I’ll be live blogging the Tonys tonight! Tune in at 8/7c pm on CBS. Neil Patrick Harris will once again host. Expect performances from Glee star, Matt Morrison, Andrew Rannells and more. Debra Messing from Smash will be there, and I hear Glee’s Darren Criss will be in the audience as well. Also…Tom Hanks in the house!
Watch for videos later!
The Tonys open with Neil Patrick Harris and a take off from Once. A ha. He thanks Shia Labeouf for passing on hosting duties. Quite the Irish brogue, there Neil. “It’s Broadway’s biggest night and we’re raring to go…let’s make it bigger.” Next it’s Kinky Boots and Motown. (Berry Gordy is in the audience–“He banged Diana Ross.” “I just learned this dance half hour ago,” sings Neil. Pippin is next. Bring it on. MIKE TYSON IS DANCING ON STAGE WITH NEIL OMG. The Matilda class is next, followed byy A Christmas Story and Annie. This is just flying by! Neil, part of a magic trick involving a box, is suddenly in back of the theater. He and the Newsies are following him, dancing down the aisle. “On Broadway we don’t need extreme closeups to prove we’re singing live.” Ha Les Miz shade. Name check Tom Hanks, who stars in Lucky Guy. “Kathy Lee’s a Broadway lyricist. Anything can happen!” That was an AWESOME open from Neil.
Audra McDonald and Zachary Quinto take the stage to present the first award to Best Featured Actor in a Play. And the Tony goes to Courtney B. Vance, who is married to Angela Bassett. He dedicates the award to his mother.
The cast of Newsies the Musical take the stage to introduce the kids from Matilda the Musical. They sing a medley, including”Life’s Not Fair,” and “We Are Revolting Children.” Rebellious British school kids are revolting against a mean head mistress. It’s kinda like “The Wall.” Sorta.
Neil believes “Playcicles” will keep everyone happy. It’s a mashup! Some of the titles: “The Elephant Man of La Mancha.” “42nd Street Car Named Desire.” “Children of a Lesser Godspell” “Cats on a Hot Tin Roof,” “The Testament of Mary Poppins” “A Midsummer’s Night Dreamgirls” “The Diary of Anne Frankenstein the Musical.” (Justin Bieber would love that show!” says Neil.) “Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spiderman Turn it On.” “Bring it On Golden Pond”.
Tom Hanks takes the stage. He thinks he’s made it now that he’s been embraced by the theater community. He presents Best Featured Actress in a Play to Judith Light for The Assembled Parties. She won last year too.
Velma Kelly from Chicago takes the stage. She’s carried in by two dancers. “These are my boys,” she purrs. She introduces a performance by Bring it On the Musical. The girls recruit for their squad!
Mufasa from the Lion King announces Best Costume Design for both plays and musicals. Neil cracks that Mike Tyson is back stage giving the girls from Matilda face tattoos.
Featured Actor in a Musical goes to Gabriel Ebert for Matilda the Musical.
Lonny and Dennis from Rock of Ages introduce the cast of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. OMG I LOVE THIS MUSICAL. I remember watching it, rapt, on television when I was a little girl. They sing a medley “In my Own Little Corner,” “It’s Possible.” Oh look it’s Prince Charming and “10 minutes ago.” Ah remember Lesley Ann Warren and the guy from Children’s Hospital! I’ve seen the TV version more times than I can count.
The Once cast announces that Kinky Boots and The Nance won Best Sound Design for Musical and Play respectively. “You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Mike Tyson in a pair of Kinky Boots,” says Neil. I think the Mike Tyson jokes will be never ending, and that’s fine with me.
Liam Neeson and another guy pimp the American Theater Wing.
John Cryer and Martha Plimpton take the stage. Jon thinks it’s an honor just to be miscast. Heh. Best Direction of a Musical Goes to Diane Paulus for Pippin
Next, it’s Best Direction of a Play. And it goes to Pam MacKinnon for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. “Vegas got this one wrong,” she says, genuinely surprised that she won.
The cast of Jersey Boys introduces the Cast of Motown the Musical. That seems fitting, doesn’t it? It’s a medley of “Get Ready,” “Dancing in the Streets.” “Diana Ross” introduces “The Jackson 5” who sing “I Want You Back.” Ahhh. The little boy playing Michael is adorable. Oh. Those days. Sigh. “The Love You Save” is next. This is so much fun.
Best Score goes to Cyndi Lauper for Kinky Boots! YAY. Aw. She’s nearly in tears. She thanks her mom for sharing “All of that wonderful music.” She thanks Harvey Fierstein and Broadway for welcoming her. And her family.
Spiderman and his spider guys introduce the cast of Annie. Jane Lynch is playing Miss Hannigan for the summer during her Glee hiatus. She’s pretty great. Who can play mean better than Jane?
Jack Kelly and the Newsies take the stage. So much Newsies tonight! They present Best Choreography to Jerry Mitchell for Kinky Boots.
Andrew Rannells joins Neil Patrick Harris on stage. He sings “I like to be on a TV Show” to the tune of “America.” The New Normal has been cancelled, but Girls hasn’t! He sings about what he likes about TV. And most of it has to do with money. MEGAN HILTY TAKES THE STAGE. She sings about the joys of television. Heh. Only Neil has had any success in TV. Laura Benati, who had two TV shows fail, comes out to sing, with a bottle of booze. “TELEVISION SUCKS.” “Will Chase wasn’t even on the 2nd season of Smash.” SUCK IT WILL CHASE. “We can’t all have long running TV shows like my own!” says Neil. YOU CAN ALWAYS COME HOME TO THE THEATER. “Kiss LA goodbye,” sings Neil to the tune of “What I Did for Love.” They all join in at the end and it’s HILARIOUS.
Anna Kendrick and Cuba Gooding Jr. take the stage to present Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. He has trouble with the teleprompter and has to find his glasses. The Tony goes to Andrea Martin for Pippin. I LOVE HER SO MUCH SCTV FOREVER. This is her second Tony. She thanks everyone possible and gets played off.
Steven Van Zandt takes the stage. LOVE LOVE LOVE the power couple Steven and Maureen SO SO MUCH!!! RESPECT. Recently, he produced The Rascals for the Broadway stage. The actual band reunited for the show. And now here they are to perform. “Good Lovin,” As they perform we see scenes from Broadway plays and musicals currently playing the Great White Way. These guys are older but still pretty hot!
Jesse Eisenberg takes the stage to TALK REALLY FAST. What is he talking about? He introduces the BEST Plays. The Best Play Tony Award goes to…Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Producer, Cynthia Mann accepts the award. Playwright, Christopher Durang takes the stage. next. Oh. Playing him off. Sads. He does get to thank his late mother.
Sandy the dog from Annie sits next to Neil on stage. Aw. Sandy is licking his face, which turns into soul kissing. “You do know that I’m in a relationship,” Neil quips. They introduce the cast of A Christmas Story. Peter Billingsly is one of the producers. He played Ralphie in the iconic movie. TAP DANCING FTW. “You’ll shoot your eye out!” Best line ever.
Back from break, and Neil is tweeting! David Hyde Pierce grabs his phone and stomps on it. Hee.
Simba from The Lion King takes the stage to introduce the cast of Pippin to sing “Corner of the Sky,” “Join Us,” “We’ve Got Magic to Do.” The circus has come to town. “The cast of Pippin arrived here in one tiny car,” jokes Neil.
The Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg takes the stage with Sigourney Weaver. She congratulates him for supporting Broadway. She towers over him hilariously. He calls himself a “triple threat…literally,” meaning he can neither act, sing nor dance. They present Best Revival of a Play to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf Producer Martha Lahey accepts the award. There are nods to the Steppenwolf theater in Chicago…and then she’s totally played off.
Annie and Daddy Warbucks make jokes about how old Annie is, before announcing that Matilda won Best Book of a Musical.
Phantom of the Opera is the longest running musical on Broadway, It has run for 25 years. An impressive list of stats is rattled off. Yes, the show has employed a ton of people and played all over the world–literally. It also boasts the largest orchestra on Broadway. The cast of Phantom performs “Nightwish.”
Sally Field and Matthew Broderick take the stage to present two Tony Awards. Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical goes to Billy Porter for Kinky Boots! He’s crying. Aw. He rattles through his thank yous SO GRATEFUL. Next, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play goes to Tracy Letts for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. He thanks his competitors. Calls them his peers.
Matthew Morrison takes the stage to introduce the In Memorium montage. Marvin Hamlisch and Nora Ephron are two that have passed on. Cyndi Lauper will perform “True Colors” during the presentation.
Velma Kelly takes the stage the stage with a bevy of girl dancers. Lighting Design went to Matilda the Musical and to Lucky Guy for Best Play.
Jake Gyllenhaal presents Best Leading Actress in a Play to Cicely Tyson for A Trip to Bountiful. She gives a very elegant and poetic speech. She speaks too slowly, about being the only surviving member in her family and wanting one more stage role…she’s played off, but she bows out gracefully. Best Leading Actress in a Musical goes to Patina Miller for Pippin.
Donna and the Dynamoes from Mama Mia introduce a performance from the cast of Kinky Boots. Boots for Drag Queens Hooray!
Guy and Girl from Once announce Best Scenic Design Awards.
Patti Lupone takes the stage to introduce all of the Best Musical Revival nominees and the Tony goes to Pippin. The producers accept the award.
The cast of Once is performing as we join the broadcast after break. Well. That sucks. Yep. We’re overtime.
Bernadette Peters takes the stage to present the last award of the night. Best Musical. And the Tony goes to Kinky Boots. The producers take the stage to accept the award.
Now it’s time for a closing number. Neil says he’s not going to do one…but of course he does. And he plays Jay Z and Audra McDonald (or Audra McD. Heh) is Alicia Keys in a in a play on “Empire State of Mind.”
Winners List
Best Musical
Bring It On: The Musical
A Christmas Story, The Musical
Kinky Boots – The Winner
Matilda The Musical
Best Musical Revival
Annie
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Pippin – The Winner
Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Best Actor (Musical)
Bertie Carvel, Matilda The Musical
Santino Fontana, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Rob McClure, Chaplin
Billy Porter, Kinky Boots – The Winner
Stark Sands, Kinky Boots
Best Actress (Musical)
Stephanie J. Block, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Carolee Carmello, Scandalous
Valisia LeKae, Motown The Musical
Patina Miller, Pippin – The Winner
Laura Osnes, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Best Featured Actor (Musical)
Charl Brown, Motown The Musical
Keith Carradine, Hands on a Hardbody
Will Chase, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Gabriel Ebert, Matilda The Musical – The Winner
Terrence Mann, Pippin
Best Featured Actress (Musical)
Annaleigh Ashford, Kinky Boots
Victoria Clark, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Andrea Martin, Pippin – The Winner
Keala Settle, Hands on a Hardbody
Lauren Ward, Matilda The Musical
Best Book of a Musical
A Christmas Story, The Musical
Joseph Robinette
Kinky Boots
Harvey Fierstein
Matilda The Musical
Dennis Kelly – The WINNER
Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Douglas Carter Beane
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
A Christmas Story, The Musical
Music and Lyrics: Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
Hands on a Hardbody
Music: Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green
Lyrics: Amanda Green
Kinky Boots
Music & Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper – The Winner
Matilda The Musical
Music & Lyrics: Tim Minchin
Best Director (Musical)
Scott Ellis, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots
Diane Paulus, Pippin – THE WINNER
Matthew Warchus, Matilda The Musical
Best Choreography
Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On: The Musical
Peter Darling, Matilda The Musical
Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots – The Winner
Chet Walker, Pippin
Best Costume Design (Musical)
Gregg Barnes, Kinky Boots
Rob Howell, Matilda The Musical
Dominique Lemieux, Pippin
William Ivey Long, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella – The Winner
Best Lighting Design (Musical)
Kenneth Posner, Kinky Boots
Kenneth Posner, Pippin
Kenneth Posner, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Hugh Vanstone, Matilda The Musical – The Winner
Best Scenic Design (Musical)
Rob Howell, Matilda The Musical- The Winner
Anna Louizos, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Scott Pask, Pippin
David Rockwell, Kinky Boots
Best Sound Design (Musical)
Jonathan Deans and Garth Helm, Pippin
Peter Hylenski, Motown The Musical
John Shivers, Kinky Boots – The Winner
Nevin Steinberg, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Best Orchestrations
Chris Nightingale, Matilda The Musical
Stephen Oremus, Kinky Boots – The Winner
Ethan Popp and Bryan Crook, Motown The Musical
Danny Troob, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella
PLAYS
Best Play
The Assembled Parties Author: Richard Greenberg
Lucky Guy Author: Nora Ephron
The Testament of Mary Author: Colm Toíbín
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Author: Christopher Durang – The Winner
Best Play Revival
Golden Boy
Orphans
The Trip to Bountiful
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – The Winner
Best Actor (Play)
Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy
Nathan Lane, The Nance
Tracy Letts, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – The Winner
David Hyde Pierce, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Tom Sturridge, Orphans
Best Actress (Play)
Laurie Metcalf, The Other Place
Amy Morton, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Kristine Nielsen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Holland Taylor, Ann
Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful – The Winner
Best Featured Actor (Play)
Danny Burstein, Golden Boy
Richard Kind, The Big Knife
Billy Magnussen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Tony Shalhoub, Golden Boy
Courtney B. Vance, Lucky Guy – WINNER
Best Featured Actress (Play)
Carrie Coon, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Shalita Grant, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Judith Ivey, The Heiress
Judith Light, The Assembled Parties – WINNER
Condola Rashad, The Trip to Bountiful
Best Director (Play)
Pam MacKinnon, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – WINNER
Nicholas Martin, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Bartlett Sher, Golden Boy
George C. Wolfe, Lucky Guy
Best Costume Design (Play)
Soutra Gilmour, Cyrano de Bergerac
Ann Roth, The Nance – WINNER
Albert Wolsky, The Heiress
Catherine Zuber, Golden Boy
Best Lighting Design (Play)
Jules Fisher & Peggy Eisenhauer, Lucky Guy – The Winner
Donald Holder, Golden Boy
Jennifer Tipton, The Testament of Mary
Japhy Weideman, The Nance
Best Scenic Design (Play)
John Lee Beatty, The Nance – The Winner
Santo Loquasto, The Assembled Parties
David Rockwell, Lucky Guy
Michael Yeargan, Golden Boy
Best Sound Design (Play)
John Gromada, The Trip to Bountiful
Mel Mercier, The Testament of Mary
Leon Rothenberg, The Nance – The Winner
Peter John Still and Marc Salzberg, Golden Boy
