New York, Sept 27 (Usa): “Moulin Rouge! The Musical, an adaptation of the hyperactive 2001 Baz Luhrmann movie, won Best New Musical Crown at the Tony Awards Sunday night as Broadway looked back to honor shows shut down by COVID.” -19, mourning his downfall and also looking forward to welcoming the fans again.
The show about current events in a Parisian nightclub at the turn of the century, updated with beats like “Single Ladies” and “Firework” along with the big hit “Lady Marmalade,” won 10 Tonys. The record is 12, won by the “Producers”.
Producer Carmen Pavlovic hit a philosophical note in her acceptance speech, sharing the award with all the shows that have struggled in the last 18 months of shutdown, the AP reports.
“It feels strange to me to speak of one show as the best musical show. I feel that every show of the last season deserves to be seen as the best musical.” “The shows that opened, the shows that closed for not coming back, the shows that almost opened. And of course, the shows that were paused and that were lucky enough to be reborn – the best music is all of those shows.”
The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez was named Best New Play and won three more awards, and Charles Fuller’s “A Soldier’s Play” won a revival for Best Play and an Acting Award.
Lopez’s two-part seven-hour epic uses “Howards End” as the starting point for a play about gay life in the early 2000s. It also resulted in wins for Andrew Burnab for Best Actor in a Play, Stephen Daldry for Best Director, and Louis Smith for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play.
Producer Thomas Kordahi dedicated the award to his late husband, playwright Terrence McNally.
Lopez, the first Latin writer to win in this category, urged the production of more plays from the Latin community. “We have so many stories inside us that are painful to get out. Let us tell you ours.”
Television broadcasts delayed due to the pandemic began with a lively performance of “You Can’t Stop the Beat” by the original Broadway cast members of “Hairspray!” Ali Stroker sang “What I did for Love” from A Chorus Line. Jennifer Holiday also took to the stage to deliver a memorable performance of the song “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” from the musical “Dreamgirls.”
The singers presented to a compelling and appreciative audience in the busy conservatory theatre. Host Audra MacDonald got a standing ovation when she took the stage. “You can’t stop the beat. The heart of New York City!” she said.
“Moulin Rouge! The Musical” won for scenic design, costume, lighting, sound design, orchestra, and Tony’s distinctive acting of Broadway favorite Danny Burstein. Sonia Taih won for choreography on her Broadway debut, and Alex Timbers won Best Directing for a Musical .
To no one’s surprise, Aaron Tveit won Best Leading Actor in a Musical for “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.” This is because he was the only person who was nominated in this category. He thanked a long list of people, including his parents, brother, agents, director, actress, and crew. “We are very fortunate to do that,” he said, tearing up. “Because what we do changes people’s lives.”
Burstyn, who has won for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and has not won six previous times, thanked the Broadway community for its support following the death of his wife, Rebecca Locker, last year. “You were there for us, whether you just sent a note or you sent your love, and you sent your prayers – you sent bread – it means the world to us, and it’s something I will never forget.”
David Alan Grier won a distinguished actor in a play for his role in “A Soldier’s Play,” which explains entrenched racism between blacks and whites as well as internal divisions in the black military community during World War II. “To my other candidates: I won the hard banana,” he said. On stage, director Kenny Lyon recited the names Briona Taylor and George Floyd, killed by police. “we will never forget you.”
Adrian Warren won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her electric role as Tina Turner in “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical.” Warren was considered the frontrunner thanks to being one woman of a fireball of energy and cheerfulness. She dedicated the win to three members of her family she lost while playing Turner – and Turner herself thanked.
Mary-Louise Parker won her second Tony Award for Best Leading Actress, winning the role of a Yale University professor who values great literature but leaves no room in her life for someone to share that love with her in “The Sound Inside.” She thanked her dog, who was walking in the rain when she bumped into Mandy Greenfield of the Williamstown Theater Festival, who told her about the play.
Burnab made his Broadway debut in The Inheritance. He thanked his mother and the University of Rhode Island and joked that he was grateful I “worked for seven hours”.
The reality musical “Jagged Little Pill,” which features Alanis Morissette’s superb 1995 album telling the story of an American family spiraling out of control, came with 15 Leading Tony nominations. He left with a win for Best Book, and Lauren Patten won Best Actress in a Musical.
The song “A Christmas Carol” was cleaned up with five artistic awards: theatrical design, costume, lighting, sound design, and score. But no one from the production was there to accept any of the awards.
“Slave Play,” Jeremy O. Harris’s groundbreaking and iconic work that blends race, gender, taboo desires, and class, earned dozens of nominations, making it the most-nominated play in Tony’s history. But she won nothing.
Sunday’s show has been expanded from a typical three hours to four, with McDonald’s Tunes delivering the first two hours and Leslie Odom Jr. hosting “Broadway Return!” Celebrating the second half with performances of the three major musicals.
The live show also featured David Burn and the crew of “American Utopia” playing “Burning Down the House” in front of an audience that stands and applauds. Byrne tells them they may not remember how to dance after a long time but they are welcome to try.
John Legend and the “Ain’t Too Proud” cast performed “My Girl” and “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and Josh Groban and Odom Jr. sang. Ben Platt and Annika Noni Rose sang Move On from Sunday in the Park with George. Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth reunited on the song “Wicked” “For Good”.
Members of the Kings of Broadway – Norm Lewis, Kelly O’Hara and Brian Stokes Mitchell – mourned the list of those who died, which included such icons as McNally, Harold Prince, and Larry Kramer.
This season’s nominations were drawn from only 18 eligible plays and musicals from the 2019-20 season, a fraction of the 34 shows in the previous season. During most years, there are 26 competitive categories. This year there are 25 with many of them exhausted.
The last Tony Awards were held in 2019. The virus forced Broadway theaters to abruptly close on March 12, 2020, bringing all shows to a halt and creeping into the spring season. Several of them resumed, including the so-called Big Three “Bad guys”, “Hamilton” and “The Lion King”.
RAE