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WHO'S going to host this year's Tony Awards?
Several names are being band ied about.
The top choice is, of course, Oprah Winfrey, co-producer of what is sure to be one of this year's nominees for Best Musical, "The Color Purple."
Oprah has been approached, Tony sources confirm, and she hasn't said no yet.
She's worried, though, about the perception of a conflict of interest.
But that's never bothered the theater world in the past.
Last year, Hugh Jackman hosted the telecast, even though both he and his show - "The Boy From Oz" - were up for awards.
And Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane co-hosted the show the year "The Producers" won every Tony in sight.
At one point, the Tony people thought it would be fun to have Oprah co-host the show with Jackman, but he's bowed out due to scheduling conflicts.
If Oprah declines to host, Tony people hope she'll appear on the telecast to present the award for Best Musical.
In which case, the most powerful woman in the world could probably open the envelope and announce, "The Color Purple," and never be challenged about it later.
Billy Crystal is also on the Tony host wish list.
He won a Tony last year for his show "700 Sundays," with which he is currently touring the country.
The Tony people may also ask Katie Couric, since, on May 31, she jumps ship from NBC to CBS, which broadcasts the Tonys on June 11.
The Tonys celebrate their 60th anniversary this year, so another idea being kicked around is to invite back old hosts such as Julie Andrews, Angela Lansbury, Bonnie Franklin and Rosie O'Donnell.
The problem with that, says one Tony person, is that "the show could look like a raid on a geriatric home."
SPEAKING of geriatric homes, the New York Drama Critics Circle has, for the first time in decades, elected a president who doesn't look like he's bound for the glue factory.
At 33, Adam Feldman, hipster critic for Time Out New York, is thought to be the youngest president in the organization's 70-year history.
He's brimming with bright ideas about how to yank the DCC - "those Damn Cranky Cobras," as a producer once labeled them - into the 21st century.
He wants to create a Web site for the organization. (Along with Forest Monks of Ceylon, the DCC is probably the only organization in the world that doesn't have one.)
He also wants to have more debate before the voting process.
And he wants to give awards to actors (right now, the DCC only recognizes a best play, a best foreign play and a best musical).
Feldman outlined his plans in a memo to his fellow critics, saying he hopes his proposals will "broaden our scope and make our voice a little louder amid the din of the awards-season downpour."
Alas, the old-guard cobras are having none of it.
The other night at "The Threepenny Opera," snarly John Heilprin of the New York Observer told Feldman: "We're going to have you recalled. We thought we wanted fresh blood, but we've made a terrible mistake."
A person who overheard the conversation says Heilprin was joking, "but there was a definite edge to it."
Heilprin and several of his colleagues have no use for Feldman's newfangled ideas.
They're quite happy to be part of an organization that, as one of them says, "ignores the fashions of the day."
The critics do not crave publicity the way the Tonys, the Drama Desk and various other groups do. And they certainly don't want to waste their time debating with one another the merits of a play.
"With all due respect to the distinguished men and women of our organization, I don't think any of us cares what the others think," says Michael Sommers, of the Star-Ledger.
The typical attitude of a critic, he says, is: "You liked 'Festen'? What do you know?"
As for a Web site, Jacques le Sourd, of Gannett Newspapers, sums up the prevailing attitude: "What, for God's sake, do we need with a Web site?"
Feldman says: "I think that in any organization there is a certain amount of resistance to change. And if the organization isn't ready to adapt, then those of us who see things differently will have to resign ourselves to that. But these things are worth discussing."
Feldman might make more headway with a proposal to bring back the open bar the critics used to have at their meetings.
"There was top-shelf liquor," recalls Le Sourd, who's been a member of the Drama Critics Circle for 30 years.
"People kept trooping over for refills, which made the voting process much more interesting than anything we have today or are contemplating."
michael.riedel@nypost.com
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