A Brief Visual History of Broadway’s Biggest Stars Hamming It Up at the Tony Awards
It might seem like we’ve recently descended into an era of Broadway dominated not by theater’s brightest stars, but by Hollywood’s best known faces—and the intellectual property that they helped sell onscreen at some point. Just look at the repeat nominees for the 2018 Tony Awards this Sunday night: Frozen, Mean Girls, SpongeBob SquarePants, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. But Broadway has its own galaxy of stars with their own gravity, and a movie actress—or a cultural totem like, say, Madonna, who presented at the 1988 Tonys after making her Broadway debut in Speed the Plow—are just shooting stars passing through the bright sky populated by the likes of Bernadette Peters, Angela Lansbury, Carol Burnett, Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli, and more. Here, relive a little Tonys history with these pictures by longtime photographer on the scene Robin Platzer, who captured award show’s most iconic figures breaking a leg on the big night.
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Actress Bernadette Peters and husband Michael Wittenberg attend ”The American Theater Wings 54th Annual Tony Awards” on June 4, 2000 in New York City. Photo by Robin Platzer/Online USA.
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Actresses Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett at the Tony Awards in New York City, 1999. Photo by Robin Platzer/Twin Images/Online USA INC.
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Actress Jennifer Grey chatting with Madonna at the Tony Awards party at Sardi’s restaurant in New York City, 1988. Photo by Robin Platzer/Twin Images/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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![Hugo Boss [Misc.];Alan Cumming](https://imgix.bustle.com/wmag/2018/06/08/5b1a8385ca6b07756add214b_GettyImages-50697991_master.jpg?w=760&h=1140&fit=crop&crop=faces&dpr=2)
Actor Alan Cumming holding his Tony and wearing Hugo Boss leather backstage at the Tony Awards in New York City, 1998. Photo by Robin Platzer/Twin Images/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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Performer Liza Minnelli with her sister at a Tony Awards afterparty in New York City, 1978. Photo by Robin Platzer/Twin Images/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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Host Rosie O’Donnell at the Tony Awards in New York City, 1998. Photo by Robin Platzer/Twin Images/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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![Liam Neeson [& Wife];Natasha Richardson](https://imgix.bustle.com/wmag/2018/06/08/5b1a838044eb0d7cf6789d9d_GettyImages-50375800_master.jpg?w=760&h=1140&fit=crop&crop=faces&dpr=2)
Actors Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson kissing at the Tony Awards in New York City, 1998. Photo by Robin Platzer/Twin Images/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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Actress Patti LuPone sitting with her fiance, Matt Johnson at the Tony Awards party in York Hilton, 1998. Photo by Robin Platzer/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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Actors Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn on the red carpet at the Tony Awards in New York City, 1999. Photo By Robin Platzer/Twin Images/Getty Images.
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Comedienne Gilda Radner at the Tony Awards in New York City, 1980. Photo by Robin Platzer/Twin Images/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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Actor Alec Baldwin on the red carpet at the Tony Awards in New York City, 1995. Photo By Robin Platzer/Twin Images/Getty Images.
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Actress Jane Krakowski at the Tony Awards in New York City, 1998. Photo by Robin Platzer/Twin Images/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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Actors John Leguizamo and Audra McDonald at the Tony Awards in New York City, 1998. Photo by Robin Platzer/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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Actor Michael Crawford kissing a Tony he won for his performance in The Phantom of the Opera during an afterparty at Sardi’s restaurant in New York City, 1988. Photo by Robin Platzer/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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Tony Award winning actors Nathan Lane & Donna Murphy at the Tony Awards in New York City, 1996. Photo by Robin Platzer/Twin Images/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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Actresses Angela Lansbury and Glenda Jackson at Tony Awards party at the New York Hilton, 1988. Photo by Robin Platzer/Twin Images/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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Actress Chita Rivera dancing at the Tony Awards party in the New York Hilton, 1988. Photo by Robin Platzer/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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Actress Glenn Close looking lovingly into the eyes of her beau, stage carpenter Steve Beers, at the Tonys where Close won the award for best actress in a musical for her role in Sunset Boulevard, 1995. Photo by Robin Platzer/Twin Images/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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Actor John Lithgow dancing with his wife, Mary Yeager, at the Tony Awards party in the New York Hilton, 1988. Photo by Robin Platzer/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.
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Actor John C. Reilly and wife Alison Dickey attend ”The American Theater Wings 54th Annual Tony Awards” on June 4, 2000 in New York City. Photo by Robin Platzer/Online USA.
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Actress Angela Lansbury at the Tony Awards in New York City, 1999. Photo by Robin Platzer/Twin Images/Online USA INC.
