30th Tony Awards

The 30th Annual Tony Awards was held at the Shubert Theatre on April 18, 1976, and broadcast by ABC television. Hosts were Eddie Albert, Richard Burton, Jane Fonda, Diana Rigg, George C. Scott and Trish Van Devere.[1]

30th Tony Awards
Date	April 18, 1976
Location	Shubert Theatre New York City, New York
Hosted by	Eddie Albert, Richard Burton, Jane Fonda, Diana Rigg, George C. Scott and Trish Van Devere
Television/radio coverage
Network	ABC

The ceremony

Presenters: Alan Arkin, Clifton Davis, Bonnie Franklin, Celeste Holm, Cloris Leachman, Michele Lee, Jerry Lewis, Hal Linden, Mary Martin, Mike Nichols, Christopher Plummer, Vanessa Redgrave, Marlo Thomas, Leslie Uggams.[1]

The theme of the show was "The Ones That Got Away", a medley of memorable songs from past musicals that did not win the Tony. Richard Burton performed a scene from Hamlet.[1]

The medley included songs from:

Annie Get Your Gun High Button Shoes Where's Charley? Miss Liberty Call Me Madam Paint Your Wagon Wish You Were Here Can-Can Peter Pan Mr Wonderful Bells Are Ringing West Side Story Flower Drum Song Gypsy Camelot

Milk And Honey Stop the World – I Want to Get Off Funny Girl Do I Hear a Waltz? Sweet Charity Walking Happy How Now, Dow Jones Hair Purlie The Rothschilds Grease Pippin Gigi Shenandoah

Musicals represented:[1]

• A Chorus Line ("I Hope I Get It"/"One" - Company)
• Bubbling Brown Sugar ("Sweet Georgia Brown" - Vivian Reed, Lonnie McNeil, Newton Winters)
• Chicago ("All I Care About" - Jerry Orbach and Company)
• Pacific Overtures ("Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea" - Mako and Company)

Winners and nominees

Source:BroadwayWorld[2]

Winners are in bold

Best Play	Best Musical
Travesties – Tom Stoppard The First Breeze of Summer – Leslie Lee Knock Knock – Jules Feiffer Lamppost Reunion – Louis La Russo II	A Chorus Line Bubbling Brown Sugar Chicago Pacific Overtures
Best Book of a Musical	Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante – A Chorus Line Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse – Chicago John Weidman – Pacific Overtures Alfred Uhry – The Robber Bridegroom	A Chorus Line – Marvin Hamlisch (music) and Edward Kleban (lyrics) Chicago – John Kander (music) and Fred Ebb (lyrics) Pacific Overtures – Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) Treemonisha – Scott Joplin (music and lyrics)
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play	Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
John Wood – Travesties as Henry Carr Moses Gunn – The Poison Tree as Benjamin Hurspool George C. Scott – Death of a Salesman as Willy Loman Donald Sinden – Habeas Corpus as Arthur Wicksteed	Irene Worth – Sweet Bird of Youth as Princess Cosmonopolis Tovah Feldshuh – Yentl as Yentl Rosemary Harris – The Royal Family as Julie Cavendish Lynn Redgrave – Mrs. Warren's Profession as Vivie Warren
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical	Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
George Rose – My Fair Lady as Alfred P. Doolittle Mako – Pacific Overtures as Various Characters Jerry Orbach – Chicago as Billy Flynn Ian Richardson – My Fair Lady as Henry Higgins	Donna McKechnie – A Chorus Line as Cassie Ferguson Vivian Reed – Bubbling Brown Sugar as Marsha/Young Irene Chita Rivera – Chicago as Velma Kelly Gwen Verdon – Chicago as Roxie Hart
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play	Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Edward Herrmann – Mrs. Warren's Profession as Frank Gardner Barry Bostwick – They Knew What They Wanted as Joe Gabriel Dell – Lamppost Reunion as Fred Santora Daniel Seltzer – Knock Knock as Cohn	Shirley Knight – Kennedy's Children as Carla Mary Beth Hurt – Trelawny of the 'Wells' as Miss Rose Trelawny Lois Nettleton – They Knew What They Wanted as Amy Meryl Streep – 27 Wagons Full of Cotton as Flora Meighan
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical	Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Sammy Williams – A Chorus Line as Paul Robert LuPone – A Chorus Line as Zach Charles Repole – Very Good Eddie as Mr. Eddie Kettle Isao Sato – Pacific Overtures as Kayama	Kelly Bishop – A Chorus Line as Sheila Bryant Priscilla Lopez – A Chorus Line as Diana Morales Patti LuPone – The Robber Bridegroom as Rosamund Musgrove Virginia Seidel – Very Good Eddie as Elsie Darling
Best Direction of a Play	Best Direction of a Musical
Ellis Rabb – The Royal Family Arvin Brown – Ah, Wilderness! Marshall W. Mason – Knock Knock Peter Wood – Travesties	Michael Bennett – A Chorus Line Bob Fosse – Chicago Bill Gile – Very Good Eddie Harold Prince – Pacific Overtures
Best Choreography	Best Scenic Design
Michael Bennett and Bob Avian – A Chorus Line Patricia Birch – Pacific Overtures Bob Fosse – Chicago Billy Wilson – Bubbling Brown Sugar	Boris Aronson – Pacific Overtures Ben Edwards – A Matter of Gravity David Mitchell – Trelawny of the 'Wells' Tony Walton – Chicago
Best Costume Design	Best Lighting Design
Florence Klotz – Pacific Overtures Theoni V. Aldredge – A Chorus Line Ann Roth – The Royal Family Patricia Zipprodt – Chicago	Tharon Musser – A Chorus Line Ian Calderon – Trelawny of the 'Wells' Jules Fisher – Chicago Tharon Musser – Pacific Overtures

Special awards

• Lawrence Langner Award Winner (Lifetime Achievement in Theatre) - George Abbott
• Regional Theatre Award - The Arena Stage, Washington, D.C. (This award takes note of the company's balanced program of distinguished revivals and a broad spectrum of new works and American premieres of important foreign plays.)
• Mathilde Pincus, for outstanding service to the Broadway musical theatre
• Thomas H. Fitzgerald, to the gifted lighting technician of countless Broadway shows and many Tony telecasts. (Posthumous)
• Circle in the Square, for twenty-five continuous years of quality productions.
• Richard Burton

Multiple nominations and awards

These productions had multiple nominations: 12 nominations: A Chorus Line 11 nominations: Chicago 10 nominations: Pacific Overtures 3 nominations: Bubbling Brown Sugar, Knock Knock, Lamppost Reunion, The Royal Family, Travesties, Trelawny of the 'Wells' and Very Good Eddie 2 nominations: Mrs. Warren's Profession, My Fair Lady, The Robber Bridegroom and They Knew What They Wanted

The following productions received multiple awards. 9 wins: A Chorus Line 2 wins: Pacific Overtures and Travesties

References

1. "Ceremony 1976" tonyawards.com, accessed May 30, 2016
2. "1976 Tony Award Winners" broadwayworld.com, accessed April 30, 2011

External links

• Tony Awards Official Site