The 42nd Tony Awards ceremony was held on June 5, 1988, at the Minskoff Theatre and broadcast live on CBS, hosted by Angela Lansbury.

Eligibility

Shows that opened on Broadway during the 1987–1988 season before May 13, 1988 are eligible.

The Ceremony

Musicals represented were: Plays represented were: M. Butterfly, Scene with John Lithgow and BD Wong; Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Scene with Mel Winkler, Ed Hall and Delroy Lindo; A Walk in the Woods, Scene with Sam Waterston and Robert Prosky; and Speed-the-Plow, Scene with Joe Mantegna and Ron Silver. A tribute to the late Michael Bennett was performed by Donna McKechnie of the original Chorus Line and the three original Dreamgirls, Terry Burrell, Loretta Devine and Sheryl Lee Ralph. At these Tony Awards, the longest-running musical on Broadway, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, competed for awards and received the season's Best Musical award.

Winners and nominees

Winners are in bold

Special awards

Multiple nominations and awards

These productions had multiple nominations: The following productions received multiple awards.