NEW YORK, May 10 (UPI) -- The musical "Wicked," a prequel to the "Wizard of Oz" story, was the top scorer Monday in the competition for the 58th annual Tony Awards for the best of Broadway, winning 10 nominations, including best musical for the 2003-04 season.
The nearest runner up with seven nominations was the revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical "Assassins" about the men and women who killed or attempted to kill U.S. presidents, followed by six for the new musical "Avenue Q," whose cast includes puppets, six for Tony Kushner's "Caroline, or Change," and six for a revival of Shakespeare's "Henry IV."
The contenders for the Antoinette Perry Awards, chosen by 26 theater professionals and given jointly by the American Theater Wing and the League of American Theaters and Producers, were announced at a news conference. The Tonys will be presented June 6 in a three-hour live telecast on CBS from Radio City Music Hall with Hugh Jackman, star of "The Man from Oz," as host.
More than 700 members of the theater community and theater critics will select the winners. Already announced as winner of the 2004 Regional Theater Tony Award is the Playhouse in the Park in Cincinnati, and as winner of a Special Tony Lifetime Achievement Award James M. Nederlander, theater chain owner-operator and producer.
"Wicked," which has music by Stephen Schwartz and focuses on Oz's two witches, has as its competition for best musical "The Boy from Oz," about showman-songwriter Peter Allen, "Caroline, or Change," concerning a high principled black maid in the 1960s South, and "Avenue Q," a portrait of today's unemployed young college graduates.
Competing for best play are Nilo Cruz's "Anna in the Tropics," a Latino family tragedy set in Florida, Bryony Lavery's "Frozen," about the repercussions of the slaying of a 10-year-old girl, Doug Wright's "I Am My Own Wife," the biography of a German transvestite that won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for drama, and William Nicholson's "The Retreat from Moscow," about a dysfunctional family.
Nominations for best revival of a play were "Henry IV" and "King Lear," both Lincoln Center Theater productions, Tom Stoppard's "Jumpers," and Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun." Nominated for best revival of a musical were "Assassins," "Big River," "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Wonderful Town."
Among the prominent actors named for their performances in leading and supporting roles were Kevin Kline for "Henry IV," Frank Langella for "Match," Christopher Plummer for "King Lear," Eileen Atkins for "The Retreat from Moscow," Tovah Feldshuh for "Golda's Balcony," Anne Heche for "Twentieth Century," Swoosie Kurtz for "Frozen," Phylicia Rashad for "A Raisin in the Sun," Hugh Jackman for "The Boy from Oz," Alfred Molina for "Fiddler on the Roof," Kristin Chenoweth for "Wicked," Donna Murphy for "Wonderful Town," Tonya Pinkins for "Caroline, or Change," Simon Russell Beale for "Jumpers," Ben Chaplin for "The Retreat from Moscow," Audra McDonald for "A Raisin in the Sun," Michael Cerveris for "Assassins," Denis O'Hare for "Assassins" and Karen Ziemba for "Never Gonna Dance."
--
(Please send comments to [email protected].)
