NEW YORK - Two actors from the revival of the AIDS drama "The Normal Heart" — Ellen Barkin and John Benjamin Hickey — won the first two acting Tony Awards on a night that promised to be a big one for a musical that sometimes jokes about AIDS — "The Book of Mormon."
Barkin won the award Sunday night for best actress in a featured role in a play and Hickey took home the male equivalent honor for their blistering performances in Larry Kramer's AIDS drama.
"It's the proudest moment of my career. Being involved in something this important is I think a once-in-a-career opportunity," said Barkin, who was making her Broadway debut.
The best direction of a musical award went to Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker for "The Book of Mormon." The top directing prize for a play went to Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris for "War Horse."
The one Tony for David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People, an acclaimed play about an out-of-work single mother in Boston, went to Frances McDormand, who played the hardscrabble heroine of the comic drama.
Kramer's prescient play about fear, love and activism in the early days of the AIDS first surfaced in the mid-1980s — in time in which it was set. Back then, some called it a rant rather than a play, but the years have been kind to the work — audiences, critics and the Tony voters have embraced the drama about (as director George C. Wolfe has put it) a monster stalking a community.
The Tonys, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, were held at the Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
By 9 PM Sunday, The Book of Mormon had already won Tonys in five categories, including Best Score, a category buried in the pre-telecast ceremony, allowing only incidental national airtime to the songwriters Robert Lopez, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. (Memo to Tony organizers: without the work of dramatists who write new music and lyrics for the theatre, Broadway wouldn't have original musicals.) By the end of the ceremony (which ran four minutes beyond 11 PM on CBS-TV), The Book of Mormon won nine Tony Awards out of its 14 nominations — for Musical, Score, Book (Lopez, Stone and Parker), Sound (Brian Ronan), Lighting (Brian MacDevitt), Direction (Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker), Orchestrations (Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus), Actress in a Featured Role (Nikki M. James) and Scenic Design (Scott Pask).
John Larroquette, in his Broadway debut, won a Featured Actor (Musical) Tony for playing a corporate boss J.B. Biggley in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
Here's the tally of 2011 Tony winners:
The Book of Mormon: 9
War Horse: 5
The Normal Heart: 3
Anything Goes: 3
Catch Me If You Can: 1
Good People: 1
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying: 1
The Importance of Being Earnest: 1
Jerusalem: 1
Priscilla Queen of the Desert: 1
Nominees and recipients of the 65th Annual Tony Awards follow, with recipients marked in bold and with an asterisk.
2011 TONY AWARD NOMINEES AND RECIPIENTS
Best Musical
*The Book of Mormon
Catch Me If You Can
The Scottsboro Boys
Sister Act
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 Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Brian Bedford, The Importance of Being Earnest
Bobby Cannavale, The Motherf**ker 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 Musical
*Sutton Foster, Anything Goes
Beth Leavel, Baby It's You!
Patina Miller, Sister Act
Donna Murphy, The People in the Picture
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 Revival of a Musical
*Anything Goes
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Best Lighting Design of a Play
*Paule Constable, War Horse
David Lander, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
Kenneth Posner, The Merchant of Venice
Mimi Jordan Sherin, Jerusalem
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Ken Billington, The Scottsboro Boys
Howell Binkley, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Peter Kaczorowski, Anything Goes
*Brian MacDevitt, The Book of Mormon
Best Play
Good People Author: David Lindsay-Abaire
Jerusalem Author: Jez Butterworth
The Motherf**ker with the Hat Author: Stephen Adly Guirgis
*War Horse Author: Nick Stafford
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Beowulf Boritt, The Scottsboro Boys
Derek McLane, Anything Goes
*Scott Pask, The Book of Mormon
Donyale Werle, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
Best Revival of a Play
Arcadia
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Merchant of Venice
*The Normal Heart
Best Book of a Musical
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson Alex Timbers
*The Book of Mormon Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone
The Scottsboro Boys David Thompson
Sister Act Cheri Steinkellner, Bill Steinkellner and Douglas Carter Beane
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Todd Rosenthal, The Motherf**ker with the Hat
*Rae Smith, War Horse
Ultz, Jerusalem
Mark Wendland, The Merchant of Venice
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Colman Domingo, The Scottsboro Boys
Adam Godley, Anything Goes
*John Larroquette, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Forrest McClendon, The Scottsboro Boys
Rory O'Malley, The Book of Mormon
Best Costume Design of a Musical
*Tim Chappel & Lizzy Gardiner, Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Martin Pakledinaz, Anything Goes
Ann Roth, The Book of Mormon
Catherine Zuber, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Laura Benanti, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Tammy Blanchard, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Victoria Clark, Sister Act
*Nikki M. James, The Book of Mormon
Patti LuPone, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Best Costume Design of a Play
Jess Goldstein, The Merchant of Venice
*Desmond Heeley, The Importance of Being Earnest
Mark Thompson, La Bête
Catherine Zuber, Born Yesterday
Best Direction of a Play
*Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, War Horse
Joel Grey & George C. Wolfe, The Normal Heart
Anna D. Shapiro, The Motherf**ker with the Hat
Daniel Sullivan, The Merchant of Venice
Best Direction of a Musical
Rob Ashford, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Kathleen Marshall, Anything Goes
*Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker, The Book of Mormon
Susan Stroman, The Scottsboro Boys
Best Sound Design of a Play
Acme Sound Partners & Cricket S. Myers, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
Simon Baker, Brief Encounter
Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Jerusalem
*Christopher Shutt, War Horse
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Mackenzie Crook, Jerusalem
Billy Crudup, Arcadia
*John Benjamin Hickey, The Normal Heart
Arian Moayed, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
Yul Vázquez, The Motherf**ker with the Hat
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Peter Hylenski, The Scottsboro Boys
Steve Canyon Kennedy, Catch Me If You Can
Brian Ronan, Anything Goes
*Brian Ronan, The Book of Mormon
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
*Ellen Barkin, The Normal Heart
Edie Falco, The House of Blue Leaves
Judith Light, Lombardi
Joanna Lumley, La Bête
Elizabeth Rodriguez, The Motherf**ker with the Hat
Best Choreography
Rob Ashford, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
*Kathleen Marshall, Anything Goes
Casey Nicholaw, The Book of Mormon
Susan Stroman, The Scottsboro Boys
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
*The Book of Mormon
Music & Lyrics: Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone
The Scottsboro Boys
Music & Lyrics: John Kander and Fred Ebb
Sister Act
Music: Alan Menken
Lyrics: Glenn Slater
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek
Best Orchestrations
Doug Besterman, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Larry Hochman, The Scottsboro Boys
*Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus, The Book of Mormon
Marc Shaiman & Larry Blank, Catch Me If You Can
***
Recipients of Awards and Honors in Non-Competitive Categories
Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Athol Fugard (Recipient)
Philip J. Smith (Recipient)
Regional Theatre Tony Award
Lookingglass Theatre Company (Chicago, IL) (Recipient)
Isabelle Stevenson Award
Eve Ensler (Recipient)
Special Tony Award
Handspring Puppet Company (Recipient)
Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre
William Berloni (Recipient)
The Drama Book Shop (Recipient)
Sharon Jensen and Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts (Recipient)
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