LAURIE METCALF WINS 1ST TONY
Spacey is in good voice but ‘ Evan’ takes the gold with 6 trophies
Steppenwolf veteran honored for role in “A Doll’s House, Part 2”
How did they pick Kevin Spacey to host the Tony Awards?
No one else was available— or at least that was the running joke of Spacey’s freshman hosting effort: that Billy Crystal, James Corden, Neil Patrick Harris and other veteran Tony hosts couldn’t make it.
It might be a question the organizers were asking themselves during the CBS broadcast Sunday night, which started on an amusing note as Spacey got a helping hand in the opening medley from A- list stars, including Stephen Colbert, dressed like a groundhog; Whoopi Goldberg, emerging from a closet; and Billy Crystal, who offered a pep talk via remote feed.
Spacey presided over the show in the guise of famous personalities, with varying degrees of success.
He showed up as Johnny Carson and pretended to be Carnac the Magnificent. Holding an envelope,
à la Carnac, Spacey told the audience, “I’m going to guess the answer to this question. The answer is Bette Midler. The question is: ‘ What did my bookie tell me to put my money on? Bette Midler.’ ”
Turns out his prediction was spot- on as the Divine Miss M walked off, as expected, with the win for her lead role in Hello, Dolly!
The musical also won costume design and performance by a featured actor for Gavin Creel.
Spacey also played Bill Clinton with jokes that were a bit flat.
Pretending to be an actor, he intoned, “Is this a dagger I see before me, or is that just a cheese knife?”
More successful: a food break for the audience as Chazz Palminteri sold cannolis and Sara Bareilles served pie. The night’s big winner was Dear Evan
Hansen, which won six awards including best musical and prizes for actor Ben Platt and featured actress Rachel Bay Jones. The show also picked up the Tony for score from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who won an Oscar for City of Stars from La La Land.
Unlike the 2016 awards, which emphasized racial diversity amid a huge night for Hamilton, the Tonys were mostly quiet on current events.
There were only a few subtle comments from actors including Cynthia Nixon, who was recognized as best featured actress in a play for her role in the revival of Lillian Hellman’s The Little
Foxes, about greed and betrayal in a Southern family with shrinking prospects.
Nixon alternated the top female roles in the play, Regina, the villainous manipulator and Birdie, the delicate alcoholic.
Steppenwolf Theatre’s Laurie Metcalf picked up the Tony for actress in a leading role in a play for A Doll’s House Part
2, Lucas Hnath’s sequel to Henrik Ibsen's classic drama.
Many top awards went to the expected winners. Kevin Kline nabbed the Tony for leading actor in a play for Present Laughter. Jitney, a 1982 play by August Wilson just making its Broadway debut, won best revival.
Direction of a play went to Indecent, about an early- 20th- century Yiddish drama that so scandalized the public it was shut down by the police. Indecent also won for lighting design.
Scenic design for a musical went to Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, an offbeat pop opera about Russian aristocrats in the early 19th century starring Josh Groban.
In a surprise win for Oslo, a drama about secret peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, Michael Aronov took home the prize for featured actor in a play, beating out Danny DeVito for The Price.