Today, 6 April, is the anniversary of the very first Tony Awards ceremony – a mindboggling 77 years ago! The inaugural ceremony looked quite different from the events we know and love today. For instance, there was no public announcement of any nominees, and the awards were presented to theatre practitioners who had made outstanding contributions in their respective fields rather than in any set categories. Here’s a run-down of some of the highlights of that ceremony, with a particular focus on the magical musical theatre moments of the night.

1. Groundbreaking Beginnings

The American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards were named for Antoinette Perry, an actress, director, and producer who had led the American Theatre Wing through the challenges of World War II. following Perry’s fatal heart attack in June 1946, Brock Pemberton, one of her contemporaries, proposed the idea of an awards platform to honour her. When he handed out the first award at the 1947 ceremony, he called it a Tony, christening what remains the most prestigious theatre award three-quarters of a century later. The first Tony Awards host was Vera Allen, Perry’s successor as chairwoman of the American Theatre Wing, and while certain elements of the proceedings are instantly recognisable to use today, the inclusion of a dinner – with a menu comprising lobster bisque, salted nuts, breast of chicken Montmorency in black cherry sauce, croquettes of brown rice, asparagus tips Polonaise, and frozen soufflé Alaska with strawberry sauce, petit fours and a demitasse – with the presentation of the awards starting at midnight might be surprising! The cost of a ticket to the ceremony was $7.

2. Stars on Stage

The tradition of including performances at the ceremony was established at this first event, with performances from The Chocolate Solider, Street Scene, Brigadoon, Oklahoma!, Call Me Mister, Sweethearts, Carousel and Finian’s Rainbow on the bill. The performers and presenters included Harold (soon known professionally as Howard) Keel and Ethel Waters, alongside Mickey Rooney, Sheila Bond, David Wayne and a host of other singers, actors and dancers. The programme doesn’t indicate what numbers were performed from these shows, but we could make some educated guesses.

• Keith Andes, Billy Gilbert and Frances McCann who performed the except from The Chocolate Solider, respectively played Bumerli, Popoff and Nadina in the production. One of the more popular numbers from the show was likely performed, so one could guess that “The Chocolate Soldier” or “Sympathy,” two of Bumerli and Nadina’s duets from the show. How did Gilbert fit in? Popff is involved in some of the dialogue running into the numbers, so perhaps that’s it. Maybe he just introduced the number. It’s a mystery.
• in Street Scene, Shiela Bond, Norman Cordon, Danny Daniels and Brian Sullivan played Mae, Frank, Dick and Sam. Mae and Dick had one big number in the show, “Moon-Faced, Starry-Eyed” – so it’s likely that Bond and Daniels performed it here. Frank and Sam had significant solo pieces in the shows, so Codron likely performed “A Boy Like You” and Sullivan, “Lonely House.”
• Brigadoon was probably represented by two of the big solos from the show, Charlie’s “Come to Me, Bend to Me” performed by Lee Sullivan, with David Brooks performing Tommy’s “There But For You Go I.”
• Mary Hatcher and Harold Keel were both Laurey and Curly replacements, so it is most likely that the audience heard “People Will Say We’re in Love from Oklahoma! at the first Tony Awards.
• The cast members from Sweethearts who performed at the ceremony were June Knight and Robert Shackleton. As Liane and Lt Karl, they probably sang “I Might Be Your Once-in-a-While.”
• Finally, the performance from Carousel was almost certainly “If I Loved You,” presented by Henry Michiel and Ivy Withers who had taken up the roles of Billy and Julie.

With music provided by Meyer Davis and his orchestra, it must have been a good night’s entertainment!

3. Behind the Scenes

Several artists were awarded in craft categories for their work behind the scenes. Elia Kazan was recognised for his outstanding direction of All My Sons, while Arthur Miller’s script for the play was celebrated with a special award. Kurt Weill’s work on the opera, Street Scene, saw him honoured as an outstanding composer. Then, in what can only be viewed now as an incredible fashion flashback, Lucinda Ballard was presented a Tony Award for her costume designs for no fewer than five shows: Happy Birthday, Another Part of the Forest, Street Scene, John Loves Mary and The Chocolate Soldier. P. A. MacDonald’s ‘intricate construction’ work for the musical, If the Shoe Fits, was also acknowledged. Special awards were also presented for a range of skill sets and support of the performing arms industry, specifically to:

• Dora Chamberlain, for her work as the treasurer of the Martin Beck Theatre;
• Mr and Mrs Ira Katzenberg, for their enthusiastic support of the theatre as regular first-night attendees;
• Jules Leventhal, for his prolific work as a producer of the 1946-1947 season;
• Burns Mantle, for his annual Best Plays publication; and
• Vincent Sardi Sr, for his establishment of Sardis, which had, at that stage, been a haven for theatre folk for two decades.

4. Dancing into History

The 1940s was a decade that saw Broadway choreographers raise the bar when it came to storytelling through dance in musical theatre. It’s no surprise that both Agnes de Mille and Michael Kidd were recognised at the first Tony Awards ceremony for their work on Brigadoon and Finian’s Rainbow respectively.

De Mille had been responsible for a great deal of the move toward choreographic storytelling on Broadway through her work in both Oklahoma! and Carousel, having also staged the dances in Swingin’ The Dream, a transposition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream into an 1890s New Orleans setting, before her groundbreaking work in the two Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein shows. She also chalked up credits in One Touch of Venus and Bloomer Girl before moving to Brigadoon. Along with her advocacy for women dancers, De Mille is remembered for using choreography to flesh out the emotional dimension of musical theatre characters in addition to focusing on the technique required to execute the steps.

Kidd is remembered today for his athletic and exciting choreography. Finian’s Rainbow was his Broadway debut as a musical theatre choreographer and there’s more to his choreography than its vigour. One of his innovations was building choreography from the vocabulary of a character’s ordinary movements, heightening and stylising how a character moved to the nth degree. This helped elevate the emotional arc of the character and the show as a whole because there was a more seamless transition from movement into dance, in the same way that the best musicals move out of dialogue and into song gracefully and joyfully.

5. The Outstanding Performers of the Season

The outstanding performers named at the inaugural Tony Awards were mostly from plays from the previous season, including José Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac, Fredric March in Years Ago, Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Lorraine and Helen Hayes in Happy Birthday. Patricia Neal was also singled out as an Outstanding Newcomer for her role in Another Part of the Forest. Only one award was presented to an actor from a musical: David Wayne in Finian’s Rainbow. Wayne played Og, a leprechaun whose pot of gold has been stolen by Finian McLonergan. To grow his treasure by burying it near Fort Knox, Finian emigrates to the United States of America with his daughter, Sharon. Og pursues them, as he will be turned permanently into a human if he cannot recover it. Many years later, Wayne would perform one of his character-defining numbers at the 1971 Tony Awards in a salute to a quarter century of musical theatre hits. His charm in putting over “When I’m Not Near the Girl I Love” is just a small reminder of the vitality that earned him the first Tony Award ever presented to a musical theatre actor.

Looking Ahead

As we eagerly anticipate this year’s Tony Awards ceremony, set to honour the best of the 2023-2024 Broadway season, the legacy of shows like Finian’s Rainbow and Brigadoon reminds us of the enduring magic and impact of theatre. As the nominations roll in on 30 April and the awards ceremony, to be hosted by the talented Ariana DeBose, follows two months later on 30 June, theatre enthusiasts everywhere will be on the edge of their seats, awaiting the announcement of this year’s winners. Recognising both classic revivals and groundbreaking new productions, the Tony Awards continue to celebrate the artistry and innovation of Broadway, ensuring that the legacy of exceptional theatre lives on for generations to come. So mark your calendars, set your reminders, and join us as we tune in to witness the next chapter in Broadway history unfold.