TONY AWARDS - 3/25/1973

The 27th Annual Tony Awards was broadcast by ABC television on March 25, 1973 from the Imperial Theatre in New York City. Hosts were Rex Harrison, Celeste Holm and co-hosts were Sandy Duncan and Jerry Orbach.

The opening was a song-and-dance medley performed by Gwen Verdon, Paula Kelly, Helen Gallagher and Donna McKechnie.[1]

The theme was the global reach of Broadway. The "Wide World of Broadway" featured narrations by Rex Harrison, Walter Slezak, Rossano Brazzi, Yul Brynner and Peter Ustinov, who brought the viewers to: Vienna: West Side Story; Tokyo: The King and I; Milan: Ciao, Rudy; Paris: Hello, Dolly!; London: Show Boat; Zagreb, Yugoslavia: Man of La Mancha; and Wichita Falls, Texas: My Fair Lady.

Musicals represented:

Pippin ("Magic To Do"- Ben Vereen and Company)
A new series of awards was started this year, termed "Theater Awards '73", renewable annually. (New York Times, McCandlish Phillips, p. 52, 3/26/73)

This was the fourth time that Julie Harris won a Tony Award (and her sixth nomination); she won a total of five with a sixth for Lifetime Achievement