10th Tony Awards

Eligibility

Shows that opened on Broadway during the 1955 season before February 29, 1956 are eligible.

;Original plays

• Almost Crazy
• Bus Stop
• The Carefree Tree
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
• The Chalk Garden
• Champagne Complex
• A Day by the Sea
• Deadfall
• Debut
• The Desk Set
• The Diary of Anne Frank
• The Great Sebastians
• A Hatful of Rain
• The Heavenly Twins
• The Honeys
• The Hot Corner
• Inherit the Wind
• The Innkeepers
• Island of Goats
• Janus
• The Lark
• The Matchmaker
• A Memory of Two Mondays
• Middle of the Night
• No Time for Sergeants
• Once Upon a Tailor
• Paul Draper
• The Ponder Heart
• Red Roses for Me
• The Righteous Are Bold
• A Roomful of Roses
• Someone Waiting
• The Terrible Swift Sword
• Tiger at the Gates
• Time Limit!
• 27 Wagons Full of Cotton
• A View from the Bridge
• Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
• The Wooden Dish
• The Young and Beautiful ;Original musicals
• Ankles Aweigh
• Catch a Star!
• Damn Yankees
• Hear! Hear!
• Joyce Grenfell Requests the Pleasure...
• Pipe Dream
• Phoenix '55
• Seventh Heaven
• 3 for Tonight
• Trouble in Tahiti
• The Vamp ;Play revivals
• Arlequin poli par l'amour
• The Barber of Seville
• Fallen Angels
• Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard
• King Lear
• Le Bourgeois gentilhomme
• Six Characters in Search of an Author
• The Skin of Our Teeth
• A Streetcar Named Desire
• Tamburlaine the Great
• Un caprice ;Musical revivals
• Finian's Rainbow
• Guys and Dolls
• H.M.S. Pinafore
• Iolanthe
• The Mikado
• Once Over Lightly
• The Pirates of Penzance
• Princess Ida
• Ruddigore
• South Pacific
• The Threepenny Opera
• Trial by Jury
• The Yeomen of the Guard

Ceremony

The presenter was Helen Hayes, who was President of the American Theatre Wing, and several of the nominees. Jack Carter was host for the first part of the ceremony, and Helen Hayes hosted the second part. More than 500 people attended the dinner dance.

For the first time, the ceremony was broadcast on television, on the DuMont Channel 5 in New York City, in an effort to create "wider public interest in Broadway's most important award-giving ceremony". Also for the first time, the nominees were announced ahead of the ceremony.

Music for the dinner dance was by Meyer Davis and his Orchestra.

Winners and nominees

Sources:Infoplease; BroadwayWorld"1956 Tony Award Winners" , broadwayworld.com, accessed May 28, 2016

Special awards

• City Center
• Fourth Street Chekov Theatre
• The Shakespearewrights
• The Threepenny Opera, distinguished Off-Broadway production
• The Theatre Collection of the New York Public Library on its twenty-fifth anniversary, for its distinguished service to the theatre.

Multiple nominations and awards

These productions had multiple nominations:

• 9 nominations: Damn Yankees and Pipe Dream
• 5 nominations: The Chalk Garden, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Lark and Middle of the Night
• 4 nominations: Bus Stop, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Inherit the Wind and Tiger at the Gates
• 3 nominations: Phoenix '55, The Ponder Heart and The Vamp
• 2 nominations: The Great Sebastians, A Hatful of Rain, The Matchmaker, No Time for Sergeants, Tamburlaine the Great, The Threepenny Opera and A View from the Bridge

The following productions received multiple awards.

• 7 wins: Damn Yankees
• 3 wins: Inherit the Wind Note: The Threepenny Opera also received a Special Tony Award.

References

References

1. Zolotow, Sam. "Theatre Wing's 'Tony' Awards Presented at Dinner Here: 'Damn Yankees' and 'Anne Frank' Cited as Top Offerings Producing Trio Scores Again Other Award Winners", ''[[The New York Times]]'', April 2, 1956, p. 20
2. Gelb, Arthur. "Popularizing the 'Tony' Awards", ''The New York Times'', April 1, 1956, p.93
3. [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0153417.html "1956 Tony Awards (Winners)"] infoplease.com, accessed June 22, 2012