June 06, 2005

The Tony Awards spread the wealth

NEW YORK
Boston Globe

By Ed Siegel, Globe Staff | June 6, 2005

There was never any doubt about ''Doubt," John Patrick Shanley's provocative drama about certainty vs. uncertainty, winning the Tony Award last night as best play along with three other awards. Cherry Jones as the redoubtable nun who accuses a priest of sexual abuse without any evidence, was awarded best actress along with featured actress Adriane Lenox and director Doug Hughes.

In fact, there wasn't much doubt about anything last night as the four nominated musicals split the awards, as predicted, with ''Monty Python's Spamalot" named the best musical and ''The Light in the Piazza" taking the most statues, six.

Bill Irwin, though, pulled the one upset of the night, as best actor in a play for his revelatory performance as George in ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," which began life in Boston. He won over the favored Brian F. O'Byrne in ''Doubt." Irwin's was a brilliantly ironic makeover of a role that had seemed to belong to Richard Burton.

Posted by kshaw at June 6, 2005 07:08 AM