Theater News

2006 Tony Awards Presented; History Boys and Jersey Boys Top Winners

Richard Griffiths in The History Boys
(Photo © Joan Marcus)
Richard Griffiths in The History Boys
(Photo © Joan Marcus)

The 2006 Tony Awards were bestowed this evening at Radio City Music Hall. The History Boys, Alan Bennett’s tale of English school students, won six awards: Best Play, Best Director (Nicholas Hytner), Best Actor (Richard Griffiths), Best Featured Actress (Frances De La Tour), Best Set Design (Bob Crowley), and Best Lighting Design (Mark Henderson).

Other big winners on the dramatic front included Awake and Sing! for Best Revival of a Play, Cynthia Nixon for Best Actress in a Play for Rabbit Hole and Ian McDiarmid for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Faith Healer.

On the musical side, Jersey Boys won Best Musical, Best Actor (John Lloyd Young), Best Featured Actor (Christian Hoff), and Best Lighting (Howell Binkley).
The Drowsy Chaperone won five awards, including Best Featured Actress (Beth Leavel). The Pajama Game won Best Revival and Best Choreography (Kathleen Marshall), La Chanze won Best Actress for The Color Purple, and John Doyle won Best Director for Sweeney Todd.

Instead of the traditional host, 60 celebrities were onstage in honor of the awards’ 60th anniversary. Among the stars who gave out trophies were Julie Andrews, Hank Azaria, Harry Belafonte, Norbert Leo Butz, Victoria Clark, Glenn Close, Christine Ebersole, Marcia Gay Harden, Bill Irwin, Audra McDonald, Patricia Neal, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, and Julia Roberts.

The show included special tributes to the late playwrights August Wilson and Wendy Wassertein, featuring James Earl Jones and Cynthia Nixon; the awarding of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award to director/producer Harold Prince — which included a performance of “Music of the Night” by current Phantom of the Opera star Howard McGillin; and an opening number featuring Pajama Game star Harry Connick, Jr.

In addition, the seven shows nominated for Best Musical and Best Musical Revival each presented a production number. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey introduced the segment from The Color Purple, for which she is the lead producer, and Janis Paige, the star of the original Broadway production of The Pajama Game, introduced the segment from that show’s revival alongside Michael McKean, who plays Hines.

Following is a complete list of nominees. The winners’ names are highlighted in bold.

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Best Play
The History Boys
The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Rabbit Hole
Shining City

Best Musical
The Color Purple
The Drowsy Chaperone
Jersey Boys
The Wedding Singer

Best Revival of a Play
Awake and Sing!
The Constant Wife
Edward Albee’s Seascape
Faith Healer

Best Revival of a Musical
The Pajama Game
Sweeney Todd
The Threepenny Opera

Best Actor in a Play
Ralph Fiennes, Faith Healer
Richard Griffiths, The History Boys
Zeljko Ivanek, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
Oliver Platt, Shining City
David Wilmot, The Lieutenant of Inishmore

Best Actress in a Play
Kate Burton, The Constant Wife
Judy Kaye, Souvenir
Lisa Kron, Well
Cynthia Nixon, Rabbit Hole
Lynn Redgrave, The Constant Wife

Best Actor in a Musical
Michael Cerveris, Sweeney Todd
Harry Connick, Jr., The Pajama Game
Stephen Lynch, The Wedding Singer
Bob Martin, The Drowsy Chaperone
John Lloyd Young, Jersey Boys

Best Actress in a Musical
Sutton Foster, The Drowsy Chaperone
LaChanze, The Color Purple
Patti LuPone, Sweeney Todd
Kelli O’Hara, The Pajama Game
Chita Rivera, Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life

Best Featured Actor in a Play
Samuel Barnett, The History Boys
Domnhall Gleeson, The Lieutenant of Insihmore
Ian McDiarmid, Faith Healer
Mark Ruffalo, Awake and Sing!
Pablo Schreiber, Awake and Sing!

Best Featured Actress in a Play
Tyne Daly, Rabbit Hole
Frances de la Tour, The History Boys
Jayne Houdyshell, Well
Alison Pill, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Zoe Wanamaker, Awake and Sing!

Best Featured Actor in a Musical
Danny Burstein, The Drowsy Chaperone
Jim Dale, The Threepenny Opera
Brandon Victor Dixon, The Color Purple
Manoel Felciano, Sweeney Todd
Christian Hoff, Jersey Boys

Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Carolee Carmello, Lestat
Felicia P. Fields, The Color Purple
Megan Lawrence, The Pajama Game
Beth Leavel, The Drowsy Chaperone
Elisabeth Withers-Mendes, The Color Purple

Best Director of a Play
Nicholas Hytner, The History Boys
Wilson Milam, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Bartlett Sher, Awake and Sing!
Daniel Sullivan, Rabbit Hole

Best Director of a Musical
John Doyle, Sweeney Todd
Kathleen Marshall, The Pajama Game
Des McAnuff, Jersey Boys
Casey Nicholaw, The Drowsy Chaperone

Best Choreography
Rob Ashford, The Wedding Singer
Donald Byrd, The Color Purple
Kathleen Marshall, The Pajama Game
Casey Nicholaw, The Drowsy Chaperone

Best Original Score
Chad Begeulin & Matthew Sklar, The Wedding Singer
Lisa Lambert & Greg Morrison, The Drowsy Chaperone
Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, Stephen Bray, The Color Purple
Andrew Lloyd Webber & David Zippel, The Woman in White

Best Book of a Musical
Chad Begeulin & Tim Herlihy, The Wedding Singer
Rick Elice & Marshall Brickman, Jersey Boys
Bob Martin & Don McKellar, The Drowsy Chaperone
Marsha Norman, The Color Purple

Best Orchestrations
Larry Blank, The Drowsy Chaperone
Steve Orich, Jersey Boys
Danny Troob & Dick Lieb, The Pajama Game
Sarah Travis, Sweeney Todd

Best Set Design of a Play
John Lee Beatty, Rabbit Hole
Bob Crowley,The History Boys
Santo Loquasto, Three Days of Rain
Michael Yeargan, Awake and Sing!

Best Set Design of a Musical
John Lee Beatty, The Color Purple
David Gallo, The Drowsy Chaperone
Derek McLane, The Pajama Game
Klara Zieglerova, Jersey Boys

Best Costume Design of a Play
Michael Krass, The Constant Wife
Santo Loquasto, A Touch of the Poet
Catherine Zuber, Awake and Sing!
Catherine Zuber, Edward Albee’s Seascape

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes, The Drowsy Chaperone
Susan Hilferty, Lestat
Martin Pakledinaz, The Pajama Game
Paul Tazewell, The Color Purple

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Christopher Akerlind, Awake and Sing!
Paul Gallo, Three Days of Rain
Mark Henderson, Faith Healer
Mark Henderson, The History Boys

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Ken Billington & Brian Monahan, The Drowsy Chaperone
Howell Binkley, Jersey Boys
Natasha Katz, Tarzan
Brian MacDevitt, The Color Purple