Glenn Close appeared in both plays and musicals on Broadway.
Barnum is an American musical with a book by Mark Bramble , lyrics by Michael Stewart , and music by Cy Coleman . Glenn Close . Close began her professional stage career in 1974 in Love for Love , and was mostly a New York stage actress through the rest of the 1970s and early 1980s , appearing in both plays and musicals , including the Broadway productions of Barnum in 1980 and The Real Thing in 1983 , for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play . The Real Thing is a play by Tom Stoppard that was first performed in 1982 . It examines the nature of honesty and uses various constructs , including a play within a play , to explore the theme of reality versus appearance . Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play . The award is given to actresses for quality leading roles in a Broadway play .