Last night, at the Beacon Theatre in NYC, NY, the 2011 Tony Awards were handed out in celebration of the best of the best in musical and stage productions on Broadway and, unsurprisingly, the musical The Book of Mormon walked away with the most awards of the night. Collecting 9 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, [...]
Last night, at the Beacon Theatre in NYC, NY, the 2011 Tony Awards were handed out in celebration of the best of the best in musical and stage productions on Broadway and, unsurprisingly, the musical The Book of Mormon walked away with the most awards of the night. Collecting 9 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, The Book of Mormon cemented it’s stature as THE best offering from Broadway this season. Neil Patrick Harris brilliantly hosted the show last night and provided one of the more entertaining Tony Awards of recent memory. Click below to see some photos, read some deets and watch video from the Tony Awards show last night.
Voters for the 65th annual Tony Awards demonstrated their faith in The Book of MormonSunday night, showering the irreverent buddy comedy about two unworldly missionaries catapulted from Salt Lake City to a poverty-stricken Ugandan village with nine wins, including best musical. Broadcast live from the Beacon Theatre on New York’s Upper West Side, the ceremony was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, marking his second turn at the Tony podium after winning an Emmy for emceeing in 2009. The Mormon haul represents the culmination of a triumphant first foray into Broadway by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who teamed with Avenue Q composer-lyricist Robert Lopez to write the smash hit. Since opening March 24 at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre to rave reviews, Mormon has been playing to capacity houses, grossing more than $1 million per week and totaling roughly $15 million to date … The musical earned awards for Parker, Lopez and Stone’s book and score, and for Casey Nicholaw and Parker’s direction. “We really want to thank the audiences because you guys made the show what it is and I think you’re going to have to atone for it one day,” said Parker. While the show’s nominated lead actors Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells perhaps split the vote and both lost that award, Mormon’s Nikki M. James was a genuinely surprised winner for featured actress as a Ugandan with wide-eyed dreams of a magical kingdom in Utah. Top play honors went to War Horse, adapted by Nick Stafford, in association with South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company, from the British children’s novel by Michael Morpurgo. The courageous story of a young farm boy from Devon who travels to the trenches of World War I France to be reunited with his beloved horse, the book also has been adapted for the screen by Richard Curtis and Lee Hall for Steven Spielberg’s upcoming feature. Originally produced by the National Theatre of Great Britain and presented on Broadway by Lincoln Center Theater and Bob Boyett, War Horse has been a major draw in New York, grossing around $900,000 per week — uncommonly high for a non-musical with no stars. Overall, the production took home six Tonys, including direction of a play for Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, a handful of design awards and a special honor to Handspring founders Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones, who created the breathtaking life-size horse puppets … Larry Kramer’s impassioned 1985 battle cry against the AIDS epidemic, The Normal Heart, won best play revival for Joel Grey and George C. Wolfe’s powerful stripped-down production. It also won matching featured actor nods for John Benjamin Hickey and Ellen Barkin, making her Broadway debut. Both actors gave emotional speeches warmly acknowledging Kramer and his tireless fight against AIDS. “The freedom to love, the freedom to live and the freedom to marry are all issues that are still with us,” said producer Daryl Roth. “To gay people everywhere whom I love so, The Normal Heart is our history,” said Kramer. “I could not have written it had not so many of us so needlessly died. Learn from it and carry on the fight to let them know that we are a very special people, an exceptional people, and our day will come” … Featured actor in a musical went to multiple Emmy winner John Larroquette in his Broadway debut as the tycoon taken for a ride by Daniel Radcliffe’s ambitious young upstart in How to Success in Business Without Really Trying. Harris opened the ceremony with a showstopper about Broadway as an all-inclusive place, called “It’s Not Just For Gays Anymore,” with cameo contributions from audience members Stephen Colbert, Brooke Shields(who flubbed her Anthony Weiner joke but was a good sport about it) and Bobby Cannavale.
I absolutely knew that The Book of Mormon was going to do well at the Tonys because it is, unquestionably, the best production of the year. I got to see the show on the first night of previews back in February and was completely blown away by how great the show truly is. In case you missed it, here is video of the Tony Award performance of I Believe from The Book of Mormon:
And if that isn’t enough for you, you can click HERE to buy the Book of Mormon soundtrack from Amazon for $1.99!! Congrats goes out to Matt Stone and Trey Parker for bringing their magic to Broadway … and congrats and love goes out to all the 2011 Tony Award winners!
[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source, Source]
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Eva Mendes
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