Looking Ahead with the 2004 Tony Winners

Sure they just won their Tony Awards, but tonight's honorees are already looking ahead. What is prized playwright Doug Wright up to? Will Phylicia Rashad be back on the New York stage anytime soon? Whose steps will Kathleen Marshall be choreographing next? Read on for Broadway.com's comprehensive list of what the 2004 winners will be working on once they wake up from their dream of a Tony night.

Best Musical
Avenue Q
One of Avenue Q's big campaign slogans was "America Needs Avenue Q" and now they'll be getting it. While it continues to run at the Golden Theatre, plans are currently underway for the show to embark on a national tour next season.

Best Play
I Am My Own Wife
I Am My Own Wife is set to hit the road with star Jefferson Mays on board. The first stop on the show's national tour is Chicago's Goodman Theatre, where it is scheduled to run January 8 through February 13, 2005. As for I Am My Own Wife scribe Doug Wright, he is working away. The playwright is the librettist for the in-development musical version of Grey Gardens featuring a score by Scott Frankel and Michael Corey and will soon be working on a new play at a writer's retreat in Tuscany.

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Hugh Jackman, The Boy from Oz
Jackman has signed on to be the leading man in the long-delayed Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requin for a Dream) science fiction epic The Fountain, taking on a role which once belonged to Brad Pitt. The movie is expected to be released in late 2005 or early 2006. Jackman will be dancing up a storm on the stage of the Imperial Theatre through at least mid-September.

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Idina Menzel, Wicked
Menzel is contracted to remain in the role of the green girl in Wicked through January, but will take a week or two off of the hit musical in mid-July to film a role in the Robert Towne film Ask the Dust. Being shot in Los Angeles and South Africa, the film is an adaptation a John Fante's Depression era novel starring Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek. Release is tentatively scheduled for December 2005.

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Jefferson Mays, I Am My Own Wife
Before the Broadway engagement of I Am My Own Wife, Mays shot role in several upcoming films. You'll soon be able to see him on the big screen in small parts in the studio flicks What's It All About, Alfie?, Kinsey and in a starring role in the small independent film Memoirs of My Nervous Illness. People all around America will also soon be able to see his amazing performance during the I Am My Own Wife tour.

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Phylicia Rashad, A Raisin in the Sun
A Raisin in the Sun is scheduled to end its limited engagement at the Royale on July 11, but have no fear—Rashad will be back on the Great White Way soon enough. She is set to star in August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean, which she already appeared in at the Mark Taper Forum, at Boston's Huntington Theatre September 10 through October 10 and later in the season on Broadway.

Best Featured Actress in a Play
Audra McDonald, A Raisin in the Sun
Now a four-time Tony winner, McDonald is reuniting with her Marie Christine writer Michael John LaChiusa this summer to appear in his latest, R Shomon at the Williamstown Theatre Festival from July 21 through August 1. McDonald is also currently premiering a new song cycle entitled The Seven Deadly Sins at Carnegie Hall remaining dates are June 8 and June 10 and will appear alongside fellow 2004 Tony winner Michael Cerveris in Sunday in the Park with George from September 3 through September 5 at Chicago's Ravinia Festival.

Best Featured Actor in a Play
Brían F. O'Byrne, Frozen
O'Byrne, an in-demand actor who dropped out of Streetcar Named Desire at the Kennedy Center to appear in Frozen on Broadway, has landed a role in the new Clint Eastwood film Million $$$ Baby. He flies out tomorrow to shoot his scenes for the drama, which will be in theaters in 2005.

Best Featured Actor in a Musical
Michael Cerveris, Assassins
While he continues to knock 'em dead in Assassins, Cerveris is promoting his new CD, dogeared. He will be performing in support of it at Joe's Pub on July 12. A veteran of Chicago's Ravinia Festival, Cerveris will take a short leave from Assassins this fall to star in Sunday in the Park with George opposite Audra McDonald, running September 3 through September 5 at the festival.

Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Anika Noni Rose, Caroline, or Change
Rose is the veteran of numerous readings and workshops, having recently starred in the high-profile workshop of The Color Purple. That pre-Broadway musical is set to premiere in Atlanta this fall, but only time will tell if Rose will appear in it. At one point the young star was set to play Dorothy in the proposed ABC remake of The Wiz, so we're thinking she'd be perfect for the upcoming Broadway revival of the show. A website can dream, no?

Best Director of a Musical
Joe Mantello, Assassins
While Mantello concentrated on musicals this season helming both Wicked and Assassins, next season he'll again take on a play, the Broadway revival of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross.

Best Director of a Play
Jack O'Brien, Henry IV
After winning for the epic Shakespeare production, O'Brien is set to return to the musical world next season, helming the pre-Broadway tryout of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Old Globe Theater September 15 through October 24, where he is Artistic Director. The show is expected to hit the Great White Way in early 2005. O'Brien is also attached to Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! at the Old Globe and the Lincoln Center mounting of Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia, scheduled for the 2005-2006 Broadway season.

Best Choreography
Kathleen Marshall, Wonderful Town
Marshall will soon follow in brother Rob Marshall's footsteps by choreographing and directing an ABC television musical movie his was Annie. She will have both responsibilities on the upcoming Once Upon a Mattress with Carol Burnett. Marshall is also attached to direct and choreograph the Broadway revival of The Pajama Game, though plans for it seem to be on hold right now.

Best Original Score
Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, Avenue Q
In a very short period of time, Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez have gone from unknowns to well known Tony winners. The duo is currently working on a new stage musical with a religious theme with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, a movie musical for Universal Pictures and two television projects, one autobiographical and another one based on their Tony Award-winning musical.

Best Book of a Musical
Jeff Whitty, Avenue Q
Whitty is both a surprise Tony winner and a very busy man. He still acts he appeared in last season's off-Broadway hit The Beard of Avon and he is in high-demand as a writer. He is currently working on two play commissions, a Fox TV pilot with Avenue Q director Jason Moore and a movie for Jennifer Aniston based on a true story from This American Life.

Best Scenic Design
Eugene Lee, Wicked
Lee is leaving the lavish world of Oz behind to work on a smaller scale show, the world premiere of Steven Dietz' Last of the Boys at the McCarter Theatre September 7 through October 17.

Best Costume Design
Susan Hilferty, Wicked
Remember that Michael John Lachiusa musical R Shomon that we mentioned as Audra McDonald's next vehicle? Well, Hilferty will be designing the costumes. She is also currently at work on Eve Ensler's new one-woman show The Good Body, which will soon tryout at A.C.T. in San Francisco and is expected at the Booth Theater late this summer.

Best Lighting Design
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Assassins
The busy lighting design team is working on a television project and an upcoming musical. Which one you ask? Mum's the word for now!

Best Orchestrations
Michael Starobin, Assassins
Starobin is providing orchestrations for the National Theatre production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum beginning performances on June 28 and the upcoming television musical A Christmas Carol. He's also using his talents for the circus, composing tunes for the ever popular Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey.