Tony Bennett and Mary J. Blige performed a musical salute to Broadway, while musical performances from nominated shows included: "Assassins," "Avenue Q," "The Boy From Oz," "Caroline, or Change," "Fiddler on the Roof," "Wicked" and "Wonderful Town."

Presenters included Carol Channing, Sean Combs, Taye Diggs, Edie Falco, Jimmy Fallon, Harvey Fierstein, Victor Garber, Joel Grey, Ethan Hawke, Anne Heche, Billy Joel, Scarlett Johansson, Nicole Kidman, Jane Krakowski, Peter Krause, Swoosie Kurtz, Nathan Lane, Laura Linney, John Lithgow, LL Cool J, Rob Marshall, Dame Helen Mirren, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Anna Paquin, Sarah Jessica Parker, Bernadette Peters, Phylicia Rashad, Chita Rivera, John Rubenstein, Carol Bayer Sager, Martin Short, Patrick Stewart, Sigourney Weaver, Marissa Jaret Winokur and Renee Zellweger.

Host and Tony winner Hugh Jackman currently stars as Peter Allen in the Broadway hit "The Boy from Oz." Thank you for joining him and countless other glittering stars of Broadway as they saluted the best and brightest talents from the world of American Theater.

BEST MUSICAL
AVENUE Q WINNER
Producers: Kevin McCollum, Robyn Goodman, Jeffrey Seller, Vineyard Theatre, The New Group
THE BOY FROM OZ
Producers: Ben Gannon, Robert Fox
CAROLINE, OR CHANGE
Producers: Carole Shorenstein Hays, HBO Films, Jujamcyn Theaters, Freddy DeMann, Scott Rudin, Hendel/Morten/Wiesenfeld, Bergére/Fox Theatricals/Manocherian, Roger Berlind, Clear Channel Entertainment, Joan Cullman, Greg Holland/Scott Nederlander, Margo Lion, Daryl Roth, Zollo/Sine, The Public Theater
WICKED
Producers: Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt, David Stone

BEST PLAY
ANNA IN THE TROPICS
Author: Nilo Cruz
Producers: Roger Berlind, Daryl Roth, Ray Larsen, Robert G. Bartner, The McCarter Theatre Center
FROZEN
Author: Bryony Lavery
Producers: MCC Theater, Robert Lupone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, John G. Schultz, Hal Newman, Zollo/Paleologos and Jeffrey Sine, Roy Gabay, Lorie Cowen Levy and Beth Smith, Peggy Hill, Thompson H. Rogers, Swinsky/Filerman/Hendel, Sirkin/Mills/Baldassare, Darren Bagert
I AM MY OWN WIFE WINNER
Author: Doug Wright
Producers: Delphi Productions, Playwrights Horizons
THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW
Author: William Nicholson
Producers: Susan Quint Gallin, Stuart Thompson, Ron Kastner, True Love Productions, Mary Lu Roffe, Jam Theatricals

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
ASSASSINS WINNER
Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Ellen Richard, Julia C. Levy
BIG RIVER
Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Ellen Richard, Julia C. Levy, Deaf West Theatre, Ed Waterstreet, Bill O'Brien, Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Producers: James L. Nederlander, Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley, Harbor Entertainment, Terry Allen Kramer, Bob Boyett/Lawrence Horowitz, Clear Channel Entertainment
WONDERFUL TOWN
Producers: Roger Berlind, Barry and Fran Weissler, Edwin W. Schloss, Allen Spivak, Clear Channel Entertainment, Harvey Weinstein

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
HENRY IV WINNER
Producers: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten
JUMPERS
Producers: Boyett Ostar Productions, Nederlander Presentations Inc., Freddy DeMann, Jean Doumanian, Stephanie McClelland, Arielle Tepper, The National Theatre of Great Britain
KING LEAR
Producers: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten, Stratford Festival of Canada
A RAISIN IN THE SUN
Producers: David Binder, Vivek J. Tiwary, Susan Batson, Carl Rumbaugh, Ruth Hendel, Jayne Baron Sherman, Dede Harris, Arielle Tepper, Cynthia Stroum, Barbara Whitman

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Joe Mantello, ASSASSINS WINNER
Kathleen Marshall, WONDERFUL TOWN
Jason Moore, AVENUE Q
George C. Wolfe, CAROLINE, OR CHANGE

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Doug Hughes, FROZEN
Moises Kaufman, I AM MY OWN WIFE
David Leveaux, JUMPERS
Jack O'Brien, HENRY IV WINNER

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Hunter Foster, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Hugh Jackman, THE BOY FROM OZ WINNER
Alfred Molina, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Euan Morton, TABOO
John Tartaglia, AVENUE Q

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Kristin Chenoweth, WICKED
Stephanie D'Abruzzo, AVENUE Q
Idina Menzel, WICKED WINNER
Donna Murphy, WONDERFUL TOWN
Tonya Pinkins, CAROLINE, OR CHANGE

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Simon Russell Beale, JUMPERS
Kevin Kline, HENRY IV
Frank Langella, MATCH
Jefferson Mays, I AM MY OWN WIFE WINNER
Christopher Plummer, KING LEAR

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Eileen Atkins, THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW
Tovah Feldshuh, GOLDA'S BALCONY
Anne Heche, TWENTIETH CENTURY
Swoosie Kurtz, FROZEN
Phylicia Rashad, A RAISIN IN THE SUN WINNER

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
John Cariani, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Michael Cerveris, ASSASSINS WINNER
Raúl Esparza, TABOO
Michael McElroy, BIG RIVER
Denis O'Hare, ASSASSINS

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Beth Fowler, THE BOY FROM OZ
Isabel Keating, THE BOY FROM OZ
Anika Noni Rose, CAROLINE, OR CHANGE WINNER
Jennifer Westfeldt, WONDERFUL TOWN
Karen Ziemba, NEVER GONNA DANCE

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Tom Aldredge, TWENTIETH CENTURY
Ben Chaplin, THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW
Aidan Gillen, THE CARETAKER
Omar Metwally, SIXTEEN WOUNDED
Brían F. O'Byrne, FROZEN WINNER

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Essie Davis, JUMPERS
Sanaa Lathan, A RAISIN IN THE SUN
Margo Martindale, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
Audra McDonald, A RAISIN IN THE SUN WINNER
Daphne Rubin-Vega, ANNA IN THE TROPICS

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL
Winnie Holzman, WICKED
Tony Kushner, CAROLINE, OR CHANGE
Martin Sherman (book): Nick Enright (original book), THE BOY FROM OZ
Jeff Whitty, AVENUE Q WINNER

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (MUSIC AND/OR LYRICS) WRITTEN FOR THE THEATRE
TABOO
Music: Boy George
AVENUE Q WINNER
Music: Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx
WICKED
Music: Stephen Schwartz
CAROLINE, OR CHANGE
Music: Jeanine Tesori
Lyrics: Tony Kushner

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS
Paul Bogaev, BOMBAY DREAMS
William David Brohn, WICKED
Larry Hochman, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Michael Starobin, ASSASSINS WINNER

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Wayne Cilento, WICKED
Kathleen Marshall, WONDERFUL TOWN WINNER
Jerry Mitchell, NEVER GONNA DANCE
Anthony Van Laast and Farah Khan, BOMBAY DREAMS

BEST SCENIC DESIGN
Robert Brill, ASSASSINS
Ralph Funicello, HENRY IV
Eugene Lee, WICKED WINNER
Tom Pye, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Jess Goldstein, HENRY IV
Susan Hilferty, WICKED WINNER
Mike Nicholls and Bobby Pearce, TABOO
Mark Thompson, BOMBAY DREAMS

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, ASSASSINS WINNER
Brian MacDevitt, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Brian MacDevitt, HENRY IV
Kenneth Posner, WICKED

An Award for Excellence
The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards® got their start in 1947 when the Wing established an awards program to celebrate excellence in the theatre.

Named for Antoinette Perry, an actress, director, producer, and the dynamic wartime leader of the American Theatre Wing who had recently passed away, the Tony Awards made their official debut at a dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Easter Sunday, April 6, 1947. Vera Allen, Perry's successor as chairwoman of the Wing, presided over an evening that included dining, dancing, and a program of entertainment. The dress code was black tie optional, and the performers who took to the stage included Mickey Rooney, Herb Shriner, Ethel Waters, and David Wayne. Eleven Tonys were presented in seven categories, and there were eight special awards, including one for Vincent Sardi, proprietor of the eponymous eatery on West 44th Street. Big winners that night included José Ferrer, Arthur Miller, Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Patricia Neal, Elia Kazan and Agnes de Mille.

The Early Years
From the very first year, the Broadway community embraced the Tonys. What began as a modest event grew into an annual celebration of theatrical achievement. But for their first two decades, the Tonys were a much more intimate affair than they are today.

Each year from 1947 until 1965, the dinner and Tony Awards presentation were held in ballrooms of such hotels as the Plaza, the Waldorf Astoria, and the Hotel Astor. The ceremonies were broadcast over WOR radio and the Mutual network and, in 1956, televised locally for the first time on Du Mont's Channel 5. Entertainment was provided by such Broadway favorites and talented then-newcomers as Katherine Cornell, Guthrie McClintic, Ralph Bellamy, Joan Crawford, Alfred de Liagre, Jr., Gilbert Miller, Shirley Booth, Carol Channing, Joan Fontaine, Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Anne Bancroft, Sidney Poitier, Fredric March, Robert Goulet, Gig Young, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Henry Fonda, and many others.

In spite of the untimely death of Helen Menken, then chairwoman of the Wing, the 1966 Tony Awards were presented at the Rainbow Room. The ceremony was subdued and, for the first and only time, held in the afternoon without entertainment. The following year the Tony ceremony was once again a gala affair, but with a key difference. With Isabelle Stevenson as its new president, the Wing invited The League of American Theatres and Producers--then known as the League of New York Theatres--to co-present the Tonys in 1967, just in time for the ceremony's inaugural broadcast on network television. For the first time, a national audience could watch the presentation of Tony Awards.

The Television Era
Alexander H. Cohen produced the historic broadcast, which lasted only an hour, and organized a celebratory gala that followed immediately afterward. That year the Tonys moved from their traditional hotel ballroom setting to a Broadway theatre--the Shubert. Cohen continued to produce the awards ceremony and the gala dinner for the next two decades, overseeing their national telecast on various networks on behalf of the League and the Wing. During his tenure, the Tonys became known as the finest awards program on television, incorporating live performances with the bestowal of actual awards. The Cohen era ended in 1987, and that year the Wing and the League created Tony Award Productions, a joint venture that has continued to produce the awards and their related events to this day.

CBS began carrying the broadcast in 1978, and has aired the Tonys every year since. For six years beginning with the 51st annual awards presentation in 1997, the Tony Awards program took on a new format, thanks to a unique partnership between CBS and PBS. The result was a one-hour PBS special that covered 10 awards, immediately preceding the CBS broadcast. However, beginning in 2003, CBS devoted an entire three-hour time slot to the Tonys, resulting in a seamless awards and entertainment program.

The Tonys celebrated a milestone in 1997 when the awards ceremony moved away from Broadway for the first time in 30 years. The switch to New York's celebrated Radio City Music Hall allowed the Tonys to invite members of the general public to attend the awards at this historic, nearly 6000-seat facility, which can also accommodate cast and crew members of all nominated shows. With the exception of 1999, when the Tonys returned to a Broadway theatre (the Gershwin) in order to accommodate renovations at the Music Hall, the Tonys have been held at Radio City ever since.

The Medallion
During the first two years of the Tonys (1947 and 1948), there was no official Tony Award. The winners were presented with a scroll and, in addition, a cigarette lighter (for the men) or a compact (for the women).

In 1949 the designers' union, United Scenic Artists, sponsored a contest for a suitable model for the award. The winning entry, a disk-shaped medallion designed by Herman Rosse, depicted the masks of comedy and tragedy on one side and the profile of Antoinette Perry on the other. The medallion was initiated that year at the third annual dinner. It continues to be the official Tony Award.

Since 1968 the medallion has been mounted on a black pedestal with a curved armature. After the ceremony, each award is numbered for tracking purposes and engraved with the winner's name.