DATE: Tuesday, June 3, 1997                 TAG: 9706030039

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  105 lines

CRITICAL OBSTACLES DIDN'T SINK ``TITANIC'' IN THE TONY AWARDS

``TITANIC'' SAILED again to score a triumph over its more-nominated musical rivals to win the 51st running of Broadway's Tony Awards.

By focusing on current shows and not trying such a daunting task as last year's ill-fated effort to recreate 50 years of theater, the telecast came across as an admirable ``community'' effort. It was clear that the Broadway community was eager for its moment in the network spotlight. For potential Manhattan tourists, it was a smorgasbord of theater shopping, with live performances of scenes from the nominated new and revived musicals.

``Titanic's'' victory, winning with all five of its nominations, was an unexpected one. ``The Life,'' a musical about 1970s Times Square lowlife, received 12 nominations but won only two. ``Steel Pier,'' the musical about a dance marathon at the Atlantic City landmark in the 1920s, received 11 nominations and won none.

The groundswell for ``Titanic'' came only after audiences and voters were finally persuaded to take it seriously and forget the initial jokes about the seeming absurdity of doing a Broadway musical about the monumental tragedy. The reviews ranged from mediocre to outright pans, but the scope and innovation of the show eventually demanded that it be taken seriously.

Yet, in accepting the ``best book of a musical'' award, the ``Titanic'' writer thanked the drama critics. ``Where would we be without you?'' he asked, with no hint of sarcasm.

There are two types of shows that New York critics are increasingly reluctant to praise: huge-budgeted blockbusters such as ``Titanic'' and shows that are discovered around the country and have successful runs before they hit Broadway.

``Jekyll and Hyde,'' which was performed at Chrysler Hall before its current Broadway run, fell into the latter category. It won nothing, and Linda Eder, its soaring pop-voiced leading lady, wasn't even nominated. Leading man Robert Cuccioli was the show's only real chance for a win, but he was snubbed in favor of Broadway veteran James Naughton in the revival of ``Chicago.''

Nonetheless, ``Jekyll and Hyde'' is doing better at the box office than any of the other new musicals. The show's enthusiastic fans gathered outside the stage door Sunday afternoon, threatening to disrupt the Tony broadcast in protest to ``Jekyll's'' not being nominated. The show's producer urged them to ``support us as ladies and gentleman.''

The protest was not noticeable on television.

Only those who tuned in to the opening hour - aired on PBS and preceding the CBS network broadcast - got a hint that the tide had turned for ``Titanic.'' On that show, the musical won for its score, book and set, plus it landed the first-ever Tony given for orchestration.

``Candide'' won for costuming. William Ivey Long, a frequent resident of Manteo who does costumes for ``The Lost Colony,'' was nominated for ``Chicago,'' but the simplicity of his work couldn't win over the big revivals' more colorful period creations. The final tally:

The musicals - ``Chicago,'' 6; ``Titanic,'' 5; ``The Life,'' 2; and ``Candide,'' 1.

The dramas - ``A Doll's House,'' 4; ``The Last Night of Ballyhoo,'' 1; ``Barrymore,'' 1; and ``An American Daughter,'' 1.

``Chicago's'' victory was sweet revenge. It debuted 20 years ago with legends Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera sparking ticket sales, even as critics panned the book. Swept away by ``A Chorus Line,'' it won no Tonys. The present revival de-emphasizes the skimpy plot in favor of a streamlined showcase for Bob Fosse's dances and staging. The revival was originally produced as little more than a concert version in the City Center Encore series, with performers in front of the band. All three of its stars won: Bebe Neuwirth for best actress in a musical, Naughton for actor and the inimitable Ann Reinking for recreating Fosse's choreography.

Its a local triumph, too, because the musical director and conductor for ``Chicago'' was Norfolk native Rob Fisher.

PBS scored with its streamlined first hour, using filmed clips for lightning-fast interviews with the nominees. Minus a host, it presented 10 awards during its hour, leaving CBS two hours to present the remaining 12.

The main problem with the CBS presentation was its host - an unsure and surprisingly tentative Rosie O'Donnell. Her opening number featured an off-key and flat singing voice, with even flatter jokes about the intrusion of two chorus dancers. For the most part, though, she stayed out of the way. By eliminating long-winded introductions, the show moved briskly - and the musical numbers from current Broadway shows were terrific.

With the price for tickets nowadays going up to $75 a ticket, viewers got about $500 of free entertainment here. Quite a bargain.

Also questionable was moving the location to Radio City Music Hall, which is not a Broadway theater. It lends credence to the theory that the Tonys have become more a greedy circus than a recognition of creativity.

``The Life'' is about prostitutes and hustlers and, after last year's win for the seamy ``Rent,'' may have been too anti-New York to win. It did win, in supporting roles, for Lillias White as a weary prostitute and Chuck Cooper as a mean pimp.

The ``best actress in a drama'' went to London's Janet McTeer for the heralded revival of Henrik Ibsen's ``A Doll's House,'' arguably the first feminist drama. The tall McTeer, in accepting, said she got the producer drunk and convinced her she was really only 5-foot-2. Her co-star, Owen Teale, won for ``best featured actor in a drama,'' even though he clearly had a leading role.

Anthony Page won ``best director of a drama'' for ``Doll's House.''

Alfred Uhry, who has written only two plays, claimed the distinction by evening's end of becoming the only playwright in history to win the ``triple crown'' - Oscar, Tony and Pulitzer. His ``The Last Night of Ballyhoo,'' a comedy about a Jewish family in Atlanta at the time of the ``Gone With the Wind'' premiere, won the coveted ``best play'' award.

Uhry's Pulitzer and Oscar were for ``Driving Miss Daisy.'' His show's main competitor was Horton Foote's ``The Young Man from Atlanta,'' which had won the Pulitzer. There had been some feeling that the voters would want to honor the aging playwright Foote, so ``Ballyhoo's'' big win was a bittersweet one.

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