Fun Visit

It's a little silly for me to write about who won the Tony Awards last night, since I didn't see a single nominated production.  Still, some interesting things happened, so let me put in my two cents.

As always, it was a cut above most awards shows, and Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming were charming hosts.  It helped they were seasoned musical performers used to live audiences.  Also, the numbers from the show were pretty good--maybe because they've been written and honed for an audience, not one-offs that everyone hopes will work.

Here are the main winners.  Hit the link above to see everyone else:

Best Musical
Fun Home

Best Play
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Best Revival of a Play
Skylight

Best Revival of a Musical
The King and I

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Alex Sharp, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Helen Mirren, The Audience
 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Richard McCabe, The Audience

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Annaleigh Ashford, You Can’t Take It with You

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Michael Cerveris, Fun Home

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Kelli O’Hara, The King and I

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Christian Borle, Something Rotten!

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Ruthie Ann Miles, The King and I

The biggest story is Kelli O'Hara, the perennial also-ran, finally winning a Tony. I'm going to have to retire this joke: "What did the cop say when he saw someone who'd been beaten to death with a Tony Award?"  "Well, that rules out Kelli O'Hara." She plays the lead in The King And I, which is the kind of role that wins Tonys.  (And Anna is the lead--the King is actually a supporting role, which is why it was such a great vehicle for Yul Brynner as he got older.)  She beat out Chita Rivera and Chenoweth. Of course, both of them had already won Tonys--if they hadn't, I don't think it would have been Kelli's year.

The second-biggest news is Helen Mirren's Tony.  In The Audience, she portrays Queen Elizabeth.  Has anyone ever won a Tony and an Oscar for playing the same real-life character? (Yes, Yul Brynner.) Mirren defeated Elisabeth Moss in The Heidi Chronicles--but then, Joan Allen, who originated Heidi, lost to British actress Pauline Collins back in 1989.  So Mirren now has a Tony to go with her Oscar and Emmys.  Do I smell EGOT?  All she needs is a Grammy.  How hard is that?  There are so many categories if we did a spoken version of this blog we'd probably win one.

Best Play winner The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time was popular enough that its lead, Alex Sharp, won best actor. This shows the voters don't bow to bigger names, since he beat out celebrated performances by Bradley Cooper and Bill Nighy.

Christian Borle won for supporting actor in a musical, beating out his Something Rotten! co-star Brad Oscar.  I always wonder what effect this sort of thing has on a production.  Anyway, Brad is used to it--he lost the same award to Gary Breach when he was in The Producers.  (It would be nice if he won so we could get the headline "Oscar wins Tony.")

Overall, an entertaining night.  Why is it so hard for the Academy Awards to do it?