Tonys: The Play's The Thing
The play's the thing, not the musicals, at the 1999 Tony Awards on Sunday, with the emphasis on revivals, particularly potent productions of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh.
The two classics were expected to provide most of the drama as Broadway honored the best of a theater season that produced no major musical smash, but a number of hit plays, both old and new.
Salesman and Iceman square off for best-revival honors, with their two leading men, Brian Dennehy and Kevin Spacey, going to the mat for the top acting prize.
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| Kevin Spacey |
Competing for best-play honors were two entries by American writers, Side Man, Warren Leight's turbulent tale of a jazz musician and his family, and Tennessee Williams' Not About Nightingales, written more than 60 years ago but only now running on Broadway by way of the Royal National Theater in London and Houston's Alley Theater.
Also up for best play were Patrick Marber's Closer, a sleek tale of sexual intrigue set in present-day London, and The Lonesome West, Irish playwright Martin McDonagh's comedy slugfest between two bitter brothers.
Interest in the best-musical competition was minimal, with most of the attention focused on two very different candidates: Fosse, a salute to the choreographer Bob Fosse, and Parade, a love story set against the backdrop of a murder in Georgia in 1913. Parade closed in February after a short run.
Both box office and attendance figures rose during the 1998-99 Broadway season although not as much as in previous years. Total grosses topped $588.1 million, while more than 11.6 million people saw a Broadway show.
Production climbed, too, with 39 new shows, compared to 33 the previous year.
Yet no big new musical, the kind like Cats that can run and run and run, made an appearance. Only Fosse appears headed for an extended stay. Of the musical revivals, Annie Get Your Gun was the sturdiest show, although what happens when Bernadette Peters leaves early next year is a question mark.
The 53rd annual Tony Awards returned to a Broadway theater, the Gershwin, this year, because Radio City Music Hall, its home for the past two years, is being renovated.
The ceremony also featured a series of presenters instead of one host. Rosie O'Donnell, who did those chores for two years, declined this yeabecause of her busy schedule.
The Tony winners in 21 categories were chosen by more than 800 voters, including members of the theater community and theater journalists. The Tonys are named after Antoinette Perry, founder of the American Theater Wing, a theater service organization.
Written by Michael Kuchwara