‘City of Angels’ and ‘Grand Hotel’ the Big Winners at Tony Awards : Broadway: ‘City’ is the best musical as both shows triumph in several categories. An adapted ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ edges ‘The Piano Lesson’ as best play.

“City of Angels” and “Grand Hotel” were the big winners of the 1990 Tony Awards on Sunday, walking off with six and five awards, respectively, including best new musical for “City” and twin Tonys for Tommy Tune as director and choreographer of “Grand Hotel.”

The award for best performance by a leading actress in a musical, however, eluded both shows, going instead to Tyne Daly for her star turn as Mama Rose in “Gypsy,” which also took the prize for best revival of a play or musical.

In nonmusical categories, the Steppenwolf Company of Chicago’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” (seen last year at the La Jolla Playhouse) walked off with the Tony for best play and best director of a play (to Frank Galati), while Robert Morse (“Tru”) and Maggie Smith (“Lettice and Lovage”) were rewarded with the Tonys for best performance by a leading actor/actress.

Such front-line favorites as “The Piano Lesson” (which won a second Pulitzer Prize for its author, August Wilson) and Craig Lucas’ acclaimed “Prelude to a Kiss” walked away empty-handed.

Margaret Tyzack (“Lettice and Lovage”) received the award for best performance by a featured actress in a play. But while Charles Durning won the male counterpart of the same award (best performance by a featured actor) for his portrayal of Big Daddy in the revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” he was that show’s only winner. Kathleen Turner, who hosted the Tonys and was up for best performance by a leading actress as Maggie the Cat in “Cat,” lost out to another Maggie--Maggie Smith.

In addition to its coveted top prize, “City of Angels” also garnered awards for book writer Larry Gelbart, composer Cy Coleman, lyricist David Zippel, set designer Robin Wagner, James Naughton (leading actor in a musical) and Randy Graff (featured actress in a musical).

“Grand Hotel,” meanwhile, a musical adaptation of the Vicky Baum novel of the same name, earned additional awards for Michael Jeter (featured actor in a musical) costume designer Santo Loquasto and lighting designer Jules Fisher.

Alfred Drake, the star and co-star of such Broadway hits as “Kiss Me, Kate,” “Oklahoma!” and “Kismet,” received a standing ovation as he was awarded a special Tony for career excellence shortly before the ceremony went on the air.

Daniel Sullivan, artistic director of the Seattle Repertory Theater, which was this year’s recipient of the special Tony for outstanding regional theater, made a point of thanking the troubled National Endowment for the Arts for its support of the past 25 years.

He was among many who used the evening politically to invoke support for the Endowment in its struggle against censorship and those who would like to see it abolished.

The vagaries of the awards notwithstanding, the ceremony itself had all the stylishness usually associated with it, due in great measure to the distinction of its presenters (among them this year Lily Tomlin, Jessica Tandy, Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick and Sandy Duncan) but also, this year, because there was a slate of exciting contenders.

The 1989-90 season was one of the better ones in nearly a decade. In comparison, last season produced only one big musical--”Jerome Robbins’ Broadway”--and one solid play, “The Heidi Chronicles.”

In fact, this year’s relative bonanza meant that several likely candidates for nominations were overlooked, including Vanessa Redgrave for “Orpheus Descending” and the stars of the revival of W. Somerset Maugham’s “The Circle”--Glynis Johns, Stewart Granger, and the late beloved Rex Harrison, who died Saturday, less than a month after his last performance in the play.

The Tonys were founded in 1947 by the American Theatre Wing. The awards show, held this year at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and televised on CBS, was presented by the Wing and the League of American Theatres and Producers and produced by Joe Cates.

The nominees were chosen by a 12-person committee ranging from lyricist Sheldon Harnick to producer Jean Dalrymple to Rosetta LeNoire, artistic director of the AMAS Repertory Theater. The winners were chosen by more than 700 voters, mostly theater professionals, critics and journalists.