King Kong, Music Director Jason Michael Webb, Late Marin Mazzie Receive Special Tony Awards

The American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League have announced that special Tony Awards will be presented to Sonny Tilders and Creature Technology Company for their puppetry work on King Kong, Choir Boy musical director and arranger Jason Michael Webb and Marin Mazzie, the celebrated actress who passed away of ovarian cancer in September. The three special honors will be presented at the 2019 Tony Awards.

Sonny Tilders and Creature Technology Company are being recognized for creating the enormous puppet that is the centerpiece of the Broadway musical King Kong. The puppet is 20 feet tall, 2,000 pounds, comprised of 1,000 feet of electrical cable and 16 microprocessors and operated by 13 puppeteers. Tilders and his team previously created the puppetry in the touring show Walking With Dinosaurs—Arena Spectacular.

Jason Michael Webb is being recognized for the arrangements he created for the Broadway play with music Choir Boy at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The show featured 10 gospel-infused songs arranged by Webb, who previously served as Music Director on the 2016 Tony-winning revival of The Color Purple. He also worked on President Barack Obama’s 2013 inauguration celebration, Disney’s Frozen: Live at the Hyperion, the popular film The Greatest Showman, TV’s Empire and as associate musical director on Broadway shows including Motown: The Musical, Leap of Faith and Violet. He is currently writing the new South African musical WiLDFLOWER, which was recently seen at the Apollo Theatre.

Three-time Tony nominee Marin Mazzie's posthumous honor celebrates her advocacy and leadership within the theater community. When she was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2015, Mazzie spoke publicly about her illness and dedicated herself to supporting the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation, The Actors Fund's Phyllis Newman's Women's Health Initiative and other related organizations. During this time, while undergoing extensive radiation treatments, Mazzie continued working, touring the country, performing alongside her husband, Jason Danieley, and starred on Broadway in The King and I. The special Tony Award is to honor her legacy of leadership and celebrate her strength. For her stage work, Mazzie earned Tony nominations for turns in Passion, Ragtime and Kiss Me, Kate. Her extensive list of Broadway credits also includes roles in Man of La Mancha, Into the Woods, Enron, Bullets Over Broadway and Next to Normal.

The 2019 Tony Awards, hosted by James Corden, will be held at Radio City Music Hall on June 9; the ceremony will be broadcast live on CBS.