Stoppard, "Spring Awakening" win top Tony Awards

NEW YORK, June 11 (Reuters) Revolution and rebellion were the theme of this year's big Tony Awards winners -- Tom Stoppard's Russian revolutionary drama and rock musical ''Spring Awakening'' about angry teenagers learning about sex.

Stoppard's epic trilogy ''The Coast of Utopia'' won seven awards, including best play and director, while ''Spring Awakening'' dominated the musical categories, taking home eight prizes including best musical and direction of a musical.

''The Coast of Utopia's'' crop of Tonys set a new record for a play, breaking the previous top score of six held jointly by Alan Bennett's ''The History Boys'' last year and Arthur Miller's ''Death of a Salesman'' in 1949.

''They're both plays that I admire very much,'' Stoppard told reporters backstage yesterday. ''What didn't they get?'' ''Coast of Utopia'' cast members Billy Crudup and Jennifer Ehle won acting awards for their supporting roles and the play also won awards for scenery, costumes and lighting.

Frank Langella won the Tony for best leading actor in a play for his role as Richard Nixon in ''Frost/Nixon,'' a dramatization of David Frost's 1977 TV interviews with the disgraced president.

Julie White, who played a pushy celebrity agent in ''The Little Dog Laughed,'' won best actress in a play, beating big names Vanessa Redgrave and Angela Lansbury.

''I never imagined I would be on a list like this unless it was for dinner reservations,'' White said in her speech to the crowd of stars at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

''Grey Gardens,'' a critical hit about two reclusive, eccentric relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, came into the night with 10 nominations but won just three -- the two acting awards for star Christine Ebersole and supporting actress Mary Louise Wilson, and best costumes in a musical.

Reuters SKB VP0915