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Tony Award
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The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, or more commonly, the Tony Awards, is a recognition of achievement in live American theatre presented by the American Theatre Wing at an annual ceremony in New York City.
Contents
- 1 History of the Tony Award
- 2 Rules for a "new" play or musical
- 3 Award Categories
- 4 Trivia
- 5 See also
- 6 External links
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History of the Tony Award
Awarded by a panel of approximately 700 judges from various areas of the entertainment industry and press, it is generally regarded as the theatre's equivalent to the Oscars, for excellence in film; the Grammys for the music industry, and the Emmys for excellence in television. The award was founded by the American Theatre Wing in 1947 at the suggestion of a committee of theatrical producers headed by Brock Pemberton, but not until the third awards ceremony in 1949 was the first Tony medallion actually given to award winners.
Since 1967 the award ceremony has been broadcast on national television, and includes
songs from the nominated
musicals, as well as video clips of or presentations about nominated plays. The American Theatre Wing and the
League of American Theatres and Producers jointly present and administer the awards. Audiences for the telecast are generally well-below those of other awards shows, but the program reaches an affluent audience, which is prized by advertisers.
Rules for a "new" play or musical
For the purposes of the award, a "new" play or musical is one that has not previously been produced on Broadway and is not part of the "historical or popular repertoire." This phrase has been the subject of some controversy, as some shows have been ruled ineligible for the "new" categories, meaning that their authors did not have a chance to win the marquee awards of Best Play or Best Musical (or Best Score or Best Book for musicals). On the other hand, some people feel that allowing plays and musicals which are commonly produced to be eligible as new gives them an unfair advantage, because they will have benefited from additional development time as well as additional familiarity with the Tony voters. Shows recently transferred from Off-Broadway or the West End are eligible as new; so are productions based closely on movies.
Award Categories
Trivia
- The musicals that fared most poorly on Tony night were Chicago (1976) and Steel Pier (1997), both of which received 11 nominations but won no awards. Coincidentally, both shows have scores by John Kander and Fred Ebb. Chicago had the misfortune of competing against A Chorus Line, which dominated the musical categories with nine awards. Ironically, Steel Pier saw several of its nominations lose to the revival of Chicago which, on its second outing, took home six awards.
- While several performers have won Tonys for roles that have involved cross dressing, only two have won for performing in roles in which the character is actually a member of the opposite sex: Mary Martin in the title role of Peter Pan (1955) and Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (2003).
- Only a handful of shows have won the triple crown of design awards; Tony Awards for Best Scenic Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Lighting Design: Follies (1972), The Phantom of the Opera (1988), The Lion King (1998), The Producers (2001), and The Light in the Piazza (2005).
- The most Tony Awards ever received by a musical was "The Producers" with 12 awards including best musical.
See also
