The Stage

Spring Awakening and Stoppard’s Utopia sweep Tony Awards

Published Monday 11 June 2007 at 12:00 by Judd Hollander

Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia and the musical Spring Awakening were the two big winners at this year’s Tony Awards.

Continuing its winning ways in the various theatre award competitions, The Coast of Utopia took home seven awards, winning in the categories of Best Play and Best Direction (Jack O’Brien), as well as for Costume Design, Lighting Design and Set Design. The show also picked up two acting awards, with Jennifer Ehle and Billy Crudup winning in the Best Featured Actress and Actor in a Play categories.

Although actually three separate works, Utopia was considered as a single play for awards purposes. When accepting the award for Best Play, Stoppard noted that 2007 marked his 40th anniversary since he first came to Broadway with a show (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead). He also noted that Broadway was a “different planet” in 1967, recalling “they had a little ashtray clamped to the back of every seat and the author got 10% of the gross.”

Spring Awakening received eight awards, the most of the evening, including the prestigious Best Musical prize. The show also won for Best Book, Best Original Score, Best Direction, Best Choreography, Best Featured Actor in a Musical, Best Lighting Design and Best Orchestrations.

The only other show to win more than one award was Grey Gardens, about the eccentric relatives of former first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Gardens won for Best Actress and Featured Actress in a Musical (Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson, respectively) and for Costume Design.

RC Sherriff’s World War I drama Journey’s End won for Best Revival of a Play. It was a bittersweet win as the show, which received almost unanimous critical acclaim, has struggled at the box office from the start, and in fact played its final performance the afternoon of the Tonys.

Other single winners included Stephen Sondheim’s Company (Best Revival of a Musical) and Mary Poppins for Best Scenic Design of a Musical. Bob Crowley, who won for his work on Mary Poppins, also picked up a Tony for his work on The Coast of Utopia - he shared the duties on the latter show with Scott Pask - making him the only person at this year’s awards to get two Tonys for two separate shows. Company’s director John Doyle lost in his category to Michael Mayer of Spring Awakening.

The one real surprise of the night occurred in the category of Best Actor in a Musical, where David Hyde Pierce, of television’s Frasier and who originated the role of Sir Robin in Spamalot on Broadway, was the winner for his work in Curtains, beating favourite Raul Esparza (Company), as well as Gavin Lee (Mary Poppins). Best Actor for a Play went to Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon, which originated at the Donmar Warehouse.

The other winners of the evening were Julie White for Best Actress in a Play for her role in the comedy The Little Dog Laughed and Jay Johnson: The Two and Only, for Best Special Theatrical Event. White, who played a hyperactive, take-no-prisoners Hollywood agent, beat such competition as Vanessa Redgrave (The Year of Magical Thinking), Eve Best (A Moon for the Misbegotten), Angela Lansbury (Deuce) and Swoozie Kurtz (Heartbreak House).

A complete list of Tony Winners follows:

• Best Play: The Coast of Utopia
• Best Musical: Spring Awakening
• Best Revival of a Play: Journey’s End
• Best Revival of a Musical: Company
• Best Book of a Musical: Steven Sater (Spring Awakening)
• Best Original Score: Spring Awakening
• Music: Duncan Sheik
• Lyrics: Steven Sater
• Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play: Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
• Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play: Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed
• Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical: David Hyde Pierce, Curtains
• Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical: Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens
• Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play: Billy Crudup, The Coast of Utopia
• Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play: Jennifer Ehle, The Coast of Utopia
• Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical: John Gallagher, Jr., Spring Awakening
• Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play: Mary Louise Wilson, Grey Gardens
• Best Direction of a Play: Jack O’Brien, The Coast of Utopia
• Best Direction of a Musical: Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening
• Best Choreography: Bill T. Jones, Spring Awakening
• Best Scenic Design of a Play: Bob Crowley & Scott Pask, The Coast of Utopia
• Best Scenic Design of a Musical: Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins
• Best Costume Design of a Play: Catherine Zuber, The Coast of Utopia
• Best Costume Design of a Musical: William Ivey Long, Grey Gardens
• Best Lighting Design of a Play: Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner, and Natasha Katz, The Coast of Utopia
• Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Kevin Adams, Spring Awakening
• Best Orchestrations: Duncan Sheik, Spring Awakening
• Best Special Theatrical Event: Jay Johnson: The Two and Only
• Regional Theatre Tony Award: Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, GA

More information on the Tony Awards can be found at www.tonyawards.com