# 61st Tony Awards

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.
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). 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.

### Presenters

* Jane Alexander
* Christina Applegate
* Zach Braff
* Harry Connick Jr.
* Claire Danes
* Jeff Daniels
* Brian Dennehy
* Taye Diggs
* Harvey Fierstein
* Carla Gugino
* Marvin Hamlisch
* Marcia Gay Harden
* Neil Patrick Harris
* Anne Heche
* Marg Helgenberger
* Christian Hoff
* Felicity Huffman
* Mark Indelicato
* Eddie Izzard
* John Kander
* Jane Krakowski
* Angela Lansbury
* Robert Sean Leonard
* John Mahoney
* Audra McDonald
* Idina Menzel
* Bebe Neuwirth
* Cynthia Nixon
* Donny Osmond
* Bernadette Peters
* David Hyde Pierce
* Christopher Plummer
* Daniel Reichard
* Anika Noni Rose
* Liev Schreiber
* Kevin Spacey
* J. Robert Spencer
* Tommy Tune
* John Turturro
* Usher
* Ben Vereen
* Vanessa L. Williams
* Patrick Wilson
* Rainn Wilson
* John Lloyd Young

### 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:
* 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.
| Best Play | Best Musical |
| The Coast of Utopia – Tom Stoppard Frost/Nixon – Peter Morgan The Little Dog Laughed – Douglas Carter Beane Radio Golf – August Wilson | Spring Awakening Curtains Grey Gardens Mary Poppins |
| Best Revival of a Play | Best Revival of a Musical |
| Journey's End Inherit the Wind Talk Radio Translations | Company The Apple Tree A Chorus Line 110 in the Shade |
| Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play | Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play |
| Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon as Richard Nixon Boyd Gaines – Journey's End as Lieut. Osborne Brían F. O'Byrne – The Coast of Utopia as Alexander Herzen Christopher Plummer – Inherit the Wind as Henry Drummond Liev Schreiber – Talk Radio as Barry Champlain | Julie White – The Little Dog Laughed as Diane Eve Best – A Moon for the Misbegotten as Josie Hogan Swoosie Kurtz – Heartbreak House as Hesione Hushabye Angela Lansbury – Deuce as Leona Mullen Vanessa Redgrave – The Year of Magical Thinking as Joan Didion |
| Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical | Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical |
| David Hyde Pierce – Curtains as Lieut. Frank Cioffi Michael Cerveris – LoveMusik as Kurt Weill Raúl Esparza – Company as Robert Jonathan Groff – Spring Awakening as Melchior Gabor Gavin Lee – Mary Poppins as Bert | Christine Ebersole – Grey Gardens as 'Little Edie' Beale Laura Bell Bundy – Legally Blonde as Elle Woods Audra McDonald – 110 in the Shade as Lizzie Curry Debra Monk – Curtains as Carmen Bernstein Donna Murphy – LoveMusik as Lotte Lenya |
| Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play | Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play |
| Billy Crudup – The Coast of Utopia as Vissarion Belinsky Anthony Chisholm – Radio Golf as Elder Joseph Barlow Ethan Hawke – The Coast of Utopia as Michael Bakunin John Earl Jelks – Radio Golf as Sterling Johnson Stark Sands – Journey's End as Lieut. Raleigh | Jennifer Ehle – The Coast of Utopia as Various Characters Xanthe Elbrick – Coram Boy as Alexander/Aaron Dana Ivey – Butley as Edna Shaft Jan Maxwell – Coram Boy as Mrs. Lynch Martha Plimpton – The Coast of Utopia as Varenka/Natasha Tuchkov |
| Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical | Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical |
| John Gallagher Jr. – Spring Awakening as Moritz Stiefel Brooks Ashmanskas – Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me as Various Characters Christian Borle – Legally Blonde as Emmett Forrest John Cullum – 110 in the Shade as H.C. Curry David Pittu – LoveMusik as Bertolt Brecht | Mary Louise Wilson – Grey Gardens as 'Big Edie' Beale Charlotte d'Amboise – A Chorus Line as Cassie Ferguson Rebecca Luker – Mary Poppins as Winifred Banks Orfeh – Legally Blonde as Paulette Bonafonté Karen Ziemba – Curtains as Georgia Hendricks |
| Best Book of a Musical | Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre |
| Steven Sater – Spring Awakening Rupert Holmes and Peter Stone – Curtains Doug Wright – Grey Gardens Heather Hach – Legally Blonde | Spring Awakening – Duncan Sheik (music) and Steven Sater (lyrics) Curtains – John Kander (music) and Fred Ebb, Kander and Rupert Holmes (lyrics) Grey Gardens – Scott Frankel (music) and Michael Korie (lyrics) Legally Blonde – Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin (music and lyrics) |
| Best Scenic Design of a Play | Best Scenic Design of a Musical |
| Bob Crowley and Scott Pask – The Coast of Utopia Jonathan Fensom – Journey's End David Gallo – Radio Golf Ti Green and Melly Still – Coram Boy | Bob Crowley – Mary Poppins Christine Jones – Spring Awakening Anna Louizos – High Fidelity Allen Moyer – Grey Gardens |
| Best Costume Design of a Play | Best Costume Design of a Musical |
| Catherine Zuber – The Coast of Utopia Ti Green and Melly Still – Coram Boy Jane Greenwood – Heartbreak House Santo Loquasto – Inherit the Wind | William Ivey Long – Grey Gardens Gregg Barnes – Legally Blonde Bob Crowley – Mary Poppins Susan Hilferty – Spring Awakening |
| Best Lighting Design of a Play | Best Lighting Design of a Musical |
| Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner, and Natasha Katz – The Coast of Utopia Paule Constable – Coram Boy Brian MacDevitt – Inherit the Wind Jason Taylor – Journey's End | Kevin Adams – Spring Awakening Christopher Akerlind – 110 in the Shade Howard Harrison – Mary Poppins Peter Kaczorowski – Grey Gardens |
| Best Direction of a Play | Best Direction of a Musical |
| Jack O'Brien – The Coast of Utopia Michael Grandage – Frost/Nixon David Grindley – Journey's End Melly Still – Coram Boy | Michael Mayer – Spring Awakening John Doyle – Company Scott Ellis – Curtains Michael Greif – Grey Gardens |
| Best Choreography | Best Orchestrations |
| Bill T. Jones – Spring Awakening Rob Ashford – Curtains Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear – Mary Poppins Jerry Mitchell – Legally Blonde | Duncan Sheik – Spring Awakening Bruce Coughlin – Grey Gardens Jonathan Tunick – LoveMusik Jonathan Tunick – 110 in the Shade |

## In Memoriam

* Patrick Quinn
* Kitty Carlisle Hart
* Charles Nelson Reilly
* Florence Klotz
* Bob Fennell

## 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