Piazza, Doubt, Spamalot Top List of 2005 Tony Award Winners

Tony voters shared the wealth this year-eleven productions took home Tonys when the 2005 Tony Awards were announced on June 5 at Radio City Music Hall. The Light in the Piazza received six gold disks, topping the list of winners. The show did not win the big Best Musical Award however-that went to Spamalot, which received three Tonys in all Best Musical, Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Sara Ramirez, and Best Director of a Musical for Mike Nichols.

The most honored play of the evening was Doubt, which received four Tonys: Best Play, Best Actress in a Play for Cherry Jones, Best Featured Actress in a Play for Adriane Lenox and Best Director of a Play for Doug Hughes. The other straight plays to get multiple Tonys include the revival of Glengarry Glen Ross with two Best Revival of a Play and Best Featured Actor in a Play for Liev Schreiber and The Pillowman, also with two Best Scenic Design of a Play for Scott Pask and Best Lighting Design of a Play for Brian MacDevitt

This year's awards offered few surprises, but there were still a couple of recipients in major categories that shocked most pundits. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? leading man Bill Irwin took home the Best Actor Tony, over Doubt's Brían F. O'Byrne, who most theatrical pundits picked to win. The Pillowman's Michael Stuhlbarg was the odds on favorite to receive the Best Featured Actor in a Play Tony, but that honor instead when to Glengarry Glen Ross' Schreiber.

The 2005 Tony Awards were announced on June 5 at Radio City Music Hall in a ceremony hosted by Hugh Jackman.

And the winners are:

Best Musical
Spamalot
Producer: Boyett Ostar Productions, The Shubert Organization, Arielle Tepper, Stephanie McClelland/Lawrence Horowitz, Elan V. McAllister/Allan S. Gordon, Independent Presenters Network, Roy Furman, GRS Associates, Jam Theatricals, TGA Entertainment, Clear Channel Entertainment

Best Play
Doubt
Author: John Patrick Shanley
Producer: Carole Shorenstein Hays, MTC Productions, Inc., Lynne Meadow, Barry Grove, Roger Berlind, Scott Rudin

Best Revival of a Musical
La Cage aux Folles
Producer: James L. Nederlander, Clear Channel Entertainment, Kenneth Greenblatt, Terry Allen Kramer, Martin Richards

Best Revival of a Play
Glengarry Glen Ross
Producer: Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Jam Theatricals, Boyett Ostar Productions, Ronald Frankel, Philip Lacerte, Stephanie P. McClelland/CJM Productions, Barry Weisbord, Zendog Productions, Herbert Goldsmith Productions, Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Ellen Richard, Julia C. Levy

Best Special Theatrical Event
700 Sundays
Producer: Janice Crystal, Larry Magid, Face Productions

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Victoria Clark, The Light in the Piazza

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Cherry Jones, Doubt

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Bill Irwin, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Dan Fogler, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Sara Ramirez, Spamalot

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Liev Schreiber, Glengarry Glen Ross

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Adriane Lenox, Doubt

Best Direction of a Musical
Mike Nichols, Spamalot

Best Direction of a Play
Doug Hughes, Doubt

Best Original Score Music and/or Lyrics Written for the Theatre
Adam Guettel, The Light in the Piazza

Best Choreography
Jerry Mitchell, La Cage aux Folles

Best Book of a Musical
Rachel Sheinkin, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Scott Pask, The Pillowman

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Michael Yeargan, The Light in the Piazza

Best Costume Design of a Play
Jess Goldstein, The Rivals

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Catherine Zuber, The Light in the Piazza

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Brian MacDevitt, The Pillowman

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Christopher Akerlind, The Light in the Piazza

Best Orchestrations
Ted Sperling, Adam Guettel and Bruce Coughlin, The Light in the Piazza