So many great moments from last night's Tony Awards honoring excellence on Broadway.
Full list of winners over on Playbill.
My biggest take-away was the extraordinary sophistication and complexity of work being done by choreographers right now on the Great White Way. From An American In Paris, to On The Town, to Gigi and so many more. Great, great work.
(I'm a little more aware than usual of the dancing being done as I'm in choreography-mode myself for Bye Bye Birdie at Sacramento Music Circus beginning rehearsals in two weeks.)
Another great highlight was seeing Tony voters embrace the more exploratory shows like Best Musical winner Fun Home and Best Play winner The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time versus more conventional, commercial fare.
Breaking new ground, Fun Home is the first Best Musical to feature a lesbian as protagonist. The show took home the aforementioned Best Musical trophy, plus Best Actor in a Musical (Michael Servers), Best Book of a Musical (Lisa Kron), Best Original Score for a Musical (Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron) and Best Direction of a Musical (Sam Gold).
The show is a lesbian coming of age story wherein the journey the main character discovers her father is a closeted gay man. All the while, the family lives in a funeral home. I know, I know... complicated stuff here. But I hear it's fascinating.
Another highlight for me was Kelli O'Hara (who I worked with on Broadway in the 2001 revival of Follies) finally won on her sixth nomination for her gorgeous work starring in Best Revival of a Musical winner The King and I. Broadway wanted this for Kelli, and she's seriously deserving. Good on you, Kelli.
The Tony Awards also began a new award last night for Excellence in Theater Education, which went to Corey Mitchell of North Carolina. One strange thing - no mention of WHERE Corey taught. Struck me as odd.
There was a "spreading of the wealth" also. Of the 22 shows nominated for Tony Awards, a total of nine shows came away with at least one award.
All around a great and inspiring night for theater.
Bonus - Michael Cerveris gave marriage equality a shout-out as he closed out his acceptance speech, mentioning the impending SCOTUS ruling on same-sex marriage.
Watch below:
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