54th Tony Awards
The 54th Annual Tony Awards was held at Radio City Music Hall on June 4, 2000 and broadcast by CBS. "The First Ten" awards ceremony was telecast on PBS television. The event was hosted by Rosie O'Donnell, with special guest Nathan Lane. O'Donnell has hosted a total of three times: 1997, 1998, and 2000.
The Ceremony
The opening number was "A Tony Opening", performed by Rosie O'Donnell, Jane Krakowski, Jesse L. Martin, and Megan Mullally.Production numbers from musicals included Contact, Boyd Gaines and the Girl in the Yellow Dress, Deborah Yates; Kiss Me, Kate, "Too Darn Hot"; Jesus Christ Superstar, "Superstar" and "Gethsemane"; The Music Man, Craig Bierko in "Seventy-Six Trombones" ; The Wild Party, medley from Mandy Patinkin, Eartha Kitt and Toni Collette; Swing!, medley from company and Ann Hampton Callaway and Laura Benanti; and James Joyce's The Dead, "Parnell's Plight."
Ten awards were presented prior to the main ceremony and were broadcast on Public Television in a show titled "The First 10 Awards: Tonys 2000." The show had interviews and showed clips from the season's productions, and presented the awards: Direction, Choreography, Original Score, Book of a Musical, Costume Design, Scenic Design, Orchestration, Lighting Design and Regional Theater. Michael Blakemore is the only director to win Tony Awards as Best Director of a Play and Best Director of a Musical in the same year. He won this year for Copenhagen and Kiss Me, Kate.
The television ratings for this broadcast were 7.2, down from the 1999 Tony Award broadcast of 7.9. In prior years in which O'Donnell hosted, the program had ratings of 11.2 and 10.3.
''Contact'' controversy
The winner of the award for Best Musical, Contact, raised controversy about what constitutes a musical, as it is a dance musical with no singing and minimal dialogue; and instead of original music, it uses pre-recorded music and songs. As a result of the controversy, a new category was created for the Tony Awards: Best Special Theatrical Event.Winners and nominees
Winners are in bold| Best Play | Best Musical |
| |
| Best Revival of a Play | Best Revival of a Musical |
| Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play | Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play |
| Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical | Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical |
| Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play | Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play |
| Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical | Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical |
| Best Book of a Musical | Best Original Score Written for the Theatre |
| Best Scenic Design | Best Costume Design |
| Best Lighting Design | Best Orchestrations |
| Best Direction of a Play | Best Direction of a Musical |
| Best Choreography | - |
| - |
Special awards
Regional Theatre AwardSpecial Lifetime Achievement Tony Award
Special Tony Award For a Live Theatrical Presentation
Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre
Multiple nominations and awards
These productions had multiple nominations:- 12 nominations: Kiss Me, Kate
- 8 nominations: The Music Man
- 7 nominations: Contact and The Wild Party
- 6 nominations: Swing!
- 5 nominations: Aida, Dirty Blonde, James Joyce's The Dead, Marie Christine and The Real Thing
- 4 nominations: A Moon for the Misbegotten and True West
- 3 nominations: Copenhagen
- 2 nominations: Amadeus, The Green Bird, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, Uncle Vanya and Waiting in the Wings
- 5 wins: Kiss Me, Kate
- 4 wins: Aida and Contact
- 3 wins: Copenhagen and The Real Thing