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Lin-Manuel Miranda celebrates his win for In the Heights; Patti LuPone accepts her Tony award for best leading actress in a musical. (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen)
The 62nd Annual Tony Awards were presented last night at Radio City Musical Hall; the biggest winners were a musical first staged in 1949 and a Pulitzer Prize winning pot boiler from Chicago. The acclaimed Lincoln Center revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific won the most awards, besting Sunday in the Park with George and Gypsy for best revival of a musical and nabbing six other Tonys. And the overrated Hollywood-bound melodrama August: Osage County won five awards, including best play, surprising no one.
The best new musical award went to In the Heights, which celebrates Latino life in Washington Heights; the show also won best original score, best choreography, and best orchestrations. In the Heights’s major Tony rival, the outstanding rock musical Passing Strange, was tossed a single Tony, for best book, in a pre-taped segment before the live broadcast on CBS. So if you’ve been inexplicably waiting to catch Passing Strange, which has been performing at about 50% capacity, the window’s probably closing.
Patti LuPone won her second Tony for best leading actress in a musical (Gypsy; she won her first in 1980 for Evita), and Patrick Stewart’s hopes for a best actor Tony were stymied by Mark Rylance, who won for his performance in the ‘60s sex farce Boeing Boeing. That comedy also upset the critically acclaimed but sparsely attended production of Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming for best revival of a play. Oh well, it's show business; Pinter’s play closed in April, most Tony voters didn't bother seeing it, and the recently-opened Boeing Boeing can use the Tony boost. The Playgoer has a funny and insightful “blogcast” of the show, which was emceed by Whoopi Goldberg. See the full list of winners after the jump.
Best Play
August: Osage County
Author: Tracy Letts
Producers: Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel, Ostar Productions, Jennifer Manocherian, The Weinstein Company, Debra Black/Daryl Roth, Ronald & Marc Frankel/Barbara Freitag, Rick Steiner/Staton Bell Group, The Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Best Musical
In The Heights
Producers: Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller, Jill Furman, Sander Jacobs, Goodman/Grossman, Peter Fine, Everett/Skipper
Best Book of a Musical
Passing Strange - Stew
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
In The Heights - Music & Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Best Revival of a Play
Boeing-Boeing
Producers: Sonia Friedman Productions, Bob Boyett, Act Productions, Matthew Byam Shaw, Robert G. Bartner, The Weinstein Company, Susan Gallin/Mary Lu Roffe, Broadway Across America, Tulchin/Jenkins/DSM, The Araca Group
Best Revival of a Musical
South Pacific
Producers: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten, Bob Boyett
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Mark Rylance, Boeing-Boeing
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Paulo Szot, South Pacific
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Patti LuPone, Gypsy
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Jim Norton, The Seafarer
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Rondi Reed, August: Osage County
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Boyd Gaines, Gypsy
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Laura Benanti, Gypsy
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Todd Rosenthal, August: Osage County
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Michael Yeargan, South Pacific
Best Costume Design of a Play
Katrina Lindsay, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Catherine Zuber, South Pacific
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Kevin Adams, The 39 Steps
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Donald Holder, South Pacific
Best Sound Design of a Play
Mic Pool, The 39 Steps
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Scott Lehrer, South Pacific
Best Direction of a Play
Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County
Best Direction of a Musical
Bartlett Sher, South Pacific
Best Choreography
Andy Blankenbuehler, In The Heights
Best Orchestrations
Alex Lacamoire & Bill Sherman, In The Heights
Regional Theatre Tony Award
Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Special Tony Award
Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981), in recognition of his historic contribution to American musical theatre in the field of orchestrations, as represented on Broadway this season by South Pacific.
Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Stephen Sondheim
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I love Patti Lupone. I saw her in "Anything Goes" a million years ago and she has some SERIOUS pipes.
Yes, August: Osage is melodrama. So what? It's not overrated. It's a thrilling evening in the theatre with some of the best ensemble acting on a Broadway stage in a long time. I wasn't bored for any of the three-hours I was in the theatre.
Talk about overrated, talk about In the Heights. I've seen it off-Bway and on Bway and it holds up less on each viewing. It's not subtle, it's not complex, it's simple-minded, overwritten and community theatre-esque.
On a side-note, I love how Tracy Letts got on a high horse about how there were "proper stage actors" in his show in the same paragraph he talked about auditioning for JAGG in. You can't have it both ways, buddy.
Who the hell watches the Tony's??
More Gina Gershon please.
Man, I'm getting gay from just reading this shit.
I agree that August is overrated. Didn't like it at all.
And John, I see what you mean about Passing Strange...I haven't seen it yet, but was mostly impressed with the number they did. I definitely want to see it now. Reminded me of Noise/Funk's vibe.
And wtf with all the Disney references? Did they fund the awards?
Oh, and Dude69, I watch the Tony's. Proudly. :)
Xanadu was up for Best Musical, not best Play, cause it's a musical. Rent doesn't close until september.
Wow, Liza looks like she's had a lot of work done, And a lot of liposuction.
Um, Rent hasn't closed yet.