42nd Tony Awards

Eligibility

Shows that opened on Broadway during the 1987–1988 season before May 4, 1988 were eligible.

;Original plays

• Breaking the Code
• Burn This
• Joe Turner's Come and Gone
• La Serva Amorosa
• M. Butterfly
• Serious Money
• Sherlock's Last Case
• Speed-the-Plow
• A Walk in the Woods ;Original musicals
• Chess
• Don't Get God Started
• The Gospel at Colonus
• Into the Woods
• Late Nite Comic
• Mail
• Oba Oba
• The Phantom of the Opera
• Romance/Romance
• Roza
• Sarafina!
• Teddy & Alice ;Play revivals
• Broadway
• The Comedy of Errors
• Macbeth
• A Streetcar Named Desire ;Musical revivals
• Anything Goes
• Cabaret
• Dreamgirls

The ceremony

Musicals represented were:

• A Chorus Line, "Music and the Mirror" – Donna McKechnie
• Anything Goes, "Anything Goes" – Patti LuPone and Company
• Dreamgirls, "One Night Only"/"Dreamgirls" – Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine and Terry Burrell;
• Into the Woods, "Into the Woods"/"Children Will Listen" – Phylicia Rashad and Company;
• The Phantom of the Opera, Last verse of "The Phantom of the Opera" and "The Music of The Night" – Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford;
• Romance/Romance, "I'll Always Remember the Song"/"It's Not Too Late" – Scott Bakula, Alison Fraser and Company
• Sarafina!, "Sarafina!" – Company

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 The Phantom of the Opera, competed for awards and received the season's Best Musical award.

Winners and nominees

Winners are in bold

Special awards

;Regional Theatre Tony Award

• South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, CA

;Special Awards

• Brooklyn Academy of Music

Multiple nominations and awards

These productions had multiple nominations:

• 10 nominations: Anything Goes, Into the Woods and The Phantom of the Opera
• 7 nominations: M. Butterfly
• 6 nominations: Joe Turner's Come and Gone
• 5 nominations: Romance/Romance and Sarafina!
• 4 nominations: Cabaret
• 3 nominations: Breaking the Code, Speed-the-Plow and A Streetcar Named Desire
• 2 nominations: Burn This, Chess and A Walk in the Woods

The following productions received multiple awards.

• 7 wins: The Phantom of the Opera
• 3 wins: Anything Goes, Into the Woods and M. Butterfly

References

References

1. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110519173408/http://http/ "1988 - 42nd Annual Tony Awards"] tonyawards.com, accessed April 29, 2011
2. Rothstein, Mervyn.[https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/06/theater/phantom-of-the-opera-wins-seven-tonys-best-play-butterfly.html?scp=1&sq=%22Tony+Award%22&st=nyt " 'Phantom Of The Opera' Wins Seven Tonys; Best Play: 'Butterfly' "] ''New York Times'', June 6, 1988