‘Doubt’ likely to pick up Tony for best play

No “Doubt” about it: The 2005 Tony Award for best play will go to John Patrick Shanley.

The author of “Doubt” already has collected this year’s Pulitzer Prize for drama, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, the Outer Critics prize and the top Drama Desk award. There’s only one trophy left.

Of course, remember last year when all us fearless forecasters were predicting a win for “Wicked” as best musical. And then a little show called “Avenue Q” took prizes for best musical, book and score.

A few upsets could liven up tonight’s Tony telecast (8 p.m., KREM-2 in Spokane), with Hugh Jackman back as host for a third year.

Besides best play, look for Shanley’s tale of certainty and suspicion to take a major share of the acting prizes: actress, Cherry Jones; actor, Brian F. O’Byrne; and featured actress, Adriane Lenox. It should also sweep in director Doug Hughes.

For musical, “Monty Python’s Spamalot” would seem to be the logical choice. The season’s biggest musical hit has star power in Tim Curry, David Hyde Pierce and Hank Azaria, and ready name recognition from all those rabid Python fans.

One sure winner is comedian Billy Crystal in the special theatrical event category for his autobiographical one-man show, “700 Sundays.”

However, the revival-play prize is tough to predict. There are several worthy competitors – “Glengarry Glen Ross,” “Twelve Angry Men” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” among them. Look for the crowd-pleasing “Twelve Angry Men” to eke out a victory.

“La Cage aux Folles” should win in the lackluster musical-revival category.