Special Tony Winners Announced

Winners of four special Tony Awards were announced May 4, one day before nominees for the competitive Tony Awards for outstanding achievement in Broadway theatre are to be unveiled. The honorees are composer Jerry Herman (lifetime achievement); Signature Theatre of Arlington, Virginia (outstanding regional theatre); actress Phyllis Newman (Isabelle Stevenson Award); and press agent Shirley Herz (Tony honor for excellence in the theatre).

Herman has composed the scores for such Broadway hits as Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage Aux Folles. He has been nominated for five Tonys and won twice (for Dolly and La Cage).

The Signature Theatre of Arlington, Va., will receive the outstanding regional theatre award, voted on by members of the American Theatre Critics Association. The award is accompanied by a gift of $25,000 from Visa.

Newman won a Tony in 1962 as outstanding featured actress in a musical for Subways Are for Sleeping. She is being honored for her work with the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative of The Actors Fund, with the newly created Isabelle Stevenson Award, named for the late chairman of the American Theater Wing. For the past 12 years, Newman has raised more than $3.5 million to help serve the health needs of 2,500 women in the entertainment industry.

Shirley Herz has been a press agent for over 50 years, publicizing more than 200 shows on and Off-Broadway.