Tony Award Countdown: 30 Years In 30 Days, THE LION KING's Julie Taymor Makes History, 1998

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.

Only minutes after Garry Hynes became the first woman to receive a Tony Award as Best Director of a Play, for her work with Martin McDonagh's THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE, Sandy Duncan announced Julie Taymor as the first woman to receive the Tony for Best Director of a Musical. Earlier in the evening her extraordinary creations that turned actors into a multitude of wild animals won the Tony for Best Costumes.

She was nominated the year before, as director and designer of Lincoln Center's production of JUAN DARIEN: A CARNIVAL MASS, but before then her New York theatre career was as a "downtown artist," known for her creations of masks and puppets.

Disney recognized her talent and took a risk on this relative unknown. Their gamble paid off many times over. The previous year, the Tony for Best Revival went to CHICAGO. That production, approaching its 20th Anniversary, is Broadway's second longest runner, behind THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

Right behind them, in the third position, is THE LION KING, still packing them in.

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.

THE LION KING officially opened on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theater in November 1997, moving to the Minskoff Theatre in 2006 where it is still running after more than 6,700 performance. It is Broadway's third longest-running show in history and the highest grossing Broadway production of all time. The Lion King is based on the 1994 Disney animated film of the same name with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice along with the musical score created by Hans Zimmerwith choral arrangements by Lebo M. The production was directed by Julie Taymor.