Sunday night's 69th annual Tony Awards ceremony closed the best attended and highest grossing Broadway season ever. More importantly, several results--including big awards like Best Musical--brought joyous, standing ovations from the New York theater community.
First, let's talk about the fabulous hosts: Alan Cumming and Kristin Chenoweth. To be fair, outside of the New York tri-state area, the Tony's relevance has long been limited. That said, these two were up to the challenge. In the past, emcees like Hugh Jackman and Neil Patrick Harris--huge stars to be sure--were great hosts, but Cumming and Chenowith captured the perfect combination of cute, cheeky and respectful. Like the Broadway darlings that they are, indeed, the dynamic duo was able to inject charm throughout, "incorporating the featured songs into their commerical break signoffs in ways that was both clever and disarmingly cheesy," duly noted by The Hollywood Reporter.
THR, too, is careful to note that the Broadway relies heavily on the Tony Awards. Unlike other awards shows, (Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes), the Tony Awards serve as a unique promotional infomercial, especially given the scarcity of marketing platforms for Broadway outside Gotham.
Speaking of marco economic scarcity on a micro budget, the most coveted award--Best Musical--went to a low-budget production about a young girl's sexual awakening as a lesbian and her closeted gay father's anguish. Yeah, Fun Home. Tied for the most overall nominations, Fun Home, a show adapted from the best-selling graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, "bested more traditionally entertaining nominees, propelled by rapturous reviews and, in recent weeks, sold-out crowds to an unexpected victory that is likely to mean a longer run on Broadway and a longer life around the country," according to the New York Times.
Even better, it also means that Tony voters may have been in a more artistic mood this year.
Below, Classicalites, you can watch the Featured Actress in a Play gong giveaway, featuring Jim Parsons and Taylor Schilling.
Perhaps the only other Tony that was received with as much excitement as Fun Home's big win was Kelli O'Hara (The King and I) for Best Actress in a Musical. As most were already aware, it was O'Hara's whopping sixth nomination in a little more than a decade--her fourth nom for a Bartlett Sher joint, her third for a joint performed at Lincoln Center--but she had yet to win. Furthermore, she was facing really stiff competition as the show's very host, along with the legendary Chita Rivera, were both nominated, as well.
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