DID YOU KNOW?
Check out some fun facts about the Theatre World Award Winners!
“We Are a Family”
Several former Theatre World Award winners share family ties
as well as this special award:
Mother – Daughter:
Tammy Grimes (Look After Lulu, 1959) & Amanda Plummer (A Taste of Honey, 1981)
Rosemary Harris (The Climate of Eden, 1952) & Jennifer Ehle (The Real Thing, 2000)
Carlin Glynn (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, 1978) & Mary Stuart Masterson (Nine, 2003)
Mother – 2 Daughters:
Meryl Streep (27 Wagons Full of Cotton, 1976) & Mamie Gummer (Mr. Marmalade, 2005) & Grace Gummer (Arcadia, 2011)
Father – Daughter:
Richard Burton (The Lady’s Not for Burning, 1951) & Kate Burton (Winners, 1983)
Mother and Father and Daughter:
Tammy Grimes (Look After Lulu, 1959), Christopher Plummer (The Dark is Light Enough, 1955) & Amanda Plummer (A Taste of Honey, 1981)
Father – Son:
Alan Arkin (Enter Laughing, 1963) & Adam Arkin (I Hate Hamlet, 1981)
James Daly (Major Barbara and Mary Rose, 1951) & Tim Daly (Coastal Disturbances, 1987)
Tom Hanks (Lucky Guy, 2013) & Colin Hanks (33 Variations, 2009)
Sisters:
Ann Crowley (Carousel, 1947) & Patricia Crowley (Southern Exposure, 1951)
Natasha Richardson (Anna Christie, 1993) & Joely Richardson (Madame Melville, 2001)
Mamie Gummer (Mr. Marmalade, 2005) & Grace Gummer (Arcadia, 2011)
Brother – Sister:
Peter Fonda (Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, 1962) & Jane Fonda (There Was a Little Girl, 1960)
Megan Fairchild (On the Town, 2015) & Robbie Fairchild (An American in Paris, 2015)
“No One Mourns the Wicked”
At the 2006 ceremony, Ralph Fiennes (Hamlet, 1995), who plays the evil Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter films, presented the Theatre World Award to his Faith Healer cast member Ian McDiarmid, who portrayed the sinister Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars films. Incidentally, Richard Griffiths, who co-stars with Fiennes in the Potter films as Uncle Vernon, received a Theatre World Award also that year for his performance in The History Boys.
The role of Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy has garnered Theatre World Awards for three actresses who have portrayed her: Zan Charisse in the 1973 revival starring Angela Lansbury, Christa Moore in the 1990 revival starring Tyne Daly, and Tammy Blanchard in the 2003 revival starring Bernadette Peters.
“I Love My Wife”
Many of our previous Theatre World Award winners found true love:
Charlton Heston (Design for a Stained Glass Window, 1950) and Lydia Clarke (Detective Story, 1950)
Geraldine Page (Mid-Summer, 1953) and Rip Torn (Sweet Bird of Youth, 1959)
James Earl Jones (Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, 1962) and Cecilia Hart (Dirty Linen, 1977)
Warren Beatty (A Loss of Roses, 1960) and Annette Bening (Coastal Disturbances, 1987)
Ed Harris (Precious Sons, 1986) and Amy Madigan (The Lucky Spot, 1987)
Kevin Kilner (The Glass Menagerie, 1995) and Jordan Baker (Suddenly Last Summer, 1996)
Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson (both in Anna Christie, 1993).
“Younger Than Springtime”
Our youngest Theatre World Award Winner was Conor Donovan (Privilege, 2005) who was only 10 when he received his award.
Other winners who broke out early:
Eddie Hodges, 11 (The Music Man, 1958)
Jonathan Kaplan, 11 (Rags and Falsettos, 1992)
Ralph Carter, 12 (Raisin, 1974)
Mitchel David Federan, 12 (The Boy From Oz, 2004)
Andrea McArdle, 13 (Annie, 1977)
Martine Allard, 13 (The Tap Dance Kid, 1984)
Carol Lynley, 15 (The Potting Shed, 1957)
Patty Duke, 14 (The Miracle Worker, 1960)
Trent Kowalik, 14 (Billy Elliot, 2009)
David Alvarez, 15 (Billy Elliot, 2009)
Kiril Kulish, 15 (Billy Elliot, 2009)
Bonnie Bedelia, 15 (My Sweet Charlie, 1967)
Cynthia Nixon, 15 (The Philadelphia Story, 1981)
Patricia Crowley, 16 (Southern Exposure, 1951)
Michael Rupert, 16 (The Happy Time, 1968)
Ann Crowley, 17 (Carousel, 1947)
Lauri Peters, 17 (The Sound of Music, 1960)
Liza Minnelli, 17 (Best Foot Forward, 1963)
Kristoffer Tabori, 17 (How Much, How Much, 1970)
Danielle Ferland, 17 (Into the Woods, 1988)
Linzi Hately, 17 (Carrie, 1988).
“How to Succeed...”
Some winners have won the Award as a replacement cast member in a long-running production:
Dorothea MacFarland (Oklahoma!, 1947)
Ann Crowley (Carousel, 1947) Mary Fickett, (Tea and Sympathy 1955)
Anthony Perkins, (Tea and Sympathy 1955)
Wynne Miller, (Li’l Abner, 1958)
Sandra Smith, (Any Wednesday, 1966)
Sheila Smith, (Mame, 1967)
Kipp Osborne, (Butterflies Are Free, 1971)
Vanessa Williams, (Kiss of the Spider Woman, 1995)
Ute Lemper, (Chicago, 1999)
Reba McEntire, (Annie Get Your Gun, 2001)
Fantasia Barrino, (The Color Purple, 2007)
"Live Long and Prosper"
Three winners have appeared in the Star Trek franchise:
William Shatner (The World of Suzie Wong, 1959) as Captain Kirk, Christopher Plummer (Oklahoma, 1955) as General Chang and Zachary Quinto (Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, 2011) as Spock.
"One Sings … the Other Doesn’t"
"Musical Encores" - John Raitt (1945) and Michael Hayden (1994) both won Theatre World Awards for portraying the role of Billy Bigelow in Carousel
Harry Groener (1980) and Justin Bohon (2002) both won for the role of Will Parker in Oklahoma!
West Side Story featured winners Carol Lawrence (the original Maria in 1958) and Josephina Scaglione (as Maria in the revival, 2009)
Jason Danieley (1997) and Mark Baker (1974) were recognized for their best of all possible Broadway debuts as Candide
Their husbands made movies and they won Theatre World Awards for the same role in Nine, Karen Akers (1982) and Mary Stuart Masterson (2003)
The Theatre World fell more than a little bit in love with Edie Adams (1953, when she was still Edith) and Jennifer Westfeldt (2004) in the part of Eileen, in Wonderful Town.
Lea Salonga (1991) won for her debut in Miss Saigon and Eva Noblezada (2017) won for the same role in the revival.
And Sweeney Todd sees another winner in Jeremy Secomb (2017) joining Ken Jennings (1979) and Sarah Rice (1979) who both won for their debuts in the show.
"Prequels and Sequels"Patricia Neal was recognized playing the young, ambitious Regina Hubbard in Another Part of the Forest (1947) who then became the older, cunning and married Regina Giddens in The Little Foxes, for which Elizabeth Taylor received a special award in 1981.
Jason Robards (1957) received his Theatre World Award as James Tyrone, Jr. in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. The same James Tyrone, Jr. shows up older and wearier in O’Neill’s Moon for the Misbegotten, for which Gabriel Byrne (2000) won his award.
Patty Duke (1960) won for her portrayal as the childhood Helen Keller in Miracle Worker. Karen Allen (1983) won for her portrayal as Helen Keller, the woman, in Monday After the Miracle.
Isabel Keating gave a Theatre World performance as the legendary Judy Garland, discovering Peter Allen, in the 2004 musical The Boy from Oz. But in End of the Rainbow (2012) Tracie Bennett gave a TWA honored portrayal of Garland during her final hours in London.
And if you play Groucho Marx like nobody’s business, the duck comes down and you win a Theatre World Award: Lewis J Stadlen in Minnie’s Boys (1970) and Frank Ferrante in Groucho: A Life in Revue (1987).
Alan Arkin (1963) won for his dazzling performance in the comedy Enter Laughing and Josh Grisetti (2009) received the award, singing and clowning as the same character in Enter Laughing: The Musical. With great reluctance, George Bernard Shaw allowed Oscar Straus to adapt his comedy Arms and the Man into an operetta, called The Chocolate Soldier. Henry Czerny (2000) was Theatre World Awarded for his debut in the Shaw comedy, while, years before, Keith Andes (1947) had been honored for his debut in the musical version of the same role. Cynthia Nixon won a Theatre World Award as a smart-aleck adolescent in a revival of the play Philadelphia Story, later musicalized, with Cole Porter songs, as High Society, which gave Anna Kendrick her Theatre World Award.