2010 Tony Awards: Joe DiPietro Wins 'Best Book of a Musical'

The American Theatre Wing's 64th Annual Antoinette Perry "Tony"® Awards were held at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 13, 2010 and broadcast on the CBS Television Network. For more information visit tonyawards.com.

Nominations in 26 competitive categories for the American Theatre Wing's 64th Annual Antoinette Perry "Tony"® Awards were announced on May 4, 2010 by Broadway Star Lea Michele and Tony Award Nominee Jeff Daniels.

The Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards are bestowed annually on theatre professionals for distinguished achievement. The Tony is one of the most coveted awards in the entertainment industry and the annual telecast is considered one of the most prestigious programs on television.

To view the complete list of 2010 Tony Award winners, click here.

BroadwayWorld Congratulates
Joe DiPietro
2010 Tony Award Winner
'Best Book of a Musical'

Joe DiPietro (Memphis) Broadway and national tour: All Shook Up. Off-Broadway, The Toxic Avenger, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, The Thing About Men, and Over the River and Through the Woods. His new play, Creating Claire will premiere at George Street Playhouse in the spring. Upcoming works include the bittersweet comedy, The Last Romance (Old Globe Theatre) and two new musicals with David Bryan. His work has had thousands of productions across the country and around the world.

'Best Book of a Musical'
2010 Tony Award Nominees

Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott (Everyday Rapture)
Dick Scanlan was nominated for Tony and Drama Desk awards for his book and lyrics for the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. He is the author of the novel Does Freddy Dance. In addition, he has published articles in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Playboy, Playbill, Time Out New York and other magazines. He wrote the lyrics to Jeanine Tesori's music for "The Girl in 14G" on Kristin Chenoweth's Sony CD, Let Yourself Go. A former actor, Dick originated the role of Miss Great Plains in the hit Off-Broadway musical Pageant.

Sherie Rene Scott is honored to be working with Roundabout for the first time, after appearing at Second Stage Theatre in Everyday Rapture, which she co-wrote with Dick Scanlan (Lortel nominations, Best Musical and Best Actress). She has created roles for the original Broadway productions of The Little Mermaid (OCC nomination), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony, Drama Desk, OCC nominations; Drama League honor), Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida (Derwent Award, Drama League honor), Tommy and the original production of The Last Five Years (Drama Desk nomination, Drama League honor). Also appeared in Landscape of the Body (Obie Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Drama League honor), Rent, Debbie Does Dallas, Randy Newman's Faust, Kander & Ebb's Over and Over (Helen Hayes nomination). She is a graduate of The Neighborhood Playhouse. With husband Kurt Deutsch she co-founded Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records (www.sh-kboom.com) which has produced more than 70 albums, including the cast album of Everyday Rapture. Sh-K-Boom has received a Grammy Award, seven Grammy nominations and Drama Desk and New York Musical Theatre Festival awards for dedication to the preservation of musical theatre through cast recordings.

Jim Lewis & Bill T. Jones (Fela!)
Jim Lewis: In 2008, Jim received a Lucille Lortell Award for “Outstanding Musical” for FELA! and two Drama Desk nominations for “Best Book” for both FELA! and This Beautiful City (w/ The Civilians).  Selected works.  B’WAY: Chronicle of a Death Foretold (TONY, Drama Desk nominations), and Dangerous Games (both w/ Graciela Daniele).   OFF B’WAY/REGIONAL: Tango Apaisionado, Ionesco’s The Chairs, Ibsen’s Lady from the Sea.  OPERA/DANCE: Paul Dresher’s The Tyrant, Ballet Hispanico’s Nightclub; Philip Glass's Les Enfants Terribles, PastFORWARD (w/ Mikhail Baryshnikov). DRAMATURG: House Arrest (Anna Deavere Smith), Drawn to Death (Art Spiegelman),; Cymbeline and Waste (w/ Bartlett Sher), Lincoln Center's WOZA AFRIKA  Festival.  Previously w/ Bill T. Jones:  Dream On Monkey Mountain, Chapel/Chapter and Still/Here (20th Anniversary Season).

Bill T. Jones is a 2007 Tony® Award winner and the recipient of the 2007 Obie Award and 2006 Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation CALLAWAY Award for his choreography for Spring Awakening, the recipient of the 2007 USA Eileen Harris Norton Fellowship, the 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for The Seven, the 2005 Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement, the prestigious 2005 Wexner Prize, and the Aaron Davis Hall Harlem Renaissance Award. He is also a MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient in 1994, named one of America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures by the Dance Heritage Coalition in 2000, and was awarded The 2003 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for which recipients are considered trailblazers who have redefined their art and reshaped the cultural landscape. He began his dance training at the State University of New York at Binghamton (SUNY), where he studied classical ballet and modern dance. After living in Amsterdam, Mr. Jones returned to SUNY, where he became co-founder of the American Dance Asylum in 1973. Before forming Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982, Mr. Jones choreographed and performed nationally and internationally as a soloist and duet company with his late partner, Arnie Zane.

In addition to creating more than 100 works for his own company, Mr. Jones has received many commissions to create dances for modern and ballet companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Axis Dance Company, Boston Ballet, Lyon Opera Ballet, Berkshire Ballet, Berlin Opera Ballet and Diversions Dance Company, and Dayton Contemporary Dance Company’s The Flight Project. He has also received numerous commissions to create new works for his own company, including premieres for the American Dance Festival, the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music and for St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra. In 1995, Mr. Jones directed and performed in a collaborative work with Toni Morrison and Max Roach, Degga, commissioned by Lincoln Center’s Serious Fun Festival and with Jessye Norman, How! Do! We! Do! which premiered at New York’s City Center in 1999 as part of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers New Visions series. The Breathing Show, Mr. Jones’ evening long solo, toured for three years, and his second solo show, As I Was Saying…, toured for more than two. He has directed and choreographed for theatre and opera, most recently choreographing Off-Broadway for the New York Theatre Workshop’s production of The Seven for which he was awarded the 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Choreography and for the Broadway musical Spring Awakening.

Mr. Jones has received honorary doctorates from the Art Institute of Chicago, Bard College, Columbia College, the Juilliard School, Swarthmore College and Yales as well as the SUNY Binghamton Distinguished Alumni Award.

Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux (Million Dollar Quartet)
Colin Escott: Born in England, Colin Escott lives near Nashville, Tennessee. He is the author of several books, including Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock 'n' Roll, the first in-depth account of the Sun Records story. He co-produced “Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues” for PBS and BBC, and won a Grammy for The Complete Hank Williams on Mercury Records. He is a consultant to Time Life Music.

Floyd Mutrux apprenticed at Alley Theatre, Houston; Second City, Chicago; studied in NY while working at Second City and attending Colombia University; in Los Angeles, created idea, wrote, directed or produced 50 films in 25 years: American Hot Wax (Best Picture, Director, Village Voice, etc.), Scarecrow (Best Film, Cannes), Hollywood Knights, Urban Cowboy, The Untouchables, American Me, Freebie and the Bean, Up in Smoke, Dick Tracy, Ice Cube's new football movie and with his wife, Birgitte, created a rock 'n' roll Field of Dreams, Moon Over Memphis. (floydmutrux.com)