Jerome Robbins Dance Numbers Collect 6 Tonys : ‘The Heidi Chronicles’ Named Best Play; Bosco Wins Top Actor Award

“Jerome Robbins’ Broadway,” a collection of dazzling dance numbers from some of the famed choreographer’s biggest hits, won the Tony Award on Sunday as best musical of the 1988-89 Broadway season.

The show, which features excerpts from “West Side Story,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Gypsy” and other Robbins musicals, took a total of six Tonys, including one for Robbins as director of the musical.

“The Heidi Chronicles,” Wendy Wasserstein’s comedy about one woman’s 20-year journey to self-fulfillment, was named best play.

After thanking the cast, the crew, the production team and her family, Wasserstein said: “One last word, which is for women playwrights. I think this is great for all of us.”

Although “The Heidi Chronicles” took the top play award, it could manage only one other prize--a featured actor award for Boyd Gaines.

Philip Bosco, a sentimental favorite, won the award for best actor in a play, and Pauline Collins was named best actress.

The audience cheered as Bosco, a veteran New York actor who had never won a Tony before, went to the stage of the Lunt-Fontanne Theater. He accepted the prize for his portrayal of an apoplectic opera impresario in the farce, “Lend Me a Tenor.”

The director of “Lend Me a Tenor,” Jerry Zaks, picked up the prize for best direction.

Collins won for her portrait of “Shirley Valentine,” in a one-woman play about a bored but never boring middle-aged English housewife.

“Jerome Robbins’ Broadway” dominated the musical performance awards. It won for Jason Alexander, the show’s ebullient master of ceremonies, and for two featured performers--Debbie Shapiro and Scott Wise.

Ruth Brown, the 1950s rhythm and blues queen, was picked as best actress in a musical for the revue “Black and Blue.”

Christine Baranski, who played a neurotic, twitching housewife in Neil Simon’s farce, “Rumors,” won for best featured actress in a play.

The technical honors were split among three shows and four designers. Jennifer Tipton won the lighting award for “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway,” Santo Loquasto the scenic prize for “Cafe Crown” and Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli the costume award for “Black and Blue.”