The Stage

Americans lead the way in the 62nd Tony Awards

Published Monday 16 June 2008 at 11:20 by Judd Hollander

There were a lot of British nominees, but the Americans were the big winners at the 62nd Annual Antoinette Perry “Tony” Awards, honouring the best from the recently completed 2007/8 Broadway season.

Among the few British winners was the revival of Boeing Boeing which, in a bit of an upset, edged out Macbeth in the category of Best Revival of a Play. Additionally, Boeing Boeing’s Mark Rylance beat Patrick Stewart (Macbeth), as well as Rufus Sewell (Rock’n’Roll), Ben Daniels (Les Liaisons Dangereuses) and Lawrence Fishburne (Thurgood) in the category of Best Actor.

Winning a Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Play was Jim Norton for Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer, the only award the show received. Macbeth meanwhile, was shut out, while Les Liaisons Dangereuses took home a single award, for British designer Katrina Lindsay’s costumes. Also empty-handed were the English transfers of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park With George, and Tom Stoppard’s Rock’n’Roll.

Elsewhere, the British transfer The 39 Steps took home two Tonys, for Sound Design and Lighting Design.

The big winner of the evening, with a total of seven Tony Awards, was the revival of Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. This was the first Broadway revival of the show since its premiere in 1949. South Pacific won in the categories of Best Musical Revival, Best Actor in a Musical (Paulo Szot in his Broadway debut), as well as for direction, scenic, costume, lighting and sound design.

August - Osage Country, presented by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre and which has won just about every award theatre has to offer, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, took home the Tony Award for Best Play. August was the only American entry in that category, other nominations being The 39 Steps, The Seafarer and Rock’n’Roll.

Other wins for August included Best Actress, (Deanna Dunagan edging out The Homecoming’s Eve Best and Macbeth’s Kate Fleetwood), Supporting Actress (Rondi Reed), Direction (Anna D. Shapiro) and Scenic Design. Also up for the Tony in the Supporting Actress category was Sinead Cusack (Rock’n’Roll), while Matthew Warchus (Boeing Boeing) and Conor McPherson (The Seafarer) were among those going up against Shapiro in the directing category.

The tuner In the Heights took home the Best Musical prize. In the Heights also won Tonys for Orchestrations, Choreography and Score. Also doing well was the revival of Gypsy, earning more acting Tonys than any other show, with wins for Best Actress (Patti LuPone), Best Supporting Actor (Laura Benanti) and Supporting Actor (Boyd Gaines). The only other show to pick up a Tony was the Best Musical nominee Passing Strange, which won for Best Book.

There were two special Tonys given out this year. Composer Stephen Sondheim received an award for Lifetime Achievement (his latest musical, Bounce, will premiere off-Broadway in autumn), and the late Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981), was honoured “in recognition of his historic contribution to American musical theatre in the field of orchestrations”. (He is currently represented on Broadway with South Pacific). Receiving the Regional Theatre Tony Award was the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

The winners were announced during a live three-hour telecast on Sunday (June 15). Presented by the Broadway League (formerly the League of American Theatres and Producers) and the American Theatre Wing, the evening was hosted by Oscar and Tony-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg.

The winners in full are:

Best Play: August - Osage County

Best Musical: In the Heights

Best Book of a Musical: Passing Strange, Stew

Best Original Score: In The Heights (music and lyrics Lin-Manuel Miranda)

Best Revival of a Play: Boeing Boeing

Best Revival of a Musical: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific

Best Performance - Leading Actor (Play): Mark Rylance, Boeing Boeing

Best Performance - Leading Actress (Play): Deanna Dunagan, August - Osage County

Best Performance - Leading Actor (Musical): Paulo Szot, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific

Best Performance - Leading Actress (Musical): Patti LuPone, Gypsy

Best Performance - Featured Actor (Play): Jim Norton, The Seafarer

Best Performance - Featured Actress (Play): Rondi Reed, August - Osage County

Best Performance - Featured Actor (Musical): Boyd Gaines, Gypsy

Best Performance - Featured Actress (Musical): Laura Benanti, Gypsy

Best Direction (Play): Anna D. Shapiro, August - Osage County

Best Direction (Musical): Bartlett Sher, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific

Best Choreography: Andy Blankenbuehler, In The Heights

Best Orchestrations: Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman, In the Heights

Best Scenic Design (Play): Todd Rosenthal, August - Osage County

Best Scenic Design (Musical): Michael Yeargan, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific

Best Costume Design (Play): Katrina Lindsay, Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Best Costume Design (Musical): Catherine Zuber, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific

Best Lighting Design (Play): Kevin Adams, The 39 Steps

Best Lighting Design (Musical): Donald Holder, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific

Best Sound Design (Play): Mic Pool, The 39 Steps

Best Sound Design (Musical): Scott Lehrer, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre: Stephen Sondheim

Regional Theatre Tony Award: Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Special Tony Award: Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981), in recognition of his historic contribution to American musical theatre in the field of orchestrations, as represented on Broadway this season by Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific.

Number of wins by show:

South Pacific - 7

August: Osage County - 5

In the Heights - 4

Gypsy - 3

39 Steps - 2

Boeing-Boeing - 2

The Seafarer - 1

Passing Strange - 1

Les Liaison Dangereuses - 1