Tony Award Countdown: 30 Years In 30 Days, Lea Salonga, Jonathan Pryce, Hinton Battle in MISS SAIGON, 1991

Welcome to BroadwayWorld's Tony Award Countdown: 30 Years In 30 Days, a look at some of the Tony Awards' most memorable moments from the past three decades.

"A smash hit in London that quietly tip-toed into New York this spring, " quipped Jeremy Irons as he introduced the 1991 Tony Award presentation for Claude-Michel Schonberg, Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.'s MISS SAIGON.

Producer Cameron Mackintosh's West End production was announced for Broadway just around the time when Actors' Equity announced a commitment to encouraging producers to cast more minorities, so many of its members were outraged that Jonathan Pryce was set to repeat his Olivier-winning performance as The Engineer, a character born of a white father and a Vietnamese mother.

The policies between the American and British actors' unions typically allow for name stars to cross the ocean in productions, as their presence helps increase ticket sales, and Pryce would certainly qualify as a name star. Nevertheless, Equity initially refused to permit him to play the role in the U.S. When Mackintosh claimed infringement on artistic freedom and threatened to cancel the production, compromises had to be made. There were questionable auditions held to find an American to play Lea Salonga's role, Kim, since, despite winning an Olivier herself for the show, she was an unknown in America.

In the end, the two West End stars opened on Broadway with an otherwise American, and interracial, cast. Hinton Battle won his third Best Supporting Actor in a Musical Tony, and Pryce and Salonga also took top prizes.

Racial issues in casting are still important topics in theatre today, but when the recent West End revival of MISS SAIGON comes to Broadway in 2017 with its London stars, Jon Jon Briones, who is of Filipino descent and was in the ensemble of the original West End production of MISS SAIGON, will playing the creepy fellow who dreams his American Dream.

The American Theatre Wing's 70th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Tony Award winner James Corden, will air on the CBS Television Network on Sunday, June 12, 2016 (8:00-11:00 PM, ET/delayed PT) live from the Beacon Theatre in New York City.