2008 Tony Awards

It takes large teams with enormous talent to mount a successful show on Broadway. Actors, writers, directors, choreographers and technicians join to produce the best in drama and musical entertainment. Each year the Tony Awards honor Broadway's best. This year's recipients include:

Best Play - August: Osage County (2008 Pulitzer Prize winner - Play)
Best Musical - In The Heights

Best Revival of a Play - Boeing Boeing
Best Revival of a Musical - South Pacific

Best Musical Score - In The Heights
Best Orchestration - In The Heights

Best Leading Actress in a Play - Deanna Dunagan - August: Osage County
Best Leading Actor in a Play - Mark Ryland - Boeing Boeing
Best Actress in a Musical - Patti Lupone - Gypsy
Best Actor in a Musial - Paulo Szot - South Pacific

Best Featured Actress in a Play - Rondi Reed - August: Osage County
Best Featured Actor in a Play - Jim Norton - The Seafarer

Best Director - August: Osage County
Best Choreographer - In The Heights

Best Costume Design for a Play - Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Best Costume Design for a Musical - South Pacific
Best Scenic Design for a Play - August: Osage County
Best Scenic Design for a Musical - South Pacific  

August: Osage County
Imperial Theatre
Winner of 5 Tony Awards including Best Play
Dad has left home, mom's taking pills and there's more to the kids that meets the eye. There you have it - The Westons - a quintessential dysfunctional family living in rural Oklahoma and the focus of this year's pulitzer prize winning play, August: Osage County. The relationships withing this family are revealed and examined through riveting dialogue that moves from humor to sharp-tongued anger. The play, written by Tracy Letts, comes to Broadway from Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company with a cast of 13. Although Deanna Dunagan who earned this year's Tony for Best leading Actress in a Play has moved on. The show continues strong and is scheduled to run through
 

Boeing Boeing
Richard Rogers Theatre
Winner - Best Actor in a Play & Best Revival of a Play
This musical version of Hollywood's farce of the same name casts Mark Rylance as Bernard a businessman who has been happily juggling amorous encounters at his Paris apartment with three airline stewardesses on different flight schedules. But when a new, faster Boeing jet comes on board, all hell breaks loose. The show is scheduled for an open ended run.
 

Gypsy
Richard Rogers Theater
This energy filled musical depicts the life of Latin Americans in the north Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights. The story is narrated by the owner of a local bodega (played by the show¹s composer/lyricist, Lin-Manuel Miranda) who interacts with all the characters and comes to know their hopes, their dreams, their passions and disappointments. Their poignant stories of lives at a crossroads are told through well-composed lyrics and Vibrant music.
 

In The Heights
St. James Theatre
Winner - Best Actress in a Musical & Best Revival of a Musical
A successful off-Broadway run at the Manhattan Theater Club led this production to Broadway and earned Patti LuPone, know for her roles in Evita and Sweeney Todd, a second Tony Award. In what critics are calling a light-up-the-stage performance, Lupone plays an obsessed stage mother determined to turn her two talentless daughters into vaudeville stars.The show is currently scheduled for an open ended run.
 

Passing Strange
Belasco Theatre
After a successful run last year at the Public Theater, Passing Strange migrated to Broadway and was received with much acclaim. Described as funny, entertaining and innovative, this largely autobiographical musical takes the audience on a trip through the protagonist's early years, as he's developing his artistic voice. Stew, the writer and composer of Passing Strange, sits on the stage through the whole performance, offering a charismatic narration of events. The music is lively and infectious, drawing from a variety of sources and styles. As a musical, Passing Strange offers its audience a new take on how musicals are created and performed.
 

South Pacific
Vivian Beaumont Theater
Winner - 7 Tony Awards including Best Actor in a Musical & Best Revival of a Musical
Inarguably, Broadway's biggest hit this season is South Pacific. This production of Rogers and Hammerstein's classic musical stars Kelli O'Hara known for her recent portrayals of leading ladies in such shows as My Fair Lady, The Pajama Game and Light in The Piazza, and trained opera star Paulo Szot. The classic tale tells the story of the military officers and inhabitant of the Polynesian island they share during WWII through a series of songs that form one of Broadway's most memorable scores ever. Due to high demand the show is sold out far in advance. Tickets are available, however, if you plan ahead.
 

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