Tony Recap: Piazza, Doubt and Spamalot Win Multiple Awards

By: Jun. 06, 2005
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The 2005 Tonys were anything but a sweep this year, with the awards scattered among a number of different plays and musicals.

Despite losing Best Musical to Monty Python's Spamalot, The Light in the Piazza was the big musical winner of the night, with six awards in tow--Best Actress in a Musical for Victoria Clark, Best Score for Adam Guettel, Best Orchestrations and all three awards in the technical categories for which it qualified, Best Costume Design of a Musical for Catherine Zuber, Best Lighting Design of a Musical for Christopher Akerlind and Best Scenic Design in a Musical for Michael Yeargan.

Spamalot trotted away with three awards, and won the second most Tonys of the nominated musicals. Sara Ramirez won Best Actress in a Musical; recovering from a cold, she thanked Claritin and her doctors, among others. Mike Nichols was honored with the Tony for Best Director of a Musical, and seemed truly grateful for the award, despite having won eight previous ones. The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee received two Tonys--Best Book of a Musical for Rachel Sheinkin and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Dan Fogler. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels swiped a Best Actor in a Musical award for Norbert Leo Butz. Upon reaching the podium, the unusually-named actor exclaimed, "I just got the joke!"

The musical wins generally followed a predictable course (with the exception of the Best Featured Actress Category, for which Ramirez and Spelling Bee's Celia Keenan Bolger seemed about equally favored). Yet there were a number of upsets in the play categories. Glengarry Glen Ross' Liev Schreiber trumped The Pillowman's Michael Stuhlbarg to win Best Featured Actor in a Play. Similarly, the announced name of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf's Bill Irwin must have come as a shock to those who were waiting to hear that of Doubt's Brian F. O'Byrne called out.

In other unexpected wins, Jess Goldstein was the recipient of the Best Costume Design of a Play Tony for The Rivals. La Cage aux Folles beat out Sweet Charity for Best Revival of a Musical; it had been a close call between the two. La Cage also won a Best Choreography Tony for the twice-nominated Jerry Mitchell. Both Charity and fellow Best Revival of a Musical nominee Pacific Overtures were shut out.

Of the plays, Doubt came out with the most awards--four of them. The John Patrick Shanley drama was chosen as Best Play, while Doug Hughes was dubbed Best Director of a Play, Cherry Jones Best Actress in a Play and Adriane Lenox received the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Glengarry Glen Ross was gifted with Best Revival of a Play, in addition to the Schreiber win. Tied with the Mamet play for the most play awards, The Pillowman received two Tonys--Best Lighting Design of a Play for Brian MacDevitt and Best Scenic Design of a Play for Scott Pask. Billy Crystal was honored with the Best Special Theatrical Event Tony for 700 Sundays, remarking that the Tony was a cherry atop all of them.

Bernadette Peters opened the ceremony with a rousing "Another Opening, Another Show," and a retrospective of the year's shows was duly shown, as well as snippets from the nominated musicals. Hugh Jackman, who hosted the ceremony, bantered with Billy Crystal, who seemed intent on stealing the emcee duties from under Jackman's nose. Jackman justified his Tony award of last year by performing a medley of standards, showtunes and even "Shake Your Booty." In addition, he blended voices with Aretha Franklin on a vocally-powerful "Somewhere"--a nod to Stephen Sondheim's recent 75th birthday. Jesse L. Martin led the Chicago cast in a performance of "Razzle Dazzle," as a loving nod to Fred Ebb's having passed away last year. However, Jerry Orbach's name was overlooked in the memorial list.

Although it was not actually aired live on the CBS broadcast, Sally Field's presentation of the Lifetime Acheivement in the Theatre Award to legendary playwright Edward Albee was re-shown. The visibly moved Albee, who is represented this year by Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, thanked his late partner and wittily remarked on the pleasures of receiving such an honor sooner than later.

Throughout the evening, numbers from Spamalot ("Find Your Grail"), The Light in the Piazza ("Statues and Stories"), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels ("Great Big Stuff"), Sweet Charity (a medley of "Big Spender," "If My Friends Could See Me Now," and "I'm a Brass Band"), La Cage aux Folles (the title song) and The 25th Annual Putnam County Bee ("Serenity Prayer") were performed by cast members. In the latter number, the Reverend Al Sharpton joined the youthful brainiacs, only to be stumped on the word "dengue."

All in all, the drama of a Tony ceremony of tight races, dark horses and even some surefire favorites almost matched the drama that unfolded on over three dozen Broadway stages last season.


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