ARTICLE: Broadway     Sailing into the Sunset Show Boat wins five Tony Awards, but Sunset Boulevard triumphs with seven By JOHN COULBOURN Toronto Sun Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage adaptation of Billy Wilder's classic movie Sunset Boulevard triumphed over Live Entertainment's revival of Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern's Show Boat at last night's Tony Awards. But as Broadway saluted its best, Show Boat made an impressive showing nonetheless, earning five Tonys to Sunset's seven. The Toronto-born revival of the 1927 Show Boat garnered honors for Gretha Boston in the supporting actress category, Susan Strohman in choreography, Florence Klotz in costumes, and Hal Prince in directing, as well as earning a Tony for best revival of a musical. In accepting the best revival Tony, Live Ent's Garth Drabinsky called on all Canadians to "take pride again, because it all began in Toronto." Drabinsky's production of Kiss Of The Spider Woman earned several Tony's in 1993 and Drabinsky said it felt good to be back. "It was less intimidating than the first time," he said after the show was televised. "I'm not nonchalant but I now know the feeling. It's still very humbling to be in that strata." For his part, Prince expressed gratitude to Live Ent for "so much creativity, so much enthusiasm and seeing we always travelled first class." Still, it looked like a Sunset evening, even before it started. Sunset had earned two awards by acclamation, for best book and best score. That number swelled with subsequent awards to George Hearn for supporting actor, to Andrew Bridge for best lighting and to John Napier for best scenic design. Glenn Close's award for best actress made the award for best new musical all but inevitable. Close co-hosted the show with Gregory Hines and Nathan Lane, live from the Minskoff Theatre, where Sunset is playing. Nominees from both shows were edged out in the best actor category, however, by Matthew Broderick, who picked up an award for his performance in the revival of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. In the non-musical category, The Heiress, a 1940s' stage adaptation of Washington Square, quickly established a commanding lead and maintained it throughout the evening. The first Tony was awarded to Frances Sternhagen for her supporting actress turn and was followed by awards for best revival, best direction for Joe Gutierre and best actress for Cherry Jones. In the best play revival category, The Heiress beat out Michael Langham's staging of The Moliere Comedies, which began its voyage to Broadway at the Stratford Festival. Brian Bedford, the star of The Moliere Comedies was beaten out for best actor by Ralph Fiennes, star of a revival of Hamlet. Playwright Terrence McNally's much honored Love! Valour! Compassion! garnered two awards - a supporting actor Tony for John Glover, who beat out two of his castmates, plus a Tony for best new play. In other awards, Carol Channing took a night off her latest tour of Hello, Dolly! to pick up an award for lifetime achievement, while Connecticut's Goodspeed Opera House was honored with the regional theatre award. Drabinsky, en route to the Tony Ball and a Show Boat party at the Copa, was obviously pleased with how well Sunset has done too. Live Ent opens a Canadian production of the show, starring Diahann Carroll, at the Ford Centre this fall, so he has a proprietary interest in that show as well. "All of our shows were well looked after tonight," he said, with obvious - and justifiable - satisfaction.