REAL DRAMA
Tonys turn tearful as Parkland kids perform
SURVIVORS OF a mass shooting at a Florida high school stole the show at Sunday’s Tony Awards ceremony when they sang one of Broadway’s biggest hits and brought the crowd to tears.
The theater world’s big night was upstaged by one of America’s darkest moments, a school shooting commemorated in a surprise performance by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students who sang “Seasons of Love” from the musical “Rent.”
Moments earlier, the students’ drama teacher, Melody Herzfeld, received the Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre Education in recognition of the bravery she showed shielding kids from gunfire during the Feb. 14 massacre in Parkland, Fla.
“All the goodness and the tragedy that has brought me to this point will always be embraced,” Herzfeld told the crowd at Radio City Music Hall.
On a night when Bruce Springsteen was honored with a special Tony award by fellow local icon Billy Joel, and Robert DeNiro said “F--- Trump,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” and “The Band’s Visit” were the big winners.
“Band’s Visit,” a musical about an Egyptian police band stranded in the Israeli desert, won for best musical, best book of a musical, best orchestration, best original score and best performance by an actor in a featured role.
A song from the show was introduced by actress Rachel Brosnahan, just days after her aunt, designer Kate Spade, hanged herself in her Manhattan apartment. She made no mention of the suicide.
“Harry Potter” took home awards for best play, best direction and best costume design.
In a major upset, Itamar Moses won best book of a musical for “Band’s Visit,” taking home the award almost promised to Tina Fey and “Mean Girls.”
Nathan Lane and Andrew Garfield took home trophies for “Angels in America,” the revival of Tony Kushner’s iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning play that also won best revival at the show Sunday night. Garfield used his speech to honor the community that made his show possible.
“I dedicate this award to the countless LGBTQ people who have fought and died to protect that spirit, to protect that message: for the right to live and love as we are created to,” he said.
Lindsay Mendez, who won best featured actress in a musical for Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Carousel,” struck a similar tone of inclusion. She said she was told to change her last name to Matthews “or I wouldn’t work.”
“I just want to say how proud I am to be a part of a community that celebrates diversity and individuality,” she said. “Just be your true self and the world will take note.”