Inside the Tony Awards
Visa is honored to be the exclusive card of the legendary Tony Awards®.
A beloved American institution, the Tony Awards have been treasured by theatergoers for over 60 years. As a major partner and proud sponsor of Broadway, Visa brings you a look inside one of the finest celebrations of American theater.
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The birth of Broadway’s biggest honor
Since 1947, the American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards® have been American theater’s most coveted honor. Named for Antoinette Perry, an actress, director, producer, and the dynamic wartime leader of the American Theatre Wing, the Tony Awards® made their official debut at the Waldorf Astoria hotel on April 6, 1947.
The dress code was black tie optional, and the performers who took the stage included Mickey Rooney, Herb Shriner, Ethel Waters, and David Wayne. Big winners that night included José Ferrer, Arthur Miller, Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Patricia Neal, Elia Kazan, and Agnes de Mille.
Today, the Tonys are presented by Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. and the American Theatre Wing. The two organizations have jointly administered the Tonys since 1967, the year of the first Tony's telecast.
Did you know?
Three pairs of performers have shared a single nomination. Donal Donnelly and Patrick Bedford were jointly nominated as Best Actor for Philadelphia, Here I Come! (1966). John Kani and Winston Ntshona won for Best Actor in a Play for the double bill Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island (1975). Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley (playing a set of Siamese twins) were nominated as Best Actress in a Musical for
Side Show (1998).
Cabaret won the Tony for Best Musical in 1967, the first year the Tony Awards were telecast nationally.
Hume Cronyn won a Tony as Best Featured Actor in a Play for
Hamlet (1964). His wife, Jessica Tandy, won three Tonys as Best Actress in a Play— for A Streetcar Named Desire (1948), The Gin Game (1978), and Foxfire (1983). They both received Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in 1994.
