‘Tommy,’ ‘Spider Woman’ Lead Tony Pack : Theater: The two musicals battle for top honors on Broadway. ‘Angels in America’ is early favorite in drama category.

It was a battle between two big musicals--”The Who’s Tommy” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman”--that provided the suspense Sunday as the 1993 Tony Awards honored the best of a meager Broadway season.

Each show got 11 Tony nominations--more than any other production--but figuring which one would receive the coveted best-musical prize was no easy task.

There was little uncertainty about the award for best play: “Angels in America: Millennium Approaches” was the overwhelming favorite. Tony Kushner’s epic AIDS drama already has won the Pulitzer Prize as well as the New York Drama Critics’ Circle and Drama Desk awards. It had its first full production last fall at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and has been nominated for nine awards.

Its competition includes Wendy Wasserstein’s highly praised comedy “The Sisters Rosensweig” and two more remote possibilities, “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me,” a Middle East hostage drama, and “The Song of Jacob Zulu,” about the making of a South African revolutionary.

The best musical category became something of a generational contest. “Tommy,” an MTV-inspired adaptation of the Who’s rock opera, battled “Spider Woman,” with music by John Kander and Fred Ebb, the veteran songwriting team behind “Cabaret” and “New York, New York.”

“Spider Woman,” a stark tale of love and torture set in a Latin American jail, is the latest incarnation of the Manuel Puig novel. The 1985 film version won William Hurt an Academy Award.

The long shots were “Blood Brothers,” a British musical about twins separated at birth, and “The Goodbye Girl,” Neil Simon’s reworking of his 1977 film about the romance between a single mother and an unemployed actor.

The 1992-93 Broadway season ended with mixed results.

There were record ticket sales of $327.7 million and a rise in attendance to 7.86 million, up from 7.38 million the previous year. Yet much of the boost was due to increased ticket prices and the continued strength of older hits.

“Guys and Dolls,” “Crazy for You,” “Jelly’s Last Jam” and “The Will Rogers Follies” were still finding audiences, as were four seemingly indestructible British musicals: “Cats,” “Les Miserables,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Miss Saigon.”

The year’s 33 productions were mostly undistinguished and none generated much excitement until “Angels in America,” “Tommy” and “Spider Woman” arrived late in the season. Only nine new plays opened during the season. Two of them were one-man efforts and a third was the clown show “Fool Moon,” starring Bill Irwin and David Shiner.

The 47th annual Tony show, presented by the American Theater Wing and the League of American Theaters and Producers, was televised live by CBS from the Gershwin Theater with host Liza Minnelli.

A special Tony Award for outstanding regional theater, recommended by the American Theater Critics Assn., was given to the La Jolla Playhouse in Southern California. The La Jolla Playhouse held the premiere of “Tommy.”

Also honored was “Oklahoma!” The landmark Rodgers and Hammerstein musical is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

A 12-member panel of theater professionals chose the nominees in 19 competitive categories. The winners were picked by 668 members of the theatrical community, including producers, actors, playwrights, directors, designers, choreographers, casting directors and journalists.

The Tonys are named for Antoinette Perry, who was a leading force in the American Theater Wing during World War II and a founder of the Stage Door Canteen.