Theatre World Award
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The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor given annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance.
Inaugural recipients included Betty Comden, Judy Holliday, and John Raitt. The long and eclectic list of performers who have received the award includes Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster, Patricia Neal, Carol Channing, Charlton Heston, Grace Kelly, Richard Burton, Cloris Leachman, Maureen Stapleton, Eli Wallach, Julie Andrews, Barbara Cook, Anthony Perkins, Lizbeth MacKay, Christopher Plummer, Andy Griffith, Laurence Harvey, Jayne Mansfield, Carol Lynley, Cliff Robertson, Danny Aiello, Dixie Carter, Meryl Streep, the entire cast of A Chorus Line, Audra McDonald, Billy Crudup, Ralph Fiennes, Vanessa Williams, Calista Flockhart, Helen Mirren, Jude Law, Brooke Shields, and - in more recent years - Harry Connick, Jr., Christina Applegate, Hugh Jackman, Antonio Banderas, and Marissa Jaret Winokur.
At present, winners are selected by a committee comprised of New York-based critics. It currently includes Peter Filichia (Theatermania.com), Harry Haun (Playbill), Matthew Murray (TalkinBroadway.com), Frank Scheck (New York Post), Michael Sommers (Newhouse Papers), Doug Watt (Critic Emeritus, New York Daily News), and Linda Winer (New York Newsday), and are coordinated by Theatre World Editor John Willis and Associate Editor Ben Hodges. (Theatre World is the oldest definitive pictorial and statistical record of each American theatrical season, and serves as a reference for theater professionals, students, and historians worldwide.)
Known as "Janus" (the Roman god of Entrances, Exits, and All Beginnings), the award is a bronze sculpture designed by artist Harry Marinsky.