THE �LEADING� CONTENDERS
Norbert Leo Butz: This Dirty Rotten Scoundrel is cleaning up in the awards derby, having won Best Actor in a Musical from the Outer Critics Circle and the Drama Desk, plus an Astaire Award for Best Male Dancer and the Distinguished Performance Award from the Drama League. As Freddy, who works the "con festival" on the French Rivera, he�ll probably steal away with the Tony, too.

So what�s the Tony nomination mean to Butz? "It�s great. I love this show so much. I love this cast. The Tonys are like a really great high school prom. My high school prom was a total washout. My girlfriend had broken up with me, and I had to ask this other girl that I didn�t really like. It was just a drag. So we�re gonna dress up [for the Tonys] and just enjoy it. I couldn�t imagine going through this without John [Lithgow]. I feel stupid lucky. He�s a great actor and a fantastic human being."

In accepting his award at the Drama League luncheon, Butz opened with a line befitting Freddy, "I have to pee so bad. How many of you [on this dais] as well? So that�s going to be the basis of my speech. I am not a funny person. I have a very funny name: Norbert Leo Butz. The Leo is there only to break up two embarrassing ends. But we have two very funny men who have written this show: David Yazbek and Jeffrey Lane. To Jack O�Brien, a true prince of New York theatre. To Jerry Mitchell, who is a phenomenal storyteller when it comes to dance, but more than anyone, John Lithgow. If I ever grow up, I wanna be just like him."

Hank Azaria: In Spamalot, this Emmy-winning actor shows he�s got a lot of character in four riotous roles: Lancelot, The French Taunter, Knight of Ni and Tim the Enchanter. In picking up his 2005 Theatre World Award for his Broadway debut, he said, "Sorry about my [hoarse] voice. Eight shows a week. You people are insane. Now I understand why Harvey Fierstein sounds the way he does. I�m honored. I�m having the most fun I�ve ever had in my life, clothes on or off. I�ve worked for years in TV and Hollywood, and I had forgotten how much of a dream [reaching Broadway] was. The first time I saw Monty Python, I was 12. And they changed the whole way I looked at performing. To me, they were the Beatles of comedy. It amazes me that I get to perform [their material] nightly, especially for young people. To introduce them to Monty Python is one of 99 dreams that have come true out of all of this. I really am deeply grateful to be so embraced and proud to be part of this community."

Tim Curry: As King Arthur in Monty Python�s merry and madcap Spamalot, he rules. And though many remember him best as Dr. Frank N. Furter doing the Time Warp in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," he got his previous Tony nomination in another musical that was based on a big screen comedy: "My Favorite Year" (1993). "I loved that show. But I think the problem with it was the audience wasn�t clear who they were rooting for. It was so hard to cut because all of the characters were so interesting. Here, in Spamalot, we have a director [Mike Nichols] who�s ruthless about the story and applied the principles he used to apply to Nichols and May: You keep cutting the least funny stuff until you end up with just the funniest stuff." His favorite moment in Spamalot? "I love doing �I�m All Alone� because it�s funny, but also sweet and moving." What was it like having the original Monty Python members at the show�s opening? "It was wonderful because I know most of them. I made a film with Michael Palin [called 'Three Men in a Boat'] and I did �Will & Grace� with John Cleese. And I sold my piano to Terry Gilliam, having bought it from Roger Waters of Pink Floyd."

John Lithgow: In Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, this two-time Tony winner plays Lawrence, the King Con of sophisticated swindlers. Does he remember the first time he saw Norbert Leo Butz? "Amazingly, it was a workshop of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. [Brian Stokes Mitchell was playing Lawrence then.] I came just because I was friends with a lot of people involved, not with any notion that I�d be in it. Well, Norbert is the real deal. He�s a ball of fire, and we�re an incredible combination. The great thing about Norbert and I is we will do absolutely anything. You so rarely find an actor that you can go all the way with. I was very lucky to work with a bunch of those people on �Third Rock From the Sun.� And it�s very similar with this cast. It�s volatile. One night, I said to Andre [played by Gregory Jbara]: �Where�s Freddy?� Somehow one of Freddy�s shoes from the previous scene was still onstage and hadn�t exited on the turntable. That got me laughing and I was out of control for the next five minutes. Fortunately, it was the audience�s favorite moment."

CHEYENNE: ALL BOOKED UP
Like the motorcycle he climbs aboard in All Shook Up, Cheyenne Jackson is enjoying the ride � and shifting his career into high gear. For his pelvic portrayal as Chad, he nabbed a Drama League nomination for Distinguished Performance and an Outer Critics Circle nomination for Best Actor in a Musical.

In picking up his Theatre World Award for his Broadway debut, Jackson said, "Wow, I didn�t know I had to say something, so I�ve been sitting [in the audience] fretting. But my better half, Monte, said, �Speak from your heart,� so I�ll try to do that. I�m from a small town in Washington state, and when I was seven, my mom took me to a garage sale, and I found a cast album of Annie. And I proudly announced that I was going to be the first boy to ever play Annie. . . . I didn�t move to New York until 20 years later, and it�s been amazing. All Shook Up changed my life. I want to acknowledge one person who really helped me: the late, great Jerry Orbach. He and his wife, Elaine, wound up being my next-door neighbors, and he took me under his wing. And if I have one fraction of the career he had, I�ll be lucky."

Meantime, his June is busting out all over: "Seth�s Broadway Chatterbox" at Don�t Tell Mama (June 2); a Disney workshop of "The Little Mermaid" (June 6-10); "Broadway Under the Stars" (June 13); an All Shook Up CD signing (June 16) and "Broadway Bares" (June 19). Plus, he�s shooting his first film, "Curiosity," an indie thriller, at the end of the month. Visit www.cheyennejackson.com. Continued...