42nd Tony Awards


The 42nd Tony Awards ceremony was held on June 5, 1988, at the Minskoff Theatre and broadcast live on CBS, hosted by Angela Lansbury.

The Ceremony

Musicals represented were:
Plays represented were:M. Butterfly, Scene with John Lithgow and BD Wong;
Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Scene with Mel Winkler, Ed Hall and Delroy Lindo;
A Walk in the Woods, Scene with Sam Waterston and Robert Prosky; and
Speed-the-Plow, Scene with Joe Mantegna and Ron Silver.
A tribute to the late Michael Bennett was performed by Donna McKechnie of the original Chorus Line and the three original Dreamgirls, Terry Burrell, Loretta Devine and Sheryl Lee Ralph.
At these Tony Awards, the longest-running musical on Broadway, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, competed for awards and received the season's Best Musical award.

Winners and nominees

Winners are in bold
Best PlayBest Musical

  • The Phantom of the Opera
  • * Into the Woods
  • * Romance/Romance
  • * Sarafina!
    • Best RevivalBest Book of a Musical
  • Anything Goes
  • * A Streetcar Named Desire
  • * Cabaret
  • * Dreamgirls
  • James Lapine – Into the Woods
  • * Lee Breuer – The Gospel at Colonus
  • * Richard Stilgoe and Andrew Lloyd Webber – The Phantom of the Opera
  • * Barry Harman – Romance/Romance
    • Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a PlayBest Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
  • Ron Silver – Speed-the-Plow as Charlie Fox
  • * Derek Jacobi – Breaking the Code as Alan Turing
  • * John Lithgow – M. Butterfly as Rene Gallimard
  • * Robert Prosky – A Walk in the Woods as Andrey Botvinnik
  • Joan Allen – Burn This as Anna Mann
  • * Blythe Danner – A Streetcar Named Desire as Blanche Du Bois
  • * Glenda Jackson – Macbeth as Lady Macbeth
  • * Frances McDormand – A Streetcar Named Desire as Stella Kowalski
    • Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a MusicalBest Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
  • Michael Crawford – The Phantom of the Opera as The Phantom of the Opera
  • * Scott Bakula – Romance/Romance as Alfred Von Wilmers/Sam
  • * David Carroll – Chess as Anatoly
  • * Howard McGillin – Anything Goes as Billy Crocker
  • Joanna Gleason – Into the Woods as Baker's Wife
  • * Alison Fraser – Romance/Romance as Josefine Weninger/Monica
  • * Judy Kuhn – Chess as Florence
  • * Patti LuPone – Anything Goes as Reno Sweeney
    • Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a PlayBest Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
  • BD Wong – M. Butterfly as Song Liling
  • * Michael Gough – Breaking the Code as Dillwyn Knox
  • * Lou Liberatore – Burn This as Larry
  • * Delroy Lindo – Joe Turner's Come and Gone as Herald Loomis
  • L. Scott Caldwell – Joe Turner's Come and Gone as Bertha Holly
  • * Kimberleigh Aarn – Joe Turner's Come and Gone as Mattie Campbell
  • * Kate Nelligan – Serious Money as Various Characters
  • * Kimberly Scott – Joe Turner's Come and Gone as Molly Cunningham
    • Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a MusicalBest Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
  • Bill McCutcheon – Anything Goes as Moonface Martin
  • * Anthony Heald – Anything Goes as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh
  • * Werner Klemperer – Cabaret as Herr Schultz
  • * Robert Westenberg – Into the Woods as Wolf/Cinderella's Prince
  • Judy Kaye – The Phantom of the Opera as Carlotta Guidicelli
  • * Leleti Khumalo – Sarafina! as Sarafina
  • * Alyson Reed – Cabaret as Sally Bowles
  • * Regina Resnik – Cabaret as Fraulein Schneider
    • Best Original Score Written for the TheatreBest Choreography
  • Into the Woods – Stephen Sondheim
  • * The Phantom of the Opera – Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe
  • * Romance/Romance – Keith Herrmann and Barry Harman
  • * Sarafina! – Mbongeni Ngema and Hugh Masakela
  • Michael Smuin – Anything Goes
  • * Lar Lubovitch – Into the Woods
  • * Gillian Lynne – The Phantom of the Opera
  • * Ndaba Mhlongo and Mbongeni Ngema – Sarafina!
    • Best Direction of a PlayBest Direction of a Musical
  • John Dexter – M. Butterfly
  • * Gregory Mosher – Speed-the-Plow
  • * Lloyd Richards – Joe Turner's Come and Gone
  • * Clifford Williams – Breaking the Code
  • Harold Prince – The Phantom of the Opera
  • * James Lapine – Into the Woods
  • * Mbongeni Ngema – Sarafina!
  • * Jerry Zaks – Anything Goes
    • Best Scenic DesignBest Costume Design
  • Maria Björnson – The Phantom of the Opera
  • * Eiko Ishioka – M. Butterfly
  • * Tony Straiges – Into the Woods
  • * Tony Walton – Anything Goes
  • Maria Björnson – The Phantom of the Opera
  • * Ann Hould-Ward – Into the Woods
  • * Eiko Ishioka – M. Butterfly
  • * Tony Walton – Anything Goes
    • Best Lighting Design-
  • Andrew Bridge – The Phantom of the Opera
  • * Paul Gallo – Anything Goes
  • * Richard Nelson – Into the Woods
  • * Andy Phillips – M. Butterfly
    		• -

    Special awards

    ;Regional Theatre Tony Award
    ;Special Awards
    These productions had multiple nominations:
    The following productions received multiple awards.