The 54th annual Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards ceremony were held June 4, 8-11 PM (EST), at newly-renovated Radio City Music Hall in New York City. As in the past three years, PBS television aired the first hour (though some cities, such as San Francisco, did not carry that broadcast), and CBS TV carried the rest of the ceremony. Rosie O'Donnell hosted the Tonys, with Nathan Lane serving as ubiquitous comic co-host on both the PBS hour and as "special guest" on the CBS hours.
Big winners were Copenhagen for Best Play and Contact for Best Musical. Kiss Me, Kate led in awards overall, with five: Revival of a Musical, Direction of a Musical, Actor (Brian Stokes Mitchell) Costumes and Orchestration. Copenhagen also picked up a Featured Actress Award for Blair Brown and direction honors for Michael Blakemore. Aida racked up three awards during the PBS hour: Original Score, Scenic and Lighting Design; and one more biggie late in the evening: for leading actress, Heather Headley. Blakemore was a double-direction winner, for both Copenhagen and Kiss Me, Kate. The Real Thing snagged Best Play Revival honors. A Moon for the Misbegotten's Roy Dotrice was named Best Featured Actor, with Jennifer Ehle picked as Leading Actress in a Play (over her mom, Waiting in the Wings' Rosemary Harris) for The Real Thing. Stephen Dillane, her co-star, picked up Best Actor honors. Contact's Karen Ziemba and Boyd Gaines won the featured acting in a musical honors, with Susan Stroman's choreography also winning for that show.
Though producers for the critically-drubbed Aida are no doubt celebrating their good fortune, some other shows that could have used a box office boost may find it rough going after coming away empty on Tony night. The Wild Party won none of its seven nominations, and composer-lyricist Michael John LaChiusa did no better for his earlier show, the five-time nominee Marie Christine. The Music Man, a critical favorite and nominated for eight awards and winner of none, is already drawing family audiences and likely to do well throughout the summer, while True West will face a box office test only when current stars (both nominees) Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly leave in mid-June.
A mother and daughter duo (Rosemary Harris and Jennifer Ehle) competed in the Best Actress category � with the prize going to daughter Ehle, while two brothers � well, actors John C. Reilly and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who play brothers in the excellent revival of Sam Shepard's True West � were nominated for the Best Actor award.
Mother and Daughter: Friendly Competition
Sitting side by side at the Tony Awards were two of the nominees for Best Leading Actress in a Play: Rosemary Harris of Noel Coward's Waiting in the Wings and Jennifer Ehle, who played Annie, the love of playwright Henry, in Stoppard's The Real Thing. Harris is Ehle's mother.
As the Tony went to Ehle, mother and daughter threw arms around one another. Off-camera, the wise-cracking Nathan Lane, co-host for these Tonys with the equally clever Rosie O'Donnell, said that he'd heard about a new book coming out, Daughter, Dearest.
"We didn't think either of us was going to win," Jennifer said later. "We thought we'd just go and have a wonderful time of it, remember it, and it would never happen again. We'd go and have a lovely dinner with my dad" � prolific North Carolina-based author John Ehle. "I wasn't praying for myself," Harris said, sitting next to husband Ehle at the gala Tony Awards ball. "I was praying for Jennifer. I thought Stephen Dillane might get it, and I didn't think lightning would strike twice, but it did."
Up in the press room, high over the Music Hall, Ehle noted that she and her mother were both appearing, in a split role, in the upcoming Istvan Szabo film, Sunshine, whose story spans several generations. Then, she caught that the Best Actor award was going to Dillane and gasped, "Oh my God!" She crouched, clasping her knees, to hear him declare, "It turned out to be a very good night for us."
Newcomer Jennifer Ehle beat out veteran Rosemary Harris, her mother, for the actress award.
"I never viewed it as a competition and she didn't either. You can't in different theaters and different plays," said Ehle, who won for The Real Thing. Harris was nominated for Waiting in the Wings.
As for what they said pre-show, "We were just scrambling around getting ready. We didn't think either of us would win."
As for what ran through her head as she went up the stairs to the Radio City Music Hall stage, "I was thinking about not tripping and finding a toilet, it had been a two- and a half-hour wait."
Her run in The Real Thing is supposed to come to an end Aug. 12, but not because of Actors' Equity rules for British actors. "The Equity regulations don't apply to me, because I'm an American citizen." Ehle is a British resident and possesses a very British accent. Can she talk American? "Yes," she answered in decidedly tough tones.
Will all the Tonys help extend the run of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing? "Nothing planned," said Stephen Dillane, who won the actor Tony. He said the play has changed a bit since it traveled across the Atlantic. "It demands that we be a little bit more outgoing. Maybe audiences here want a bit more razzmatazz than they did in England."
Dillane denied the rumor that his body language in the role was based on Stoppard's.
Humble - and graceful - were apt words for best-actress winner Jennifer Ehle, who'd been nominated alongside her mother, theater legend Rosemary Harris. "I've never, ever viewed it as a competition, and I know she doesn't either. No one in that room does. Everybody else in the world does, so it's hard to talk about it and maintain your dignity."
Broadway caught a serious case of Anglophilia Sunday night, as British artists ranging from William Shakespeare to Tom Stoppard to Elton John were enthusiastically acknowledged at the 54th annual Tony Awards ceremony.
Stoppard's The Real Thing won the best play-revival award and swept the leading-actor nods for a play, while Kiss Me, Kate, a classical musical based on the Bard's The Taming of the Shrew, was the night's big winner, taking five trophies.
The Real Thing's Jennifer Ehle, another Briton, competed for best actress in a play against her mother, Rosemary Harris, nominated for her work in a revival of Waiting in the Wings. Obviously touched by her victory, the younger actress thanked both her parents "for teaching me to walk and talk - and read."
Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing took the Tony for best revival of a play, as well as the awards for lead actress (Jennifer Ehle) and actor (Stephen Dillane). Ehle beat out her mother, Rosemary Harris, who was nominated for Noel Coward's Waiting in the Wings. Many thought Ehle and Harris would cancel each other out in the category.
"I never ever viewed it as a competition, and I believe she didn't either," said Ehle of the oft-cited mother-daughter rivalry. Dillane beat out his closet competitor Gabriel Byrne of A Moon for the Misbegotten.
And the red-hot The Real Thing, the 1984 serio-comic drama about marriage, passion and adultery, stole the best revival of a play nod from the favorite, A Moon for the Misbegotten.
With emcee Rosie O'Donnell cracking the whip - and keeping her promise to bring the show in on time - Kate scooped up five wins, Contact and Aida tied with four each, while The Real Thing and Copenhagen each scored a triple.
Best acting nods for musicals went to Brian Stokes Mitchell for Kate and Heather Headley for Aida, while the Best Drama prizes went to Jennifer Ehle and Stephen Dillane, both in Real Thing.
And for the first time in the 54-year history of the Tonys, a mother-daughter duel was waged for the coveted Best Actress In A Play honors - and the younger generation grabbed the statuette. Ehle, 30, won for her part in The Real Thing, the 1984 Tom Stoppard serio-comic drama about marriage, passion and adultery.
Ehle dedicated her award to her mother, Rosemary Harris, who had been nominated in the same category for Waiting in the Wings. It was a fitting role reversal. The 69-year-old Harris last won a Tony 34 years ago for The Lion in Winter, and Ehle had changed schools 18 times following her mother around the world.
Jennifer Ehle scored an upset by being named best leading actress in a play for her role in The Real Thing - defeating her mom, Rosemary Harris of Waiting in the Wings.
Ehle said she and her mom "never viewed this as a competition. You can't really compete when you're in different plays."
"We were scrambling around getting dressed, and we didn't think either of us was going to win," Ehle said. "We just thought we'd go to the show and the party and have a good time with my dad."
9:59PM
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play: Jennifer Ehle, The
Real Thing
Ehle beat out her mother, Rosemary Harris, who was nominated in the same category for her work in Waiting in the Wings. Matthew Broderick, who presented the award, noted that mother wanted daughter to win and daughter wanted mother to win. Ehle pulled an upset though, not an upset over her mother (who was not expected to win) but an upset over Cherry Jones and Claudia Shear � both of whom were critical favorites. In her acceptance speech an excited Ehle thanked Harris and her father by saying, �Thank you to my beautiful parents for teaching me how to talk, walk, and read.� Backstage Ehle was in a celebrating mood. Someone gave her a glass of champagne and when she was told she needed to go to the press room, she replied, �Can I bring my champagne with?�
10:14PM
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play: Stephen Dillane, The
Real Thing
Dillane commented on how great a night it has been for The Real Thing
while Ehle watched with her Tony from backstage. Ehle was so excited she
wanted to be comfortable for his acceptance speech � she squatted on the
floor while she listened!