In particular, the spectacular musical Wicked, an alternative take on The Wizard of Oz story, was generally considered the favourite in the Best Musical category. Instead that award, and also the awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score, went to Avenue Q, the hilarious show perhaps best described as Friends meets Sesame Street, complete with human and puppet stars. Only the humans were nominated in the performance categories, though there they were beaten by Idina Menzel from Wicked and Hugh Jackman for his remarkable turn in The Boy From Oz.
Perhaps as compensation, therefore, Wicked picked up the awards for Best Scenic Design and Best Costume Design. In the Costume category, Susan Hilferty won over Jess Goldstein (nominated for Henry IV), Mick Nicholls and Bobby Pearce (Taboo) and Mark Thompson (Bombay Dreams) while set designer Eugene Lee's design was chosen over those of Robert Brill (for Assassins), Ralph Funicello (Henry IV, which also won for Best Revival of a Play and Best Direction of a Play) and British designer Tom Pye, who designed Fiddler On The Roof. Fiddler had perhaps the worst evening, nominated in six categories but taking home no prizes.
In the Lighting category, Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer added yet another award to their extensive collection, this time winning for the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins at Studio 54. The other nominees were Kenneth Posner for Wicked and Brian McDevitt, nominated twice for his work on Henry IVand Fiddler.
Rob Halliday