debut this fall in "The Boy From Oz," a musical based on the life of the late pop singer Peter Allen. CBS's picking up of the full three hours of the ceremony was a departure from established practice. For years, the network had limited its coverage to two hours; until last year, in an unusual joint operation, PBS broadcast the first hour, and then had its host advise viewers to switch over to CBS for the major awards.

This year, as a result, the program felt less rushed, and it included some clever promotional touches, like having Jason Alexander and Martin Short, stars of the Los Angeles production of "The Producers," announce the best-musical winner from the stage of their show. The cadre of presenters came from the worlds of film, theater and television, all delivering tributes to their roots (or brief stints) on the stage. The luminaries ranged from Sarah Jessica Parker and Benjamin Bratt to Rosie Perez and Danny Glover. "When you're a New Yorker," Perez declared in her best Brooklynese, "you haven't made it until you've hit Broadway."

As usual, the nominated musicals each had the opportunity to stage a production number -- an advertising bonanza for the shows' producers. Brian Stokes Mitchell sang "The Impossible Dream" from "Man of La Mancha," and Peters delivered a searing "Rose's Turn" from "Gypsy." The ceremony took full advantage of Billy Joel's contribution to Broadway; not only did he perform on the telecast, he also shared the Tony for best orchestrations. 

Clearly, the hearts of the Tony voters -- many of them members of the League of American Theaters and Producers and the American Theatre Wing, which jointly administer the Tonys -- were captured by "Hairspray," the season's biggest hit. It's also the show that is likeliest to be a lucrative property on the road (the tour begins in Baltimore in September). A basketful of Tonys never hurts the national marketing campaign. Its eight trophies are four short of the record 12 won two years ago by "The Producers."

For Fierstein, the award was the continuation of a remarkable winning streak. Three times he's come to Broadway with shows that featured cross-dressing characters, and each time he's won a Tony. The first two were for his play "Torch Song Trilogy," in which he portrayed a drag queen; the third was for his book for the musical version of "La Cage aux Folles." And now he's won for his turn as Edna Turnblad, the agoraphobic hausfrau, played by the drag actor Divine in Waters's movie.

"Movin' Out" and another well-received production, Baz Luhrmann's "La Boheme," did not leave empty-handed. Each garnered two awards; Tharp's balletic choreography earned her a Tony, and Luhrmann's wife, Catherine Martin, won for her scenic design of the Puccini opera.

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A "Hair"-Raising Tonys
By Julie Keller, E Online
9 June 2003

It was a night for hair products and Hollywood stars at Sunday's 57th Annual Tony Awards. As expected, Hairspray, the hit musical based on John Waters' campy 1988 movie about an overweight, overcoiffed teen in 1960s Baltimore, was the night's biggest winner.

"I think everybody likes to see the fat girl get the hot guy and win," Waters told Reuters after the show, which honors the best of Broadway. 

Indeed, the critic- and crowd-pleasing production scored a whopping eight awards, most notably winning the coveted Best Musical award. Its three top stars, Harvey Fierstein, Dick Latessa and Marissa Jaret Winokur were also tapped as Best Actor in a Musical, Best Featured Actor-Musical and Best Actress-Musical, respectively. Hairspray also won in the Book, Score, Direction-Musical and Costume categories. 

"If a 4-foot-11 chubby, New York girl can be a leading lady in a Broadway show and win a Tony, then anything can happen," Winokur gushed to a standing-ovation crowd upon accepting her Tony. 

While Hairspray glued down most of the honors, there was some room for a few other winners. 

The Antonio Banderas-led lovefest Nine was also recognized for greatness. Though Banderas lost to Hairspray's cross-dressing Fierstein (who joked, "Boy, am I glad this was not a beauty contest," when he accepted his award, the fourth of his career), the musical was named the Best Musical Revival. Banderas' costar, ex-Ally McBeal sexpot Jane Krakowski, was tapped as the Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as his scantily clad mistress. 

The critically acclaimed revamping of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, which features several big-name film stars, including Brian Dennehy, Vanessa Redgrave, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robert Sean Leonard, was named Best Revival of a Play. Dennehy nabbed the Leading Actor in a Play trophy for his role, and Redgrave was named Best Leading Actress. 

Take Me Out, the critically lauded drama about a gay baseball player who comes out of the closet, won Best Play, Best Director in a Play and Best Featured Actor. 

And though Baz Luhrmann's ambitious operatic retelling of the Puccini classic La Bohème lost out in the Best Musical Revival category, it did nab design awards for sets (Catherine Martin, Luhrmann's Oscar-winning wife) and lighting (Nigel Levings). It was also honored for Excellence in Theater by the Tony organization for its rotating ensemble cast. 

Hip-hop was in the house, too, as the rap-flavored Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on Broadway received the accolade for Best Theatrical Event. The 2003 show, held at Radio City Music Hall and hosted by a long-haired, musical X-Man Hugh Jackman, kicked off with a live, Times Square performance of "New York State of Mind" by Piano Man Billy Joel. The show continued with several musical numbers from many of the night's nominees. Joel took home a pre-telecast award for Best Orchestrations. Movin' Out, the singing-and-dancing tribute to his musical career, opened this season to rave reviews and sold-out performances. The show's creator, dance icon Twyla Tharp, was also recognized for Best Choreography. It remains to be seen if the 2003 Tony results will bolster winning-show ticket sales (as they usually do), but the year has already seen some stellar financial payoff for the Great White Way his far. The 2003 season, which ended May 12, grossed a record $720.9 million, up 12 percent from 2002, and attendance grew 4.3 percent to 11.4 million. 

The Tonys Awards are chosen in 22 different categories and selected by a 700-member panel of theatrical folks and journalists.

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'Hairspray' Piles Up Broadway Tony Awards
By Larry Fine, Reuters
9 June 2003

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rock-musical "Hairspray" piled up eight awards Sunday at the 57th Tony Awards for excellence on Broadway while "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "Take Me Out" shared major dramatic honors.

"Hairspray," the stage version of the 1988 cult film classic by John Waters, swept the major musical categories, including best musical, best performances by a lead actor and actress and best direction.

In two of the most suspenseful races of the night, Harvey Fierstein outpolled leading man Antonio Banderas of "Nine," and newcomer Marissa Jaret Winokur beat Broadway darling Bernadette Peters of "Gypsy" for top actress honors.

"Boy am I glad this wasn't a beauty contest," said Fierstein, who plays the hulking, gravel-voiced mother of the heroine of "Hairspray" in drag.

Gushed Winokur: "If a 4-foot-11 chubby New York girl can get a leading role in a Broadway show and get a Tony, anything can happen."

The musical, which explores social and racial attitudes of 1962 Baltimore, has played to standing room only audiences since opening in August.

FAT GIRL GETS HOT GUY

"I think everybody likes to see the fat girl get the hot guy and win," said filmmaker Waters.

"Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "Take Me Out" both won three awards apiece.

Vanessa Redgrave, nominated for the first time in her illustrious career, and Brian Dennehy won the best actress and actor awards for "Long Day's Journey" by Eugene O'Neill, which was also named Best Revival of a Play.

Dennehy, who won the 1999 Tony for his role in "Death of a Salesman," said audiences still craved serious theater.

The burly actor said it amazed him that theatergoers come to see a four-hour production of a play written 65 years ago and are "mesmerized."

"There's an audience there. We just need the writers."

"Take Me Out," which examines life in the locker room after a star baseball player reveals he is gay, collected awards for Best Play (by Richard Greenberg), top performance by a featured actor, Denis O'Hare, and best direction for Joe Mantello.

Besides the gay theme of "Take Me Out," and the triumph of Fierstein, an icon of the gay community after his double Tony triumph two decades ago for "Torch Song Trilogy," there were numerous references to gay life in the nationally televised show, hosted by "X-Men" film star Hugh Jackman.

"Nine," which won as Best Revival of a Musical, "Movin' Out" and "La Boheme" all won two awards each.

Jane Krakowski won as best featured actress in a musical for her role as mistress to Banderas' character in "Nine," based on Italian Federico Fellini's 1963 film "8 1/2."

"Movin' Out" brought rock star Billy Joel and Twyla Tharp their first Tonys. Joel won with Stuart Malina for best orchestrations, while Tharp won for her choreography of the rock-ballet done to Joel's music.

Baz Luhrmann's updated version of Puccini's opera won for scenic design and lighting. A special Tony honors award for excellence was bestowed on the three sets of rotating leads that comprise the show's principal ensemble.

"Def Poetry Jam" won for special theatrical event.

A surprise winner was Michele Pawk, who won for best performance by a featured actress for "Hollywood Arms," a play co-written by Carol Burnett, drawn from her memoir. (Additional reporting by Chris Michaud)

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"Hairspray" Blow Dries Tonys; "Take Me Out" Scores Triple Play
By David Sheward, Backstage.com
9 June 2003

A musical with a gay sensibility and a play about a gay baseball player dominated the 57th Tony Awards, presented June 8 at Radio City Music Hall. "Hairspray," the smash-hit tuner derived from the cult John Waters film, was spritzed with a sheen of victory by winning eight Tonys including Best Musical, Actor and Actress in a Musical (Harvey Fierstein and Marissa Jaret Winokur), Featured Actor in a Musical (Dick Latessa), Book (Mark O'Donnell, Thomas Meehan), Score (Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman), and Costume Design (William Ivey Long).This is the fourth Tony for Fierstein who stars in drag Edna Turnblad, a drab-housewife-turned-fabulous-diva. He is the first male Tony recipient to win for playing a member of the opposite sex. (Mary Martin won for playing a boy in "Peter Pan" in 1955). Fierstein's previous wins were for writing and starring in "Torch Song Trilogy" and for the book of "La Cage Aux Folles."

"Take Me Out," Richard Greenberg's baseball comedy-drama, scored a triple play with awards for Best Play, Featured Actor in a Play (Denis O'Hare), and in a surprise, Best Director of a Play for Joe Mantello. The expected winner in the directing slot was Robert Falls who won a Drama Desk Award for his staging of the all-star revival of "Long Day's Journey Into Night." The O'Neill drama took Tonys for Best Revival of a Play and Actor and Actress in a Play for Brian Dennehy and Vanessa Redgrave.

Not surprisingly, several of the acceptance speeches had a decidedly gay slant. Marc Shaiman, composer and co-lyricist of "Hairspray," congratulated his collaborator on stage and off Scott Wittman. The songwriters are the first openly gay couple to win a major show business award together. "We're not allowed to get married in this world," Shaiman stated to Wittman, "but I'd like to declare to the world, I love you, and I want to live with you the rest of my life." He then kissed Wittman. Several subsequent winners commented on that kiss. "I just saw two guys kiss on CBS. That's pretty cool," Joe Mantello declared. In a similar vein, Denis O'Hare acknowledged his boyfriend in his speech. 

There were few unexpected wins in addition to Mantello. Michele Pawk was rated a dark horse for Featured Actress in a Play. Her performance as a character based on Carol Burnett's mother in "Hollywood Arms" written by the comedienne and her late daughter Carrie Hamilton, was hailed by many critics, but the show closed in January. When her name was called, the shocked Pawk kissed her husband, fellow nominee John Dossett (Featured Actor in a Musical for "Gypsy"), and exclaimed "Men kissing onstage. Drag queens. Children. It's a perfect world." The children she referred to were a gang of kids recruited to sit on stage and watch a number from the nominated musical "A Year with Frog and Toad," which is aimed at young audiences.

Other significant wins include two for "Nine" (Best Musical Revival and Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Jane Krakowski) and two for "Movin' Out" (Twyla Tharp's choreography and the orchestrations by Billy Joel and Stuart Malina). The Piano Man himself opened the ceremony with a rendition of "New York State of Mind" performed live from a platform in Times Square. Baz Luhrmann's highly-touted production of "La Boheme" garnered a pair of awards in the design categories (Nigel Levings' lighting and the set by Catherine Martin, Luhrmann's wife). The rotating ensemble of the Puccini opera was awarded a special Tony. "Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam," a revue of hip-hop poetry now closed, was chosen as Best Special Theatrical Event.

Hugh Jackman hosted the evening which was broadcast on CBS. Although the "X-Man" hunk has never been on Broadway before, he does have stage experience in his native Australia and in London where he played the lead in the hit revival of "Oklahoma!" He will be making his Broadway debut next season in "The Boy from Oz," a musical bio of the late Peter Allen.

Unlike previous years, the Eye Network gave the Tonys a full three hours. For the past several seasons, the first hour of the awards have been presented on PBS. The design awards and special awards to producer Cy Feuer and the Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis, MN (where "Frog and Toad" originated), were presented by Alan Cumming ("Cabaret," "X-Men 2") before the broadcast. This allowed for longer acceptance speeches and production numbers from the nominated shows. Other special awards to hair and wig designer Paul Huntley, Johnson-Liff Casting Associates, and The Acting Company will be presented in a separate ceremony at a later date.

The overnight ratings for the Tonys Awards telecast are in and there is a slight improvement over last year. The show received a rating of 6.11 and a 10 share which is up by four per cent from last year's 5.9 rating and a 9 share. (A ratings point represents approximately one million TV households, while a share is the percentage of TV in use at the time.) These overnight ratings represent 55 major urban markets. The complete ratings for the entire country will be in tomorrow. National ratings for last year's Tonys were the worst ever with 5.69 rating and a 9 share. 

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Hairspray cleans up at Tonys
George Wright and Agencies, The Guardian
9 June 2003 

The rock-opera Hairspray won top billing at this year's Tony awards for theatre, with a clean sweep of the main musical categories.

The 57th Tonys - the prestigious ceremony recognising excellence on Broadway - also saw Vanessa Redgrave win her first Tony award, as best actress in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night.

Dramatic honours were shared by the revived classic Long Day's Journey Into Night and Take Me Out, a new play about a gay basketball player.

Hairspray, the stage version of the 1988 cult film classic by John Waterswon, picked up eight awards - including best musical, best performances by a lead actor and actress and best direction.

In one of the most hotly contested categories, the Hollywood heartthrob Antonio Banderas - nominated for his role in the play Nine - was beaten to best actor by to Harvey Fierstein, who plays the hulking, gravel-voiced mother of the heroine of Hairspray in drag. 

"Boy am I glad this wasn't a beauty contest," said Fierstein as he collected his award. 

The musical, which explores social and racial attitudes in 1962 Baltimore, has played to packed audiences since opening last August.

Vanessa Redgrave's co-star Brian Dennehy was named as best actor, and the play won the best revival category.

Redgrave's victory meant that her fellow Briton Fiona Shaw, who was nominated for her performance in Medea, went home empty-handed. Another British hope, Eddie Izzard, in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, also missed out on an award for leading actor in a play.

Redgrave was visibly moved as she accepted her award, for a role that met with acclaim from US critics. The New York Times described her as a "devastating presence".

Take Me Out, by Richard Greenberg, which examines life in the locker room after a star baseball player reveals he is gay, collected awards for best play, top performance by a featured actor, Denis O'Hare, and best direction for Joe Mantello.

Baz Luhrmann, the celebrated film director, saw his lavish retelling of the Puccini opera La Bohème win awards for lighting and scenic design.

The Tony awards are presented by the League of American Theatres and Producers and the American Theatre Wing. 

The televised ceremony, which began with a live performance by Billy Joel, was hosted by the X-Men star Hugh Jackman.

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Broadway's Tony Awards Loom as Suspense Show Sunday
By Larry Fine, Washington Post
8 June 2003 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Suspense comes to the Tony Awards on Sunday with several of the most important categories offering intriguing choices for Broadway theater's top honors.

Movie heartthrob Antonio Banderas and gay theater icon Harvey Fierstein are unlikely duelists for best actor in a musical, while bubbly newcomer Marissa Jaret Winokur takes on Broadway darling Bernadette Peters for best actress in two of the hardest to handicap races on the card.

"Hairspray," the rock musical that has played to standing room audiences since opening in August, is well placed to pile up a sizable haul of Tonys, but numerous glamour categories seem very much up for grabs.

Best revival of a musical looks like a battle between "Nine" and "Gypsy," with Baz Luhrmann's "La Boheme" and old favorite "Man of La Mancha," not without supporters among the 700 theater professionals polled from across the country.

Among plays, the best actor award looms as a choice between Brian Dennehy in the hit production "Long Day's Journey into Night," and Eddie Izzard in the critically acclaimed "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg."

That would leave 78-year-old Paul Newman on the outside after returning to Broadway for the first time in 38 years in "Our Town."

The mysteries will be solved during a three-hour live CBS telecast from Radio City Music Hall hosted by Australian leading man Hugh Jackman. 

BUZZ ABOUT THE MUSICALS

Some of the top categories seem all but sewn up.

Vanessa Redgrave is considered a near lock as best actress in a play for "Long Day's Journey," while "Take Me Out," looks to be the class of the field for Best Play.

Much of the buzz surrounds the leading actor/actress awards in the musicals.

Winokur has been wowing audiences as the overweight teen-ager in "Hairspray" who breaks down beauty and racial barriers in the stage version of John Waters' 1988 cult film.

Peters, who already has won two Tonys, has fought an infection that caused her to miss performances and whispers that the petite songbird was not well suited to play Momma Rose, the bullying stage mother first played by Ethel Merman.

Banderas, in his first Broadway role, finds a gaggle of female fans awaiting his stage door exit each night from "Nine," the revival of the 1982 musical based on Italian director Federico Fellini's 1963 film fantasy "8 1/2."

Fierstein, meanwhile, commands a show-stopping ovation when he enters as the mother of the chubby heroine of "Hairspray."

Fierstein, who owns three Tonys for acting and writing for "Torch Song Trilogy" (1983) and "La Cage aux Folles" (1984), acknowledged he was up against stiff competition.

Other nominees in the category include Brian Stokes Mitchell of "La Mancha," and dancer John Selya of "Movin' Out."

"Thank goodness it's not a beauty contest because those other three guys, oh my God, are they gorgeous?" Fierstein said at a reception for nominees.

"Thankfully, it's not a beauty contest. It's about art." 

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G'day, here are the Tony nominees
By Christine Sams, The Sun-Herald
8 June 2003

Perhaps they should change the name from the Tonys to the Bruces - given the high-profile involvement of Australians in this year's Tony Awards in New York.

The boys (and women) from Oz are expected to make a splash in this year's ceremony, which takes place tomorrow morning, Australian time.

Actor Hugh Jackman is co-hosting the big night, while Oscar-winner Catherine Martin and her husband Baz Luhrmann are hoping to win up to six awards for their Broadway adaptation of La Boheme.

Martin has two personal nominations for best costume design (shared with her Oscar-winning collaborator Angus Strathie) and best scenic design.

Luhrmann was said to be thrilled about his nomination for best director (musical), after being ignored by the Academy for his directorial efforts on Moulin Rouge.

The couple were expected to travel to New York early yesterday for the awards. They were working in Sydney as late as Friday, on pre-production for their latest epic film project, Alexander The Great.

"Baz and CM [Martin] are doing all they can to try and be there," said Luhrmann's publicist Maria Farmer. 

It's unlikely the couple will miss the glittering awards ceremony because of their ongoing passion for theatre, and the success of La Boheme.

Martin, who is at least four months pregnant, was expected to accompany Luhrmann on the flight.

The ceremony, which is being held at Radio City Music Hall, will be co-hosted by Jackman before he appears in the Broadway production of The Boy From Oz. The 34-year-old, who has just had another smash-hit film success in his role as Wolverine in X-Men 2, is set to reprise the stage role made famous by Tod McKenney in Australia.

Jackman first gained recognition as a musical performer in London, when he played Curly McLain in Oklahoma.

Despite his stardom in Hollywood, he hotly pursued the role of Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz, the musical which centres on the life story of the late Australian singer.

Allen was a favourite among New Yorkers, and US commentators are already predicting Jackman will be among nominees at next year's Tony awards.

Jackman will share the stage this year with presenters Melanie Griffith, John Leguizamo and Benjamin Bratt.

Other Tony nominees include Antonio Banderas, Paul Newman and Vanessa Redgrave. 

Luhrmann's La Boheme is nominated for three other awards, including best musical revival, best lighting design and best orchestrations.

It is the first time an opera has been nominated in the musical category. 

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Brush with fame beckons as Tony hopefuls count down
By Bryce Hallett, The Sydney Morning Herald
4 June 2003

For several years Australian actors and artists have been acknowledged for their work in film - a reflection of how international the industry has become and how our homegrown talent ranks among the world's finest.

The theatre scene has been slower off the mark, with equity rulings generally keeping performers and creative teams on their respective home turfs, although not entirely, as the opera community knows. But changes are afoot.

It may be fanciful conjecture, but given that Nicole Kidman won the best actress Oscar at this year's Academy Awards it may turn out that the versatile Hugh Jackman will score best actor in a musical at next year's Tony Awards for his role as Peter Allen in The Boy from Oz.

We will, of course, have to wait and see.

The biographical musical, co-starring Stephanie Block as Liza Minnelli and Isabel Keating as Judy Garland, doesn't open on Broadway until October. Its producers, Ben Gannon and Robert Fox, are hoping Jackman's star power will make it a success.

Shedding his X-Men "skin", Jackman is wasting no time stepping into Broadway musical mode. He will host the annual Tony Awards ceremony at Radio City on Sunday and share the stage with such presenters as Vanessa Redgrave, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Nathan Lane and Melanie Griffith.

Jackman isn't the only Australian connection with the Tonys. Producers John Frost (GFO) and James Erskine (SEL) have a stake in the hit musical Hairspray, which has received 13 nominations, including best musical and best performance by a leading actor for Harvey Fierstein, who in every sense leads the ensemble with a joyous, humane and nuanced performance that keeps caricature at bay. The musical is scheduled to open in Australia in 2005.

For its comical zest and feel-good musical score, Hairspray is the clear favourite and deserves to win. Its closest rival is the Twyla Tharp/Billy Joel musical Movin' Out. (Tharp has been nominated for both best director and best choreographer of a musical, and is a sure bet for the latter.)

Leading the Aussie charge in many respects is Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin and Nigel Levings for La Boheme, which has scored six Tony nominations, including for best revival of a musical, best direction and best scenic design.

Martin won an Oscar at last year's Academy Awards (along with Angus Strathie) for Moulin Rouge and, given the coup de theatre of the Cafe Momus scene and the overall luminous look of La Boheme, I'm sure she'll triumph again. And if an Oscar eluded Luhrmann on that occasion I doubt the Tony will, not when you consider how heart-rending, sensuous and imaginative his version of the Puccini opera is. Levings, one of our best lighting designers, is also in with a firm chance, and deservedly so.

The signs of success for La Boheme are looking good as it has already won Tony Award honours for excellence in the theatre for the show's principal ensemble, hair and wig designer, Paul Huntley, the Broadway casting agency Johnson-Liff Casting Associates and The Acting Company, America's foremost touring theatre organisation.

Although Sam Mendes's revival of the musical Gypsy opened only a few weeks ago, it has earned several nominations, including for best revival of a musical - against La Boheme, Nine and Man of La Mancha - and best performance by a leading actress for Bernadette Peters. Her performance of the role created by Ethel Merman was lauded by The New York Times, although Variety was less enthused.

Mendes hasn't been nominated for his direction, proving that oversights and anomalies aren't confined to Hollywood.

Although music theatre is a substantial part of the annual celebrations, straight drama also gets a look in, and it's the actors, possibly more than the plays, that stand out. Competing for best actor in a play are: Brian Dennehy (Long Day's Journey into Night), Eddie Izzard (A Day in the Death of Joe Egg), Brian Bedford (Tartuffe), Paul Newman (Our Town) and Stanley Tucci (Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune).

Vying for best actress are: Jayne Atkinson (Enchanted April), Victoria Hamilton (Joe Egg), Vanessa Redgrave (Long Day's Journey ...), Clare Higgins (Vincent in Brixton) and Fiona Shaw (Medea).

There's a fair amount of unpredictability in the drama stakes and it's a close contest between Redgrave and Shaw, whose gripping portrayal of Medea, directed by Deborah Warner, thoroughly deserves its nomination. With a bit of luck a producer and/or festival director will secure the production for Sydney. Fingers crossed.

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Tony Award Nominations:
(This is a full list of nominations, with La Bohème's nominations highlighted in bold. Tony Award winners can be found at the top of this page.)

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 Into Night, Eddie Izzard, Joe Egg, Paul Newman, Our Town, Stanley Tucci, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune

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 Into Night, 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 Into Night, Robert Sean Leonard, Long Day's Journey Into Night, 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 Into Night, 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

Previously announced 2003 award or honors recipients:

TONY HONORS FOR EXCELLENCE IN THEATRE: The principal ensemble of La Bohème, Paul Huntley, wig designer, Johnson-Liff Casting Associates, The Acting Company 

SPECIAL TONY AWARD: Cy Feuer for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre 

REGIONAL THEATRE TONY AWARD: The Children's Theatre Company (Minneapolis, MN) 

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