NEW YORK, N.Y. -- On
a feel-good night for Broadway, it was only natural that the Tony Award
go to its most feel-good musical, the joyous “Kinky Boots.” But most
everything about Sunday’s Tony telecast was warmhearted, from inspiring
speeches about the theatrical community to the inspired antics of Neil
Patrick Harris, who should officially be awarded the host job on a
permanent basis.
It was an
especially happy night for female theater artists: In a rare feat, women
took home both directing prizes, for a musical (Diane Paulus for the
high-energy “Pippin” revival) and for a play (Pam MacKinnon for the
searing revival of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”).
And
Cyndi Lauper won best original score for “Kinky Boots,” a result that
had many in the audience whooping with delight. “Girl, you’re gonna have
fun tonight!” shouted presenter Jesse Tyler Ferguson, the “Modern
Family” actor — a reference, of course, to Lauper’s iconic “Girls Just
Want to Have Fun.”
In
winning best musical, “Kinky” scored something of an upset over the
terrific but decidedly darker “Matilda the Musical.” And underscoring
the sunny nature of this year’s ceremony, a comedy — Christopher
Durang’s dysfunctional-family satire “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and
Spike” — won for best play over the more typical dramatic fare.
It
wasn’t a great night for movie stars. In a season where a number of
Hollywood personalities were snubbed for Tony nominations — Scarlett
Johansson, Bette Midler and Jessica Chastain among them — best-actor
nominee Tom Hanks (“Lucky Guy”) lost out to Tracy Letts, previously a
Tony-winning playwright, for his wrenching performance in “Virginia
Woolf.”
As
it was for women, it was a big night for African-American actors, with
wins for best actor and actress in a musical, best actress in a play and
featured actor in a play.
The
ebullient Billy Porter won best actor in a musical for playing a drag
queen with a heart of gold and a taste for, well, kinky boots, in “Kinky
Boots.” He graciously saluted his co-star and co-nominee, Stark Sands.
“’‘You are my rock, my sword, my shield,” he said, adding: “I share this
award with you. I’m gonna keep it at my house — but I share it with
you.”
And the effervescent Patina
Miller won best actress in a musical for “Pippin,” in a role — the
Leading Player — that also won Ben Vereen a Tony in 1973. Like Vereen,
Miller sings and dances expertly in the role, but unlike Vereen, she
also soars on a trapeze and sings while hula-hooping.
Cicely
Tyson, 88, had perhaps the evening’s most emotional win — and not one
but two standing ovations — for best actress in a play, in “The Trip to
Bountiful.” She told the audience that at her age, she had “this burning
desire to do just one more — one more great role. I didn’t want to be
greedy. I just wanted one more.”
And Courtney B. Vance won best featured actor in “Lucky Guy,” his first win in three nominations.
“It’s
a richer experience now,” he said at the Tony after-party. “Being
nominated is a whirlwind. Now I know how to pace myself.” He was
snapping photos of his wife, actress Angela Bassett, as fellow guests at
the Tony after-party at the Plaza Hotel crowded around them. “Besides,”
he said, “we’re the toast of Broadway now! That doesn’t happen very
often.”
Wins or losses, the guests
at the Tony gala seemed intent on having a wonderful time. One of them
was Billy Magnussen, who plays a studly young boyfriend to Sigourney
Weaver’s character in “Vanya and Sonia.” He had lost out to Vance but
couldn’t stop dancing (if you wanted to interview him, you had to twirl
along.) “Who gets to dance at the Tonys?” he asked joyfully and rather
rhetorically. “This guy!” He said it was “amazing to be honored for
something that I would do for free anyway.”
Shalita
Grant, his colleague in “Vanya and Sonia,” was boogying on the dance
floor, too. “Hey, it’s a great night,” she said. “Two months on Broadway
and then a nomination? I can’t complain.”
The
winner in Grant’s category was Judith Light of “The Assembled Parties,”
her second Tony in the category in two years. The former star of TV’s
“Who’s the Boss?” gave one of the most poignant and admired speeches of
the night, along with Letts, who made similar remarks about the Tonys
being not about competition, but about collaboration.
At
the after-party, Light elaborated on her thoughts. “We are here to
celebrate each other,” she said in an interview. “That is the magic. We
root for each other. If we didn’t, our work would simply be too
arduous.”
“This is my family,”
Light added, pointing to a ballroom filled with theater folk. “I’m so
happy to be at a party with my family.”
Light’s
counterpart on the musical side was Andrea Martin, 66, who won best
featured actress in a musical for “Pippin,” in which she plays the title
character’s grandmother, Berthe, and stops the show every night by
performing high-flying stunts that thrill the audience.
Her
co-star, Matthew James Thomas, who plays Pippin, said at the party that
he was backstage watching Martin’s emotional speech, and found it so
moving that he burst into tears. “She’s usually so together, so it was
amazing to see her like that,” he said. “I’m so happy for her, and
Diane, and the whole company.”
Also
accepting congratulations at the party was someone who never appeared
onstage: the Tony-winning composer, actor, lyricist and rapper
Lin-Manuel Miranda, who co-wrote with Tom Kitt the terrific opening
number performed by host Harris. Miranda, who wrote and starred in “In
the Heights,” also wrote the rap number that Harris performed with Audra
McDonald at the end of the show, with lyrics that referred to events
that had happened only minutes earlier.
Harris
showed no sign of wear on his fourth go as Tony host, earning as many
laughs as ever with routines like a running reference to boxer Mike
Tyson, or a number about theater actors (like him) who move on to glory
and wealth on TV shows — some of which then get canceled.
Harris
opened the show as the Irish “Guy” in the musical “Once,” holding a
guitar in a pub and singing soulfully, but then quickly jumped into a
flashy production number that showcased performers from almost a dozen
musicals. Among other things, Harris jumped through a hoop, a la
“Pippin,” vanished from a box and somehow appeared at the back of the
theater, and promised a “truly legendary show” before glitter guns went
off.
Legendary or not, it
certainly made its audience very happy; by the end of the number, the
entire Radio City Music Hall crowd was on its feet.
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