Theatre News

Corden, Jackman, Once & Starcatcher celebrate at Tony Awards

The 2012 Tony Awards were presented last night during a star-studded ceremony at the Beacon Theatre in New York, with Irish musical Once scooping eight awards and James Corden seeing off competition from Philip Seymour Hoffman to be named Best Actor for One Man, Two Guvnors.

Corden, who also won the Whatsonstage.com Award for his performance in
Richard Bean‘s farce, said in an emotional speech he was “overwhelmed” to find
himself in such prestigious company on the shortlist, adding: “To be on a
list with you was enough and holding this, it honestly just reminds me
that there is no such thing as best.”

Other big winners included the play Peter and the Starcatcher, a prequel to Peter Pan, which won five awards, and Bruce Norris‘ satire Clybourne Park, which was named best play. Death of a Salesman, which starred Seymour Hoffman alongside Brit Andrew Garfield, picked up Best Play revival, while Porgy and Bess was named best musical revival and Audra McDonald won best lead actress in a musical.

Elsewhere, Joe DiPietro‘s new musical Nice Work If You Can Get It won acting awards for Michael McGrath and Judy Kaye, and Newsies – adapted from the cult 1992 film – gave multi-Oscar winner Alan Menken his long-awaited first Tony, for best score.

Hugh Jackman was honoured with a special award for his contribution to Broadway and for his charity work, which the Hollywood star received from his wife, actress Deborra-Lee Furness.

But there was no doubting the big winner of the night – Once, the Irish musical adapted by Enda Walsh from the 2006 film – which scooped eight awards including best musical, best book, best actor in a musical and best direction for John Tiffany. Like many of the winning shows, it has been tipped for a West End transfer in the coming months.

Neil Patrick Harris returned to host the awards, which featured performances from, among others, The Book of Mormon, Evita (with Ricky Martin and Elena Roger), Jesus Christ Superstar (featuring nominee Josh Young) and End of the Rainbow star Tracie Bennett.

The show – which was live-tweeted by Whatsonstage.com (see below) – also featured a performance with Corbin Bleu and the cast of Godspell and Ghost The Musical featuring Bryce Pinkham, Caissie Levy and Richard Fleeshman. 

The telecast also included a live broadcast from the middle of the Caribbean Sea, where Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas’ cast of Hairspray performed a number in the ship’s Opal Theater.

The full list of Tony Award winners 2012 is as follows (winners in bold):

Play
Clybourne Park, Bruce Norris
Other Desert Cities, Jon Robin Baitz
Peter and the Starcatcher, Rick Elice
Venus in Fur, David Ives

Musical
Leap of Faith
Newsies
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Once

Revival of a play
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Gore Vidal’s The Best Man
Master Class
Wit

Revival of a musical
Evita
Follies
The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Jesus Christ Superstar

Book of a musical
Lysistrata Jones, Douglas Carter Beane
Newsies, Harvey Fierstein
Nice Work If You Can Get It, Joe DiPietro
Once, Enda Walsh

Original score (music and/or lyrics) written for the theater
Bonnie & Clyde, music: Frank Wildhorn; lyrics: Don Black
Newsies, music: Alan Menken; lyrics: Jack Feldman
One Man, Two Guvnors, music & lyrics: Grant Olding
Peter and the Starcatcher, music: Wayne Barker; lyrics: Rick Elice

Performance by an actor in a leading role in a play
James Corden, One Man, Two Guvnors
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
James Earl Jones, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man
Frank Langella, Man and Boy
John Lithgow, The Columnist

Performance by an actress in a leading role in a play
Nina Arianda, Venus in Fur
Tracie Bennett, End of the Rainbow
Stockard Channing, Other Desert Cities
Linda Lavin, The Lyons
Cynthia Nixon, Wit

Performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical
Danny Burstein, Follies
Jeremy Jordan, Newsies
Steve Kazee, Once
Norm Lewis, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Ron Raines, Follies

Performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical
Jan Maxwell, Follies
Audra McDonald, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Cristin Milioti, Once
Kelli O’Hara, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Laura Osnes, Bonnie & Clyde

Performance by an actor in a featured role in a play
Christian Borle, Peter and the Starcatcher
Michael Cumpsty, End of the Rainbow
Tom Edden, One Man, Two Guvnors
Andrew Garfield, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Jeremy Shamos, Clybourne Park

Performance by an actress in a featured role in a play
Linda Emond, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Spencer Kayden, Don’t Dress for Dinner
Celia Keenan-Bolger, Peter and the Starcatcher
Judith Light, Other Desert Cities Condola Rashad, Stick Fly

Performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical
Phillip Boykin, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Michael Cerveris, Evita
David Alan Grier, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Michael McGrath, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Josh Young, Jesus Christ Superstar

Performance by an actress in a featured role in a musical
Elizabeth A. Davis, Once
Jayne Houdyshell, Follies
Judy Kaye, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Jessie Mueller, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Ghost the Musical

Scenic design of a play
John Lee Beatty, Other Desert Cities
Daniel Ostling, Clybourne Park
Mark Thompson, One Man, Two Guvnors
Donyale Werle, Peter and the Starcatcher

Scenic design of a musical
Bob Crowley, Once
Rob Howell and Jon Driscoll, Ghost the Musical
Tobin Ost and Sven Ortel, Newsies
George Tsypin, Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark

Costume design of a play
William Ivey Long, Don’t Dress for Dinner
Paul Tazewell, A Streetcar Named Desire
Mark Thompson, One Man, Two Guvnors
Paloma Young, Peter and the Starcatcher

Costume design of a musical
Gregg Barnes, Follies
ESosa, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Eiko Ishioka, Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark
Martin Pakledinaz, Nice Work If You Can Get It

Lighting design of a play
Jeff Croiter, Peter and the Starcatcher
Peter Kaczorowski, The Road to Mecca
Brian MacDevitt, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Kenneth Posner, Other Desert Cities

Lighting design of a musical
Christopher Akerlind, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Natasha Katz, Follies
Natasha Katz, Once
Hugh Vanstone, Ghost the Musical

Sound design of a play
Paul Arditti, One Man, Two Guvnors
Scott Lehrer, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Gareth Owen, End of the Rainbow
Darron L West, Peter and the Starcatcher

Sound design of a musical
Acme Sound Partners, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Clive Goodwin, Once
Kai Harada, Follies
Brian Ronan, Nice Work If You Can Get It

Choreography
Rob Ashford, Evita
Christopher Gattelli, Newsies
Steven Hoggett, Once
Kathleen Marshall, Nice Work If You Can Get It

Direction of a play
Nicholas Hytner, One Man, Two Guvnors
Pam MacKinnon, Clybourne Park
Mike Nichols, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Roger Rees and Alex Timbers, Peter and the Starcatcher

Direction of a musical
Jeff Calhoun, Newsies
Kathleen Marshall, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Diane Paulus, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
John Tiffany, Once

Orchestrations
William David Brohn and Christopher Jahnke, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Bill Elliott, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Martin Lowe, Once
Danny Troob, Newsies

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Emanuel Azenberg

Regional Theatre Award
The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington, D.C.

Isabelle Stevenson Award
Bernadette Peters

Special Tony Award
Actors’ Equity Assn. Hugh Jackman

Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre
Freddie Gershon
Artie Siccardi
TDF Open Doors