Alan Bennett, "Jersey Boys" win big at Tonys

NEW YORK, June 12 (Reuters) Alan Bennett's ''The History Boys'' won six Tony Awards including best play, and the 1960s Four Seasons biographical show ''Jersey Boys'' overcame the stigma against ''jukebox musicals'' to win best musical.

''The History Boys'' dominated the drama category, winning best director, actor and supporting actress, as well as best play, adding to a clutch of awards it picked up in London where it started life at the National Theatre yesterday.

The honors for musicals were more evenly divided, with ''Jersey Boys'' winning four, including best actor for John Lloyd Young, and supporting actor, Christian Hoff.

Its main rival, ''The Drowsy Chaperone,'' a parody of 1920s musicals, won five awards, including best book and best score, as well as best supporting actress for Beth Leavel.

Best actress in a musical went to LaChanze, the star of ''The Color Purple,'' a show based on Alice Walker's novel that ended up with just one award despite 11 nominations.

A new production of ''Sweeney Todd'' first seen in London won best director of a musical, for John Doyle.

Three of the original members of the Four Seasons were in the audience as ''Jersey Boys'' picked up the award for best musical, overcoming what director Des McAnuff said was a deep prejudice against musicals based on existing popular music.

''I think we were a little bit tainted by this 'jukebox musical' term,'' McAnuff told reporters backstage. He said he preferred to think of ''Jersey Boys'' as a history play along the lines of Shakespeare, with celebrities as the new royalty.

Featuring hits such as ''Sherry'' and ''Oh What a Night,'' the show is the story of how four boys from New Jersey came from nowhere to be among the biggest pop stars of the 1960s.

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