Tony Awards Bestowed at Radio City Music Hall

Bucking conventional wisdom about the 2003-2004 Tony Awards race, Avenue Q beat out Wicked for the Tony for Best Musical at the 58th annual ceremony, held tonight at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Avenue Q, a contemporary, adult take-off on Sesame Street, was also awarded Tonys for Best Score (Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez) and Best Book (Jeff Whitty). Wicked took home three Tonys, for Best Scenic Design (Eugene Lee), Best Costume Design (Susan Hilferty), and Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Idina Menzel).

The Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Assassins won four awards, including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Cerveris). Hugh Jackman, who hosted the ceremony, won the Leading Actor in a Musical award for his performance as Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz.

Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife won for Best Play and Best Actor (Jefferson Mays) while the Lincoln Center Theater production of Henry IV won for Best Revival of a Play. Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald both won Tonys for their performances (Leading and Featured, respectively) in the revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun.

The complete list of nominees is listed below with the winners notated in bold:

Best Orchestrations
Paul Bogaev, Bombay Dreams
William David Brohn, Wicked
Larry Hochman, Fiddler on the Roof
Michael Starobin, Assassins

Best Lighting Design
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Assassins
Brian MacDevitt, Fiddler on the Roof
Brian MacDevitt, Henry IV
Kenneth Posner, Wicked

Best Costume Design
Jess Goldstein, Henry IV
Susan Hilferty, Wicked
Mike Nicholls and Bobby Pearce, Taboo
Mark Thompson, Bombay Dreams

Best Scenic Design
Robert Brill, Assassins
Ralph Funicello, Henry IV
Eugene Lee, Wicked
Tom Pye, Fiddler on the Roof

Featured Actress in a Musical
Beth Fowler, The Boy From Oz
Isabel Keating, The Boy From Oz
Anika Noni Rose, Caroline, or Change
Jennifer Westfeldt, Wonderful Town
Karen Ziemba, Never Gonna Dance

Featured Actor in a Musical
John Cariani, Fiddler on the Roof
Michael Cerveris, Assassins
Raul Esparza, Taboo
Michael McElroy, Big River
Denis O’Hare, Assassins

Best Direction of a Play
Doug Hughes, Frozen
Moisés Kaufman, I Am My Own Wife
David Leveaux, Jumpers
Jack O’Brien, Henry IV

Best Choreography
Wayne Cilento, Wicked
Kathleen Marshall, Wonderful Town
Jerry Mitchell, Never Gonna Dance
Anthony Van Laast and Farah Khan, Bombay Dreams

Best Book of a Musical
Jeff Whitty, Avenue Q
Tony Kushner, Caroline, or Change
Martin Sherman (adapted from Nicholas Enright’s original), The Boy From Oz
Winnie Holzman, Wicked

Best Original Score
Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, Avenue Q
Tony Kushner (lyrics) and Jeanine Tesori (music), Caroline, or Change
Boy George, Taboo
Stephen Schwartz, Wicked

Featured Actor in a Play
Tom Aldredge, Twentieth Century
Ben Chaplin, The Retreat From Moscow
Aidan Gillen, The Caretaker
Omar Metwally, Sixteen Wounded
Brían F. O’Byrne, Frozen

Featured Actress in a Play
Essie Davis, Jumpers
Sanaa Lathan, A Raisin in the Sun
Margo Martindale, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Audra McDonald, A Raisin in the Sun
Daphne Rubin-Vega, Anna in the Tropics

Best Direction of a Musical
Joe Mantello, Assassins
Kathleen Marshall, Wonderful Town
Jason Moore, Avenue Q
George C. Wolfe, Caroline, or Change

Leading Actress in a Play
Eileen Atkins, The Retreat from Moscow
Tovah Feldshuh, Golda’s Balcony
Anne Heche, Twentieth Century
Swoosie Kurtz, Frozen
Phylicia Rashad, A Raisin in the Sun

Leading Actor in a Play
Simon Russell Beale, Jumpers
Kevin Kline, Henry IV
Frank Langella, Match
Jefferson Mays, I Am My Own Wife
Christopher Plummer, King Lear

Best Revival of a Play
Henry IV
Jumpers
King Lear
A Raisin in the Sun

Best Revival of a Musical
Assassins
Big River
Fiddler on the Roof
Wonderful Town

Best Play
Anna in the Tropics
Frozen
I Am My Own Wife
The Retreat From Moscow

Leading Actress in a Musical
Kristin Chenoweth, Wicked
Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Avenue Q
Idina Menzel, Wicked
Donna Murphy, Wonderful Town
Tonya Pinkins, Caroline, or Change

Leading Actor in a Musical
Hunter Foster, Little Shop of Horrors
Hugh Jackman, The Boy From Oz
Alfred Molina, Fiddler on the Roof
Euan Morton, Taboo
John Tartaglia, Avenue Q

Best Musical
Avenue Q
Caroline, or Change
The Boy From Oz
Wicked

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
James M. Nederlander

Regional Theatre Tony Award
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park