1979 Tony Awards results (33rd) – Winners & nominees

This page lists the winners from the 33rd Tony Awards, held on June 3, 1979. The 1979 Tony Award for Best Musical went to “Sweeney Todd.”

Best musical

• Sweeney Todd

• Ballroom
• The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
• They’re Playing Our Song

Best play

• The Elephant Man

• Bedroom Farce
• Whose Life Is It Anyway?
• Wings

Best book of a musical

• Hugh Wheeler (Sweeney Todd)

• Jerome Kass (Ballroom)
• Larry L. King, Peter Masterson (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas)
• Neil Simon (They’re Playing Our Song)

Best original score

• Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd)

• Burton Lane, Alan Jay Lerner (Carmelina)
• Eubie Blake, Noble Sissle, Andy Razaf, F. E. Miller, Johnny Brandon, Jim Europe (Eubie!)
• Jerry Herman (The Grand Tour)

Best performance by a leading actor in a play

• Tom Conti (Whose Life Is It Anyway?)

• Philip Anglim (The Elephant Man)
• Jack Lemmon (Tribute)
• Alec McCowen (St. Mark’s Gospel)

Best performance by a leading actress in a play

• Constance Cummings (Wings)
• Carole Shelley (The Elephant Man) — originally mislisted as a winner; actually a nominee

• Jane Alexander (First Monday in October)
• Frances Sternhagen (On Golden Pond)

Best performance by a leading actor in a musical

• Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd)

• Vincent Gardenia (Ballroom)
• Joel Grey (The Grand Tour)
• Robert Klein (They’re Playing Our Song)

Best performance by a leading actress in a musical

• Angela Lansbury (Sweeney Todd)

• Tovah Feldshuh (Saravá)
• Dorothy Loudon (Ballroom)
• Alexis Smith (Platinum)

Best performance by a featured actor in a play

• Michael Gough (Bedroom Farce)

• Bob Balaban (The Inspector General)
• Joseph Maher (Spokesong)
• Edward James Olmos (Zoot Suit)

Best performance by a featured actress in a play

• Joan Hickson (Bedroom Farce)

• Laurie Kennedy (Man and Superman)
• Susan Littler (Bedroom Farce)
• Mary-Joan Negro (Wings)

Best performance by a featured actor in a musical

• Henderson Forsythe (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas)

• Richard Cox (Platinum)
• Gregory Hines (Eubie!)
• Ron Holgate (The Grand Tour)

Best performance by a featured actress in a musical

• Carlin Glynn (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas)

• Joan Ellis (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas)
• Millicent Martin (King of Hearts)
• Maxine Sullivan (My Old Friends)

Best scenic design

• Eugene Lee (Sweeney Todd)

• Karl Eigsti (Knockout)
• David Jenkins (The Elephant Man)
• John Wulp (The Crucifer of Blood)

Best costume design

• Franne Lee (Sweeney Todd)

• Theoni V. Aldredge (Ballroom)
• Ann Roth (The Crucifer of Blood)
• Julie Weiss (The Elephant Man)

Best lighting design

• Roger Morgan (The Crucifer of Blood)

• Ken Billington (Sweeney Todd)
• Beverly Emmons (The Elephant Man)
• Tharon Musser (Ballroom)

Best direction of a play

• Jack Hofsiss (The Elephant Man)

• Alan Ayckbourn, Peter Hall (Bedroom Farce)
• Paul Giovanni (The Crucifer of Blood)
• Michael Lindsay-Hogg (Whose Life Is It Anyway?)

Best direction of a musical

• Harold Prince (Sweeney Todd)

• Michael Bennett (Ballroom)
• Peter Masterson, Tommy Tune (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas)
• Robert Moore (They’re Playing Our Song)

Best choreography

• Michael Bennett, Bob Avian (Ballroom)

• Henry LeTang, Billy Wilson (Eubie!)
• Dan Siretta (Whoopee!)
• Tommy Tune (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas)

Regional theatre Tony Award

• American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco, California

Special Tony Award

• Henry Fonda
• Walter F. Diehl (International President of IATSE)
• Richard Rodgers — Lawrence Langner Memorial Award for Distinguished Lifetime Achievement in the American Theatre
• Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theatre Center
• Waterford, Connecticut (location of the Center)

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