'Doubt' sweeps Tonys,'Spamalot' best musical

NEW YORK - John Patrick Shanley added a Tony Award to his Pulitzer Prize yesterday as his play "Doubt" about a nun who suspects a Catholic priest of abusing children picked up Broadway's top honor.

"Doubt" won four Tonys, including best play and best director, a tally topped only by "The Light in the Piazza" which won six awards, though it missed out on best musical which went to "Monty Python's Spamalot."

"I have an Oscar and a Pulitzer and now a Tony Award and I still can't do the Sunday Times crossword puzzle," said Shanley, who won an Academy Award for "Moonstruck" in 1988 and a Pulitzer earlier this year for "Doubt."

"John Patrick Shanley, you have written a great American play that's going to be performed around the world," Cherry Jones said, accepting the award for best actress in a play.

Adriane Lenox won best featured actress in a play for her role as the mother of a child Jones's character suspects is being abused, a part that involves little more than 10 minutes on stage in just a single scene.

"I guess less is more," she said in her acceptance speech.

In the musical categories, the evening had been billed as a face-off between the David and Goliath pair of the star-studded "Monty Python's Spamalot" and the low-budget underdog "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."

"Spamalot," based on the works of the offbeat British comedy troupe, had garnered 14 nominations, but had to make do with three awards. Still, it won the big ones: best musical and best director, for veteran writer and director Mike Nichols.

Sara Ramirez won the award for best featured actress in a musical. It was the ninth Tony Award for Nichols, who said the producers hoped to take the show to London next year.

Nichols admitted he was feeling nervous during the ceremony as a string of early awards went to "The Light in the Piazza."

"I sat there thinking 'We're in the toilet, this is backlash big time'... but then it turned out OK," he told reporters backstage after paying tribute to original Python Eric Idle who created "Spamalot."

PIAZZA WINS BIG, BEE SCORES

"Spelling Bee" won two awards for best book of a musical and best featured actor, Dan Fogler, while "Light in the Piazza" won six including best score and best actress in a musical, Victoria Clark.

The story about an American mother and daughter traveling to Italy in the 1950s swept the board in the technical categories, winning best costume, lighting and scenic design in a musical as well as best orchestrations.

Adam Guettel, who won for the best original score for "Piazza," said he wished he could show the award to his grandfather, the legendary Richard Rodgers, creator of such classics as "Oklahoma" with Oscar Hammerstein.

Speaking backstage, Guettel recalled dreaming about his grandfather: "In the dream he told me 'You have your own voice,"' he said. "I sure would love to show it to him."

The Tony for best actor in a play went to Bill Irwin for his role in the revival of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," whose author Edward Albee was presented with a special Tony Award for lifetime achievement.

David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross" also picked up two awards, for best revival of a play and best featured actor, a category in which Liev Schreiber triumphed over two of his own co-stars, Alan Alda and Gordon Clapp.

"La Cage aux Folles," which like "Glengarry Glen Ross" was originally produced in the 1983/84 season, won the award for best musical revival as well as best choreography.

"The Pillowman" by Martin McDonagh may go down as the most overlooked play, picking up just two awards for scenic design and lighting of a play.

There was no surprise in the category of best special theatrical event, won by comedian Billy Crystal for the one-man show about his life, "700 Sundays." "I want to thank everybody on behalf of the entire cast," he quipped.

The Tony winners are ...

Musical: Monty Python's Spamalot

Play: Doubt

Book of a musical: Rachel Sheinkin, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Original score: Adam Guettel, The Light in the Piazza

Revival, play: Glengarry Glen Ross

Revival, musical: La Cage aux Folles

Special theatrical event: Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays

Actor, play: Bill Irwin, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Actress, play: Cherry Jones, Doubt

Actor, musical: Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Actress, musical: Victoria Clark, The Light in the Piazza

Featured actor, play: Liev Schreiber, Glengarry Glen Ross

Featured actress, play: Adriane Lenox, Doubt

Featured actor, musical: Dan Fogler, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Featured actress, musical: Sara Ramirez, Monty Python's Spamalot

Scenic design, play: Scott Pask, The Pillowman

Scenic design, musical: Michael Yeargan, The Light in the Piazza

Costume design, play: Jess Goldstein, The Rivals.

Costume design, musical: Catherine Zuber, The Light in the Piazza

Lighting design, play: Brian MacDevitt, The Pillowman

Lighting design, musical: Christopher Akerlind, The Light in the Piazza

Direction, play: Doug Hughes, Doubt

Direction, musical: Mike Nichols, Monty Python's Spamalot

Choreography: Jerry Mitchell, La Cage aux Folles

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

Regional theatre: Theatre de la Jeune Lune of Minneapolis

Special Tony Award for lifetime achievement: Edward Albee


- REUTERS