The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in Midtown Manhattan.
Billy Elliot is a 2000 British coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall. Set in County Durham in North East England during the 1984–1985 miners' strike, the film is about a working-class boy who discovers a passion for ballet. His father objects, based on negative stereotypes of male ballet dancers. The film stars Jamie Bell as 11-year-old Billy, Gary Lewis as his father, Jamie Draven as Billy's older brother, and Julie Walters as his ballet teacher.
Faith Prince is an American actress and singer, best known for her work on Broadway in musical theatre. She won the Tony Award as Best Actress in Guys and Dolls in 1992, and received three other Tony nominations.
Sutton Lenore Foster is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she has won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical twice, in 2002 for her role as Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie, and in 2011 for her performance as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, a role which she reprised in 2021 for a production in London and for which she received a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Her other Broadway credits include Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein, Shrek the Musical, Violet, and The Music Man. On television, Foster played the lead role in the short-lived ABC Family comedy-drama Bunheads from 2012 to 2013. From 2015 to 2021, she starred in the TV Land comedy-drama Younger.
Susan P. Stroman is an American theatre director, choreographer, film director and performer. Her notable theater productions include The Producers, Crazy for You, Contact, and The Scottsboro Boys. She is a five-time Tony Award winner, four for Best Choreography and one as Best Director of a Musical for The Producers. In addition, she is a recipient of two Laurence Olivier Awards, five Drama Desk Awards, eight Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, and the George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement in the American Theater. She is a 2014 inductee in the American Theater Hall of Fame in New York City.
Hinton Battle is an American actor, singer, dancer, and dance instructor. He has won three Tony Awards, all in the category of Featured Actor in a Musical. He was the first to portray the Scarecrow in the stage version of The Wiz.
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newspapers, digital and national publications, and other media beyond Broadway. The awards were first presented during the 1949–50 theater season, celebrating their 70th anniversary in 2020. David Gordon, Senior Features Reporter at TheaterMania.com, currently serves as president.
Billy Elliot: The Musical is a coming-of-age stage musical based on the 2000 film of the same name. The music is by Elton John, and the book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around Billy, a motherless British boy who begins taking ballet lessons. The story of his personal struggle and fulfilment are balanced against a counter-story of family and community strife caused by the 1984–85 UK miners' strike in County Durham, in North East England. Hall's screenplay was inspired in part by A. J. Cronin's 1935 novel about a miners' strike, The Stars Look Down, to which the musical's opening song pays homage.
Liam Mower is an English actor and dancer. Best known for his talent for ballet, he was one of the three boys who shared the lead role in the original London cast of Billy Elliot the Musical which earned a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, making him the youngest nominee and the youngest solo winner in the category at age of 13. He is currently employed by Matthew Bourne and has appeared in his production of Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and The Car Men.
Carole Augusta Shelley was an English-American actress who made her career in the United States and United Kingdom. Her many stage roles included Gwendolyn Pigeon in The Odd Couple and Madame Morrible in the original Broadway cast of the musical Wicked. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in The Elephant Man in 1979.
Emily Skinner, also known as Emily Scott Skinner, is a Tony-nominated American stage actor and singer. She has played leading roles in such Broadway productions as Prince of Broadway, The Cher Show, Side Show, Jekyll & Hyde, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty, Dinner at Eight, Billy Elliot, as well as the Actor's Fund Broadway concerts of Dreamgirls and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. She has sung on concert stages around the world and on numerous recordings.
Miles E. White was a top costume designer of Broadway musicals for 25 years. He is known in the entertainment industry for his well rendered, prolific, imaginative and witty designs. He won recognition, including four Donaldson Awards and two Tony Awards.
The 63rd Annual Tony Awards, which recognized Broadway productions of the 2008-2009 season, were presented on June 7, 2009 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The ceremony was broadcast by CBS, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.
Kiril Jacob Kulish is an American actor, singer and dancer who is best known for portraying the title role in the original American production of Billy Elliot the Musical, which earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, making him one of the youngest winners of the award.
David Alvarez is a Canadian dancer and actor, best known for being one of the original Billys in the Broadway production of Billy Elliot the Musical and becoming one of the youngest winners of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. He trained as a dancer with American Ballet Theatre and plays Bernardo in Steven Spielberg's 2021 film version of West Side Story.
David Bologna is an American actor, dancer and singer. Beginning conducting performance at the age of seven, Bologna became a Tony Award nominee at the age of fourteen as the Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his Broadway debut as Billy's flamboyant best friend Michael in Billy Elliot the Musical.
Sergio Trujillo is a theater director and choreographer. Born in Colombia and raised in Toronto, Canada, he is now an American citizen and resides in New York City. Trujillo was the recipient of the 2019 Tony Award for Best Choreography for Ain't Too Proud and the 2015 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer for Memphis. He is the first ever Hispanic recipient of the Tony Award for Best Choreography.
Wantagh High School is a high school located in Wantagh, New York. It contains grades 9–12. It is part of the Wantagh Union Free School District.
Jacob Clemente is an American actor and dancer. He is best known for his portrayal of "Billy" in the Broadway production of Billy Elliot: The Musical.
Benjamin Tyler Cook is an American stage actor. He has appeared on Broadway in Ragtime, Billy Elliot the Musical, Tuck Everlasting, Mean Girls, and West Side Story. He has also performed in two Broadway national tours, Billy Elliot the Musical and Newsies the Musical, and appeared on television in episodes of 30 Rock, House of Cards, Veep, Law & Order: SVU, and in the HBO film Paterno. He most recently appeared as a Jet in the 2021 film version of West Side Story and as Henry in the HBO Max horror series Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin (2022–present).
