"Wolverine in tap shoes," and far beyond, Hugh Jackman brought the bravado and belted with some dynamite divas as amiable emcee of the 2014 Tony Awards and A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER was the big Best Musical winner of the evening. Plus, newly crowned Tony king Neil Patrick Harris got lucky in front of an audience of millions in full "crazypants" HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH drag, while Audra McDonald made history by winning her sixth statuette. And, Oz course, a WICKED 10th anniversary, too!
While Best Revival ultimately went to HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH, each of the musical performances in the category gave worthwhile and atmospheric samples of the shows they were meant to represent - CABARET's "Wilkommen" as led by original Tony-winning lead Alan Cumming, "One Day More" from LES MISERABLES featuring Ramin Karimloo and compnay, plus the aforementioned VIOLET. Nonetheless, with three major wins (Best Actor In A Musical for Neil Patrick Harris, Best Featured Actress In A Musical for Lena Hall and Best Revival Of A Musical) and even more in the technical categories - Best Lighting Design For A Musical going to Kevin Adams - HEDWIG was the champ. Plus, how cool was it to see Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell share a quick brotherly lip-lock in victory on the stage of Radio City Music Hall?! A long journey well worth the lengthy trip to get to a place this heavenly - and so very hip. The HEDWIG sequel can't come soon enough - nor can an extension announcement for NPH (pun perhaps intended).
New musical nominee A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER presented a generous portion of their gallows humor-seasoned show with their musical showpiece, whereas Woody Allen's BULLETS OVER BROADWAY displayed the scene-stealing and totally terrific tapping of Susan Stroman's choreography, giving nominee Nick Cordero a chance to truly shine. Spiffy. Another Best Featured Actor In A Musical nominee - and, in this case the eventual winner - James Monroe Iglehart flaunted ALADDIN's unforgettable "A Friend Like Me" sequence and filled it with full-throttle showmanship more than merely worth watching once or twice - a production number as only Disney can do (and does), even in truncated form as seen here. Popular Broadway and Hollywood star Idina Menzel also reminded us why she has one of the most in demand instruments in the industry with her powerhouse IF/THEN musical moment, as far as new musicals go. Additionally, new musical THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY received two significant statuettes in the form of composer/lyricist/orchestrator Jason Robert Brown's Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations recognition. Classy to tip the top hat to a fine show that got lost in the shuffle. Also: ROCKY managed to score a win for Christopher Barreca's gigantic set, while popular new musical BEAUTIFUL locked up Best Sound Design Of A Musical (Brian Ronan). Besides Best Musical, A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER received Best Book for Robert L. Freedman, Best Direction Of A Musical for Darko Tresnjak and Best Costume Design Of A Musical for Linda Cho, as well. In the play categories, A RAISIN IN THE SUN won Best Revival Of A Play and Best Director for Kenny Leon, with Best Featured Actress In A Play going to Sophie Okonedo. Fascinatingly, Audra McDonald won a Tony Award in the same category for a previous production of A RAISIN IN THE SUN 10 years ago this year and took the Leading Actress In A Play trophy now in 2014, making Tony Awards history. Audra is the Tony Queen! Multi-award-winning small screen and big screen presence Bryan Cranston took Tony gold for his first foray on the Great White Way, winning Best Leading Actor In A Play, while the LBJ-themed drama ALL THE WAY in which he stars placed first as Best Play. Best Featured Actor In A Play went to Mark Rylance for TWELFTH NIGHT, which was also recognized for Best Costume Design Of A Play for Jenny Tiramani. In other technical categories, Best Sound Design Of A Play went to Steve Canyon Kennedy of LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL, Best Lighting Design Of A Play went to Natasha Katz for THE GLASS MENAGERIE and Best Scenic Design Of A Play went to ACT ONE's Beowulf Boritt. Wins and losses considered, while some of the first half of the Tony show may have felt a bit slow in getting going, the second half was filled with much to treasure and some repeat-worthy clips to savor - some of them maybe even sweeter than a genie's wish... or a really, really friendly sugar daddy.
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