Photos from a new compendium of over 250 candid shots by Eileen Darby—Broadway’s house photographer—remind us that this Tony season, history is inescapable. Christina Applegate hobbled away with a Tony nomination in a role mastered almost 40 years ago by Shirley MacLaine. A few masterworks by Tennessee Williams were revived with mixed results (and virtually no Tony nods). Even this year’s most singular offering, the much-nominated Light in the Piazza, was composed by Adam Guettel, a grandson of (the evidently sillier) Richard Rodgers. Stars on Stage will be published by Bulfinch Press; selections from Darby, who died last year, are exhibited through May 25 at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

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• Archive: “Theater Features”
• Articles by Boris Kachka
• Table of Contents: May 23, 2005 issue of New York | Subscribe!