Tony Attendees On Tracy Morgan

Neil Patrick Harris Opens The 2011 Tonys: It's Not Just For Gays Anymore

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2011 Tonys: Totally For The Gays

Despite host Neil Patrick Harris' fantastic opening number which promised that "Broadway isn't just for gays anymore," tonight's Tony Awards were extra super gay with lots of gay on the side. Not only did Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart win three awards, the show featured Martha Wash performing It's Raining Men, and there was a lot of thanking of same-sex partners from the stage. Here's the list of winners:

Best Play: "War Horse."
Best Musical: "The Book of Mormon."
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play: Mark Rylance, "Jerusalem."
Best Performance by an Actress in Leading Role in a Play: Frances McDormand, "Good People."
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play: Ellen Barkin, "The Normal Heart."
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play: John Benjamin Hickey, "The Normal Heart."
Best Direction of a Musical: Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker, "The Book of Mormon."
Best Direction of a Play: Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, "War Horse."
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical: Norbert Leo Butz "Catch Me If You Can."
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical: Sutton Foster, "Anything Goes."
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical: John Larroquette, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical: Nikki M. James, "The Book of Mormon."
Best Book of a Musical: "The Book of Mormon."
Best Revival of a Play: "The Normal Heart."
Best Revival of a Musical: "Anything Goes."

Broadway Legend Arthur Laurents Dies

Openly gay Broadway legend Arthur Laurents has died at the age of 93. Theater Mania reports:

Laurents was best known for his collaborations with Stephen Sondheim, including writing the books for West Side Story and Gypsy (earning Tony nominations for both), Anyone Can Whistle, and Do I Hear a Waltz. Early in his career, Laurents wrote such plays as Home of the Brave and The Time of the Cuckoo. In later years, he wrote and directed the musicals The Madwoman of Central Park West and Nick & Nora. Laurents directed the 1975, 1989, and 2008 revivals of Gypsy, each of which earned Tony Awards for its respective leading ladies, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, and Patti LuPone. He also directed the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story.

Laurents was temporarily blacklisted during the McCarthy era after a review of one of his plays was published in the Communist Party USA newspaper.

NOTE: Laurents asked that his obituaries include this line: "He was predeceased by his partner, Tom Hatcher, with whom he had lived in happiness for more than 50 years."

14 Tony Nominations For Book Of Mormon

The Book Of Mormon led this morning's 2011 Tony Awards nominations with 14 nods across all major categories. The musical garnered a dozen Drama Desk nominations last week. Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart won nominations for Best Revival, and for cast members Joe Montello (Best Actor), John Benjamin Hickey (Best Featured Actor), and Ellen Barkin (Best Featured Actress.) Best Play nominees: War Horse, Jerusalem, Good People, The Motherfucker With The Hat. Best Musical nominees: Sister Act, Book Of Mormon, Catch Me If You Can, The Scottsboro Boys.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Brian Bedford, The Importance of Being Earnest
Bobby Cannavale, The Motherfucker with the Hat
Joe Mantello, The Normal Heart
Al Pacino, The Merchant of Venice
Mark Rylance, Jerusalem

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Nina Arianda, Born Yesterday
Frances McDormand, Good People
Lily Rabe, The Merchant of Venice
Vanessa Redgrave, Driving Miss Daisy
Hannah Yelland, Brief Encounter

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Norbert Leo Butz, Catch Me If You Can
Josh Gad, The Book of Mormon
Joshua Henry, The Scottsboro Boys
Andrew Rannells, The Book of Mormon
Tony Sheldon, Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Sutton Foster, Anything Goes
Beth Leavel, Baby It's You!
Patina Miller, Sister Act
Donna Murphy, The People in the Picture

The 2010 Tony Awards

The 2010 Tony Awards kicked off last night with host Sean Hayes taking aim at that infamous Newsweek article by laying a long, presumably convincing, French kiss on his Promises, Promises co-star Kristin Chenoweth. Hayes followed that up by welcoming all the "closeted Republicans watching the show in secret."

Below are the major awards. The complete list is here.

Best Play: Red
Best Musical: Memphis
Best Revival (Play): Fences
Best Revival (Musical): La Cage Aux Folles
Best Actor (Play): Denzel Washington, Fences
Best Actress (Play): Viola Davis, Fences
Best Actor (Musical): Douglas Hodge, La Cage Aux Folles
Best Actress (Musical): Catherine Zeta-Jones, A Little Night Music

The show was troubled by sound issues here and there, especially during the opening number and later when Glee's Lea Michele pffft'ed her way through Don't Rain On My Parade from Funny Girl. And things got a little ridiculous when the 300 or so producers of Memphis crowded the stage to accept Best Musical. But that's all standard Tonys stuff, really.

Sean Hayes To Host Tony Awards

Sean Hayes has been named as the host of this year's Tony Awards. Via press release:

Emmy and SAG Award winner and 2010 Tony Award nominee Sean Hayes, will host the 64th Annual Antoinette Perry “Tony” Awards® on Sunday, June 13th, live from Radio City Music Hall. The Tony Awards will air live on CBS from 8:00-11:00PM (ET/PT time delay). The Tonys are presented by The Broadway League and The American Theatre Wing. Hayes has received critical acclaim for his roles in theatre, television and film and quickly grabbed America’s heart as the hilarious Jack McFarland on “Will & Grace,” a role for which he received an Emmy Award (and six nominations), four Screen Actors Guild Awards, two TV Guide Awards, an American Comedy Award and seven Golden Globe nominations.

Hayes is currently starring in Promises, Promises with Kristen Chenoweth. Maybe that nasty Newsweek piece about him actually helped?

Broadway Friday

-I know you are but what am I? The Pee-wee Herman Show will transfer from its wildy successful Los Angeles revival to Broadway for a six week run to start on October 26th. The show debuted in 1980 as a for-adults act before morphing into the kids friendly TV show that ran from 1986-1990.

- Beefcake-O-Rama! Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will stage Broadway Bares: Classic on June 6th at Splash Bar. Scheduled to perform: Jerry Mitchell, Jennifer Cody, Steve Geary, Sebastian LaCause, and others. Tickets for Broadway Bares 20: Strip-Opoly are on sale now.

-The password is "Dirty Sanchez." Saved By The Bell's Dustin Diamond will join the cast of Off Broadway's Awesome 80's Prom beginning tonight.

-Probably not loverly. Sony Pictures is moving forward with the fifth remake of My Fair Lady. Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan is set to star.

-She's bringing sexy back. Jessica Biel has been cast to star in the musical version of Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, which begins previews at the Belasco on October 2nd.

-Dolphins are just gay sharks. The first season of Glee will be released on DVD on September 14th. The set will feature sing-along karaoke, behind-the-scenes extras, and several unaired editions of Sue's Corner.

-I love that dress every time you wear it. The revival of Ragtime has been stripped of its 2010 Tony nomination for Best Costumes because the designs are essentially the same as those used in the 1998 production. There will be no replacement nominee.

-But who will play Ping Pong Lady? Will Swenson and Tony Sheldon will star as Mitzi and Bernadette (respectively) for the Broadway transfer of the West End smash musical version of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Felicia has not yet been cast. The show will run in Toronto beginning in October before opening in the spring on Broadway.

2010 Tony Award Nominations

La Cage Aux Folles and Fela! lead the list of the 2010 Tony Award nominees, which were announced this morning. Both shows received eleven nominations each, the Fences getting ten. Self-proclaimed gay rights hero Sean Hayes earned a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Promises, Promises. JMG reader Kevin Chamberlin (left) got a Best Featured Actor in a Musical nomination for his great turn as Uncle Fester in The Addams Family. This is his third Tony nomination (Dirty Blonde, Seussical.)

The 2010 nominations lacked a clear standout like last year’s “Billy Elliot,” which received 15 nominations. But the roster was noticeably rich with screen stars who had bravely left the security of movie sets for the lights of Broadway. Nominees who were making their Broadway debuts included Jude Law (“Hamlet”), Scarlett Johansson (“A View From the Bridge”), Catherine Zeta-Jones (“A Little Night Music”) and Sean Hayes (“Promises, Promises”). The nominees also included Christopher Walken (“A Behanding in Spokane”), Laura Linney (“Time Stands Still”), Kelsey Grammer (“La Cage aux Folles”) and Liev Schreiber (“A View From the Bridge”). Among the acting nominees were three grandes dames of the stage – Rosemary Harris (“The Royal Family”), Barbara Cook (“Sondheim on Sondheim”) and Angela Lansbury (“A Little Night Music”). A number of blockbuster productions came up noticeably short on Tuesday. “American Idiot” – the rock musical featuring songs by the band Green Day – was nominated for best new musical but received only two other nods. “The Addams Family,” which has been a box-office success so far despite mostly bad reviews, received only two nominations.

The complete list of nominations is here.