CNN - 'Death of a Salesman' tops Tony winners

"Death of a Salesman" walked away with four Tony awards

Web posted on:
Monday, June 07, 1999 9:30:38 AM EST

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A 50-year-old play was the big winner at the Tony Awards on Sunday: Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" won four Tonys, including best revival and best leading actor for Brian Dennehy.

Along with Dennehy, who played Willy Loman in the classic drama, co-star Elizabeth Franz won best actress for her part as his loyal wife Linda, and their director Robert Falls also won.

In accepting his award, Dennehy tipped his hat to Kevin Spacey, the star of "The Iceman Cometh" who, along with his production, was shut out of the awards.

"Everybody won because 'Iceman Cometh' and 'Death of a Salesman' were on, and Kevin Spacey was acting and Brian Dennehy was acting and the rest of us were acting," Dennehy said. "There were no losers."

Playwright Miller, who is 83, also received a lifetime achievement award. The audience stood to cheer the 83-year-old Miller when he came out on the stage of Manhattan's Gershwin Theater. "Just being around to receive it is a pleasure," the playwright joked.

In his acceptance speech, Miller expressed the hope that Broadway would provide the changes "so that a new generation of fiercely ambitious playwrights will ... once again find welcome for their big world-challenging plays, somewhere west of London, somewhere east of the Hudson River."

Judi Dench in "Amy's View"

Dame Judi Dench, who already took home an Academy Award earlier this year for her brief but memorable role as Queen Elizabeth in "Shakespeare In Love," got to take home a Tony too as she was named best actress for her performance in the David Hare play "Amy's View."

"The winning bit is not the best, the nominating bit is the best," she said, accepting her award. "There is no such thing as doing a performance on your own, unless you are doing a one-woman show."

The audience held its breath when the best new play was announced. Warren Leight's "Side Man," a story about a jazz musician and his dysfunctional family, won out over "Closer," "The Lonesome West," and a long-lost play by Tennessee Williams, "Not About Nightingales." It was the only new play by a living American playwright.

On the flip side, there was little suspense when the envelope was opened for best musical. The winner there: "Fosse," an assemblage of dance numbers by legendary showman Bob Fosse, which garnered 17 nominations and won three of its categories.

Many also correctly predicted that "Annie Get Your Gun," starring Bernadette Peters and Tom Wopat, both of whom were nominated, would win for best revival of a musical. Peters also won best actress in a musical, but Wopat lost out to Martin Short, the lead actor in the musical "Little Me," who thanked his wife for his first Tony.

"The reality is, you raised the kids while I signed the autographs and went to Orso's," he said. "Thanks, baby!"

Though "Parade" didn't survive the whole season on the Great White Way, it did receive two awards

"Parade," a short-lived musical love story set against the backdrop of a murder and lynching in pre-World War I Georgia, picked up awards for best score (music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown) and book.

"'Parade' isn't over yet," said its book writer Alfred Uhry, best known as the author of "Driving Miss Daisy." Uhry, who blamed critics' harsh reviews for his show's closing after just 10 weeks on stage at a loss of more than $5 million. Uhry said it will open next June in Atlanta and then tour, adding: "Who knows, look for us to come back to New York."

As expected, Kristin Chenoweth, a sassy, unrepentant Sally Brown in "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown," was chosen best featured actress in a musical.

"I've never changed my clothes so fast in my life," said Chenoweth, accepting the prize right after doing a production number from the show.

Julie Andrews made her first public singing performance at the ceremony

One of the highlights of the evening: Julie Andrews sang in public for the first time since last year, trading phrases of several songs with fellow Tony presenter Carol Burnett. It was only a few months ago that Andrews said medical problems might keep her from ever singing again; she had throat surgery to remove nodules two years ago, and had made a slow vocal recovery since.

Both box office and attendance figures rose during the 1998-99 Broadway season although not as much as in previous years. Total grosses topped $588.1 million, while more than 11.6 million people saw a Broadway show. Usually it's the musicals that garner big ticket sales, but this year, plays were the big draw, with stars like Dennehy and Spacey.

Production climbed, too, with 39 new shows, compared to 33 the previous year.

There was no word yet on how many people had tuned into the Tony Awards on PBS and CBS. Without Rosie O'Donnell, who was credited with raising the show's profile by hosting it for the past two years, many expect the awards itself to be a ratings flop.

The Tony winners in 21 categories were chosen by more than 800 voters, including members of the theater community and theater journalists. The Tonys are named after Antoinette Perry, founder of the American Theater Wing, a theater service organization.

Correspondent Cynthia Tornquist contributed to this report.