53rd Tony Awards

The 53rd Annual Tony Awards was broadcast by CBS from the Gershwin Theatre on June 6, 1999; "The First Ten" awards ceremony was telecast on PBS television. The show did not have a formal host.

The opening number was "There's No Business Like Show Business", sung by Bernadette Peters, Tom Wopat, and the presenters.

Host/Presenters: Julie Andrews, Bea Arthur, Alec Baldwin, Christine Baranski, Matthew Broderick, Carol Burnett, Zoe Caldwell, Mario Cantone, Stockard Channing, Alan Cumming, Judi Dench, Brian Dennehy, Laurence Fishburne, Calista Flockhart, David Hare, William Hurt, Swoosie Kurtz, Angela Lansbury, Audra McDonald, Terrence McNally, Sarah Jessica Parker, David Hyde Pierce, Chita Rivera, Jason Robards, Christian Slater, Kevin Spacey, Scott Wolf.

The musicals represented were:

• The Civil War ("Freedom's Child" - Lawrence Clayton and Company);
• Peter Pan ("I'm Flying" - Cathy Rigby and children);
• Parade ("This Is Not Over Yet"/"The Old Red Hills of Home" - Carolee Carmello, Brent Carver and Company);
• You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown ("My New Philosophy"/"Happiness" - Kristin Chenoweth, Anthony Rapp and Company);
• Fosse ("Sing Sing Sing" - Company);
• Little Me ("Boom Boom" - Martin Short and Company);
• Annie Get Your Gun ("I Got the Sun in the Morning";"Hoedown";"Old-Fashioned Wedding" - Tom Wopat, Bernadette Peters and Company).

The telecast included a special presentation featuring performers from several of the productions nominated as Best Play and Best Revival of a Play.

Winners and nominees

Winners are in bold **

Production

Best Play

• Side Man ** by Warren Leight
• Closer by Patrick Marber
• The Lonesome West by Martin McDonagh
• Not About Nightingales by Tennessee Williams

Best Musical

• Fosse **
• The Civil War
• It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues
• Parade

Best Revival of a Play

• Death of a Salesman **by Arthur Miller
• Electra
• The Iceman Cometh
• Twelfth Night

Best Revival of a Musical

• Annie Get Your Gun **
• Little Me
• Peter Pan
• You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

Performance

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

• Brian Dennehy ** for Death of a Salesman
• Brian F. O'Byrne for The Lonesome West
• Corin Redgrave for Not About Nightingales
• Kevin Spacey for The Iceman Cometh

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play

• Judi Dench ** for Amy's View
• Stockard Channing for The Lion in Winter
• Marian Seldes for Ring Round the Moon
• Zoë Wanamaker for Electra

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

• Martin Short ** for Little Me
• Brent Carver for Parade
• Adam Cooper for Swan Lake
• Tom Wopat for Annie Get Your Gun

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical

• Bernadette Peters ** for Annie Get Your Gun
• Carolee Carmello for Parade
• Dee Hoty for Footloose
• Siân Phillips for Marlene

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

• Frank Wood ** for Side Man
• Kevin Anderson for Death of a Salesman
• Finbar Lynch for Not About Nightingales
• Howard Witt for Death of a Salesman

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

• Elizabeth Franz ** for Death of a Salesman
• Claire Bloom for Electra
• Samantha Bond for Amy's View
• Dawn Bradfield for The Lonesome West

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical

• Roger Bart ** for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
• Desmond Richardson for Fosse
• Ron Taylor for It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues
• Scott Wise for Fosse

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical

• Kristin Chenoweth ** for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
• Gretha Boston for It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues
• Valarie Pettiford for Fosse
• Mary Testa for On the Town

Craft

Best Direction of a Play

• Robert Falls for Death of a Salesman **
• Howard Davies for The Iceman Cometh
• Garry Hynes for The Lonesome West
• Trevor Nunn for Not About Nightingales

Best Direction of a Musical

• Matthew Bourne for Swan Lake **
• Richard Maltby, Jr. and Ann Reinking for Fosse
• Michael Mayer for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
• Harold Prince for Parade

Best Choreography

• Matthew Bourne for Swan Lake **
• Patricia Birch (Parade)
• Rob Marshall (Little Me)
• A. C. Ciulla (Footloose)

Best Book of a Musical

• Alfred Uhry for Parade **
• Charles Bevel, Lita Gaithers, Randal Myler, Ron Taylor and Dan Wheetman for It Aint Nothin But the Blues
• Pam Gems for Marlene
• Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie for Footloose

Best Original Score Written for the Theatre

• Parade (Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown) **
• Footloose
• The Civil War
• Twelfth Night

Best Orchestrations

• Ralph Burns and Douglas Besterman ** (Fosse)
• David Cullen (Swan Lake)
• Don Sebesky (Parade)
• Harold Wheeler (Little Me)

Best Scenic Design

• Richard Hoover ** (Not About Nightingales)
• Bob Crowley (The Iceman Cometh)
• Bob Crowley (Twelfth Night)
• Ricardo Hernandez (Parade)

Tony Award for Best Costume Design

• Lez Brotherston** (Swan Lake)
• Santo Loquasto (Fosse)
• John David Ridge (Ring Round the Moon)
• Catherine Zuber (Twelfth Night)

Tony Award for Best Lighting Design

• Andrew Bridge ** (Fosse)
• Mark Henderson (The Iceman Cometh)
• Natasha Katz (Twelfth Night)
• Chris Parry (Not About Nightingales)

Special awards

• Regional Theater Tony Award
  • Crossroads Theatre Company (New Brunswick, New Jersey)

• Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award
  • Arthur Miller

• Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award
  • Isabelle Stevenson

• Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award
  • Uta Hagen

• Special Tony Award For a Live Theatrical Presentation
  • Fool Moon

External links

• Tony Awards official site