Tony Award
What is popularly called the Tony Award but is formally the "Antoinette Perry Award" is an annual American award celebrating achievements in theater, including musical theater. Awarded by a panel of approximately 700 judges from various areas of the industry, it is generally regarded as the theatre's closest equivalent to the Oscars. While the award was founded in 1947, it was at the third awards ceremony in 1949 that the first actual Tony medallion was given to award winners.
The award ceremony is broadcast on television, and includes songs from the nominated musicals.
Winning a Tony award in a major category--best new play, best new musical, best play revival, best musical revival, or best actor or actress--can dramatically increase a show's ticket sales. A shortlist for the award is published several weeks before the award ceremony; between then and the announcement of the winners, plays advertise how many Tonys they have been nominated for.
The awards are named after Antoinette Perry, a founder of the American Theater Wing.
Eligibility for the awards is restricted to shows playing on Broadway during the season in question. (Having closed does not make a show ineligible, though the voters generally favor shows that are still running when the awards are given.) For the purposes of the award, a "new" play or musical is one that has not previously been produced on Broadway. Shows transferred from Off-Broadway or London are eligible as new; so are productions based closely on movies.
The awards include (some listed below are no longer presented):
- Tony Award for Best Musical
- Tony Award for Best Play
- Tony Award for Best Revival
- Tony Award for Best Revival (Musical)
- Tony Award for Best Revival (Play)
- Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical
- Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play
- Tony Award for an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
- Tony Award for an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
- Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
- Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play
- Tony Award for an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
- Tony Award for Best Musical
- Tony Award for Best Revival (Musical)
- Tony Award for an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
- Tony Award for Best Play
- Tony Award for Best Revival (Play)
- Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical
- Tony Award for Best Choreographer
- Tony Award for Best Conductor and Musical Director
- Tony Award for Best Costume Designer
- Tony Award for Best Director (Musical)
- Tony Award for Best Director (Play)
- Tony Award for Best Director (Play or Musical)
- Tony Award for Best Lighting Designer
- Tony Award for Best Orchestrations
- Tony Award for Best Musical Score
- Tony Award for Best Peformance By Newcomers
- Tony Award for Best Regional Theater
- Tony Award for Best Scenic Designer
- Tony Award for Special Theatrical Event
- Tony Award for Best Stage Technician
- Special Tony Award
- Tony Honor Award






