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 ceremony

The opening number was "There's No Business Like Show Business", sung by Bernadette Peters and Tom Wopat.
Host Chris Rock
The musicals represented were:
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
Best PlayBest Musical

  • Fosse
  • *The Civil War
  • *It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues
  • *Parade
    • Best Revival of a PlayBest Revival of a Musical
  • Death of a Salesman – Arthur Miller
  • *Electra – Sophocles
  • *The Iceman Cometh – Eugene O'Neill
  • *Twelfth Night – William Shakespeare
  • Annie Get Your Gun
  • *Little Me
  • *Peter Pan
  • *You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
    • Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a PlayBest Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
  • Brian Dennehy – Death of a Salesman as Willy Loman
  • *Brian F. O'Byrne – The Lonesome West as Valene Connor
  • *Corin Redgrave – Not About Nightingales as Bert "Boss" Whalen
  • *Kevin Spacey – The Iceman Cometh as Theodore Hickman
  • Judi Dench – Amy's View as Esme Allen
  • *Stockard Channing – The Lion in Winter as Eleanor of Aquitaine
  • *Marian Seldes – Ring Round the Moon as Madame Desmermortes
  • *Zoë Wanamaker – Electra as Electra
    • Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a MusicalBest Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
  • Martin Short – Little Me as Noble Eggleston and Various Characters
  • *Brent Carver – Parade as Leo Frank
  • *Adam Cooper – Swan Lake as The Swan
  • *Tom Wopat – Annie Get Your Gun as Frank Butler
  • Bernadette Peters – Annie Get Your Gun as Annie Oakley
  • *Carolee Carmello – Parade as Lucille Frank
  • *Dee Hoty – Footloose as Vi Moore
  • *Siân Phillips – Marlene as Marlene Dietrich
    • Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a PlayBest Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
  • Frank Wood – Side Man as Gene
  • *Kevin Anderson – Death of a Salesman as Biff
  • *Finbar Lynch – Not About Nightingales as Jim Allison
  • *Howard Witt – Death of a Salesman as Charley
  • Elizabeth Franz – Death of a Salesman as Linda
  • *Claire Bloom – Electra as Clytemnestra
  • *Samantha Bond – Amy's View as Amy Thomas
  • *Dawn Bradfield – The Lonesome West as Girleen Kelleher
    • Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a MusicalBest Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
  • Roger Bart – You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown as Snoopy
  • *Desmond Richardson – Fosse as Various Characters
  • *Ron Taylor – It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues as Various Characters
  • *Scott Wise – Fosse as Various Characters
  • Kristin Chenoweth – You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown as Sally Brown
  • *Gretha Boston – It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues as Various Characters
  • *Valarie Pettiford – Fosse as Various Characters
  • *Mary Testa – On the Town as Madame Maude P. Dilly
    • Best Book of a MusicalBest Original Score Written for the Theatre
  • Alfred Uhry – Parade
  • *Charles Bevel, Lita Gaithers, Randal Myler, Ron Taylor and Dan Wheetman – It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues
  • *Pam Gems – Marlene
  • *Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie – Footloose
  • Parade – Jason Robert Brown
  • *Footloose – Tom Snow, Dean Pitchford, Kenny Loggins, Eric Carmen, Sammy Hagar and Jim Steinman
  • *The Civil War – Frank Wildhorn and Jack Murphy
  • *Twelfth Night – Jeanine Tesori
    • Best Scenic DesignBest Costume Design
  • Richard Hoover – Not About Nightingales
  • *Bob Crowley – The Iceman Cometh
  • *Bob Crowley – Twelfth Night
  • *Ricardo Hernandez – Parade
  • Lez Brotherston – Swan Lake
  • *Santo Loquasto – Fosse
  • *John David Ridge – Ring Round the Moon
  • *Catherine Zuber – Twelfth Night
    • Best Lighting DesignBest Orchestrations
  • Andrew Bridge – Fosse
  • *Mark Henderson – The Iceman Cometh
  • *Natasha Katz – Twelfth Night
  • *Chris Parry – Not About Nightingales
  • Ralph Burns and Douglas Besterman – Fosse
  • *David Cullen – Swan Lake
  • *Don Sebesky – Parade
  • *Harold Wheeler – Little Me
    • Best Direction of a PlayBest Direction of a Musical
  • Robert Falls – Death of a Salesman
  • *Howard Davies – The Iceman Cometh
  • *Garry Hynes – The Lonesome West
  • *Trevor Nunn – Not About Nightingales
  • Matthew Bourne – Swan Lake
  • *Richard Maltby, Jr. and Ann Reinking – Fosse
  • *Michael Mayer – You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
  • *Harold Prince – Parade
    • Best Choreography
  • Matthew Bourne – Swan Lake
  • *Patricia Birch – Parade
  • *Rob Marshall – Little Me
  • *A. C. Ciulla – Footloose

    • Special awards

    The following non-completive awards were presented:
    These productions had multiple nominations:
    The following productions received multiple awards.