61st Tony Awards

61st Tony Awards
Official poster for the 61st annual Tony Awards
Date	June 10, 2007
Location	Radio City Music Hall, New York City, New York
Hosted by	none
Most awards	Spring Awakening (8)
Most nominations	Spring Awakening (11)
Website	tonyawards.com
Television/radio coverage
Network	CBS
Viewership	5.7 million[1]
Produced by	Ricky Kirshner Glenn Weiss
Directed by	Glenn Weiss
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The 61st Annual Tony Award ceremony was held on June 10, 2007 at Radio City Music Hall, with CBS television broadcasting live. The cut-off date for eligibility was May 9, meaning that to be qualified for the 2006-2007 season, shows must have opened before or on this date.

Jane Krakowski and Taye Diggs announced the nominations on May 15, 2007.^[2][3]

This Tony Awards telecast won an Emmy Award, Outstanding Special Class Program, at the 59th Creative Arts Emmy Awards presented on September 8, 2007. Glenn Weiss, the director of the awards show, received a Directors Guild of America Awards nomination, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical Variety (television).^[4] Spring Awakening, won 8 awards including Best Musical, the most of the night.

Eligibility

Shows that opened on Broadway during the 2006–07 season before May 10, 2007 are eligible.

The ceremony

As with the 2006 Tony Award ceremony, there was no formal host and the show was emceed by the presenters.^[5]

Presenters

^[6]

Performances

The opening number showed the cast of A Chorus Line in rehearsal clothing dancing and singing "I Hope I Get It," outside of Radio City Music Hall accompanied by Marvin Hamlisch on the piano, with the cast then ending on the stage in full gold costumes performing "One".

The following musicals or performers performed:^[5]

• 110 in the Shade ("Raunchy") – Audra McDonald and John Cullum
• Grey Gardens ("The Revolutionary Costume for Today") – Christine Ebersole
• Spring Awakening (medley of "Mama Who Bore Me," "Mama Who Bore Me (Reprise)," "The Bitch of Living," and "Totally Fucked")* – Company
• Curtains ("Show People") – Company
• Mary Poppins (medley of "Chim Chim Cher-ee," "Step in Time," and "Anything Can Happen") – Company
• Company ("Being Alive") – Raul Esparza
• "American Idol" winner and replacement star Fantasia Barrino performed a song from The Color Purple in honor of Regional Theater Tony Winner Alliance Theater in Atlanta, GA, where the show premiered.

*(Because it was a live TV performance, some of the lyrics to "The Bitch of Living" and "Totally Fucked" were altered for that night's performance.)

Winners and nominees

• Winners are in bold.

In Memoriam

Special Tony Award

Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event

• Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!, Producers: Roger Alan Gindi, Stewart F. Lane & Bonnie Comley, Dan Whitten, Herbert Goldsmith Productions, Ken Grossman, Bob & Rhonda Silver, Michael A. Jenkins/Dallas Summer Musicals, Inc., Wetrock Entertainment
• Kiki & Herb Alive on Broadway, Producers: David J. Foster, Jared Geller, Ruth Hendel, Jonathan Reinis, Inc., Billy Zavelson, Jamie Cesa, Anne Strickland Squadron, Jennifer Manocherian, Gary Allen, Melvin Honowitz

Regional Theatre Tony Award

• Alliance Theatre Company, Atlanta, Georgia

Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre

• Not awarded

Multiple nominations and awards

See also

• Drama Desk Awards
• 2007 Laurence Olivier Awards – equivalent awards for West End theatre productions
• Obie Award
• New York Drama Critics' Circle
• Theatre World Award
• Lucille Lortel Awards

References

External links

• The Official Website of the Tony Awards