Titanic Tidbits

News and info ..................

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Tony Awards Presented.

The League of American Theaters and Producers and the American Theater

Wing June 1 presented their 51st annual Antoinette Perry (Tony) Awards,

for the 1996-97 season, at a ceremony at Radio City Music Hall in New

The musicals Titanic and Chicago dominated the major award categories.

Titanic, about the 1912 sinking of the Titanic cruise ship on its

maiden voyage, overcame financial and logistical problems to win

fiveTonys, including best musical. Titanic author Peter Stone won the

honor for best book of a musical, and Maury Yeston won for best score.

Stewart Laing won for best scenic design for Titanic's stage set.

Jonathan Tunick won the Tony in the newly created category of

orchestration for directing the musical accompaniment to Titanic.

Chicago led the pack of award-winning revivals, earning six Tonys. The

musical comedy, about a Chicago chorus girl in the 1920s who killed her

lover and became a celebrity when she went on trial for the murder, had

first been produced in 1975. The current version of Chicago won the

award for best revival of a musical. Walter Bobbie, who directed

Chicago, was named best director of a musical. James Naughton andBebe

Neuwirth won for best leading actor and actress in a musical,

respectively, for their performances in Chicago. The musical also won

for best choreography, by Ann Reinking.

A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen's 1879 drama about a housewife's feminist

awakening, was named best revival of a play. Janet McTeer won for best

leading actress in a play for her portrayal of the housewife, Nora

Helmer. A Doll's House director Anthony Page won the Tony for

bestdirection. Owen Teale won for best featured actor in a play for his

performance in A Doll's House.

The Last Night of Ballyhoo, a romantic comedy by Alfred Uhry about

intraethnic prejudice among Jews in Atlanta, Georgia in 1939, won for

best play. Christopher Plummer was honored as best leading actor in

aplay for his portrayal of the tormented, self-destructive Hollywood

actor John Barrymore in Barrymore.

The major winners were:

Best Play: The Last Night of Ballyhoo

Best Musical: Titanic

Best Play Revival: A Doll's House

Best Musical Revival: Chicago

Best Actress, Play: Janet McTeer, A Doll's House

Best Actor, Play: Christopher Plummer, Barrymore

Best Actress, Musical: Bebe Neuwirth, Chicago

Best Actor, Musical: James Naughton, Chicago

Best Featured Actress, Play: Lynne Thigpen, An American Daughter

Best Featured Actor, Play: Owen Teale, A Doll's House

Best Featured Actress, Musical: Lillias White, The Life

Best Featured Actor, Musical: Chuck Cooper, The Life

Best Direction, Play: Anthony Page, A Doll's House

Best Direction, Musical: Walter Bobbie, Chicago

Best Original Score: Maury Yeston, Titanic

Best Book of a Musical: Peter Stone, Titanic