To print this page, select "Print" from the File menu of your browser salon.com > Arts & Entertainment June 7, 1999 URL: http://www.salon.com/ent/log/1999/06/07/tonys "Salesman" wins revival prize; "Sideman is best play Willy Loman once again. - - - - - - - - - - - - ASSOCIATED PRESS Attention was paid -- again. Fifty years after it won the Tony Award as best play, Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" was named best revival of the Broadway season. "Side Man," Warren Leight's memory tale of a jazz musician's fractured family life, was named best play Sunday, while "Fosse," a revue saluting the swivel-hipped choreography of Bob Fosse, was picked as best musical. There was a little something for everyone, except "The Iceman Cometh," which had been expected to provide "Salesman" with most of its competition. The show and its star, Kevin Spacey, went home empty-handed. Besides taking the revival award, "Salesman" won the top acting prize for its star, Brian Dennehy, who plays Willy Loman, a true believer in the American dream even after it has gone wrong. "I've never realized how wonderful this play is and what it means to people," Dennehy said after the show. Also getting awards were Elizabeth Franz, for her poignant portrait of Willy's long-suffering and loyal wife, Linda, and Robert Falls, who directed the revival. Miller, whose play opened on Broadway in 1949, received a lifetime achievement award during Sunday's ceremony. The audience stood to cheer the 83-year-old playwright when he came on stage. "Just being around to receive it is a pleasure," he joked. In his acceptance speech, Miller expressed the hope that Broadway would provide the changes "so that a new generation of fiercely ambitious playwrights will ... once again find welcome for their big world-challenging plays, somewhere west of London, somewhere east of the Hudson River." "Side Man," which has been struggling at the box office and recently added television star Scott Wolf to the cast, was the only nominee for best original play written by a living American playwright. "It would be nice if in years to come, I'm not the only American guy up there," Leight said. Frank Wood, who plays the distraught father in "Side Man," took home a featured actor prize. Academy Award-winner Judi Dench added a Tony to her collection, picking up a best actress prize for her role as an elegant, embattled actress in David Hare's drama "Amy's View." "The winning bit is not the best, the nominating bit is the best. ... There is no such thing as doing a performance on your own, unless you are doing a one-woman show," said Dench, who received an Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in "Shakespeare in Love." Bernadette Peters and Martin Short won the top musical acting awards -- Peters for her portrayal of Annie Oakley in "Annie Get Your Gun," and Short for playing more than a half-dozen roles in "Little Me." "Annie" was also named best musical revival. Two of the most popular -- and expected -- winners came from "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." Kristin Chenoweth, as the bossy Sally Brown, and Roger Bart, who plays Snoopy, were both loudly cheered for their awards as best featured (supporting) actress and actor in a musical. "My left paw just went numb," Bart said as he accepted his prize. salon.com | June 7, 1999