Assassins Wins Big at the 2004 Tony Awards

The Roundabout Theatre Company production of Assassins topped the 2004 Tony Awards with five awards, including Best Revival of a Musical, when the winners were announced at Radio City Music Hall on June 6. In one of the night's big shockers, Avenue Q, winner of three awards total, picked up the Tony for Best Musical. It beat out the big-budget spectacular Wicked, which was the favorite in that category. Wicked did not go home empty handed however; the tuner also won three Tonys, including one for leading lady Idina Menzel, who shocked many by beating out the woman the majority of pundits predicted to win, Caroline, or Change's Tonya Pinkins. The most honored plays were A Raisin in the Sun, Henry IV and I Am My Own Wife, which all received two Tonys.

Some more notes on this year's awards:

-- With her fourth Tony win the first three were for Carousel, Master Class and Ragtime A Raisin in the Sun's Audra McDonald now has a place in Broadway history alongside fellow four-time Tony Award-winning actresses Angela Lansbury, Gwen Verdon and Mary Martin.

-- Last year Joe Mantello picked up his first Tony Award for directing the play Take Me Out. This season he helmed two musicals, Wicked and Assassins and won his second consecutive Tony for directing the latter. Similarly, last season Jack O'Brien won a Tony for directing the hit Broadway musical Hairspray and this year took the podium for his work on a very different project, the Lincoln Center Theater revival of Henry IV.

-- With her win for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, Phylicia Rashad, who plays Lena Younger in A Raisin in the Sun, became the first black woman to win the Tony in that category.

-- Not many people thought Avenue Q librettist Jeff Whitty would take home a Tony only one of the 14 pundits whose predictions were reported by Broadway.com picked the first-time nominee to win, but he did, beating out Best Book category favorites Winnie Holzman Wicked and Tony Kushner Caroline, or Change.

Here is a complete list of winners:

Best Musical
Avenue Q

Best Play
I Am My Own Wife

Best Revival of a Musical
Assassins

Best Revival of a Play
Henry IV

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Hugh Jackman, The Boy From Oz

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Idina Menzel, Wicked

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Jefferson Mays, I Am My Own Wife

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Phylicia Rashad, A Raisin in the Sun

Best Featured Actress in a Play
Audra McDonald, A Raisin in the Sun

Best Featured Actor in a Play
Brían F. O'Byrne, Frozen

Best Featured Actor in a Musical
Michael Cerveris, Assassins

Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Anika Noni Rose, Caroline, or Change

Best Director of a Musical
Joe Mantello, Assassins

Best Director of a Play
Jack O'Brien, Henry IV

Best Choreography
Kathleen Marshall, Wonderful Town

Best Original Score
Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, Avenue Q

Best Book of a Musical
Jeff Whitty, Avenue Q

Best Scenic Design
Eugene Lee, Wicked

Best Costume Design
Susan Hilferty, Wicked

Best Lighting Design
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Assassins

Best Orchestrations
Michael Starobin, Assassins

Regional Theatre Tony Award
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
James M. Nederlander

Productions with two or more wins:
Assassins - 5
Avenue Q - 3
Wicked - 3
A Raisin in the Sun - 2
Henry IV - 2
I Am My Own Wife - 2