The staff of 半岛体育.com went over the broadcast to pick the choicest moments in each category. Here's the result:
WTF MOMENTS
Co-host 's purple shorts during the opening number. Ever since Cabaret, he can鈥檛 stop showing off his legs on stage.
Cumming overwhelmed with excitement that pop singer was en route, pressing his hands to the side of his head at every commercial break, 脿 la "Home Alone," and murmuring the star's name. "Josh Grobaaaaaan!"
Cumming and Chenoweth dressed as the King and Mrs. Anna. Guess who wore which costume!
Chenoweth dressed as E.T. Why? "" sounds like E.T.'s catchphrase "Phone home." and wore nearly the same dress to present the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Sing along now: "This irresistible Paris original...."
, accepting her Tony for Featured Actress in a Musical for , reading her speech off her cell phone. Nice iPhone plug!
GREATEST MOMENTS
's rousing meta song "A Musical," in which Tony nominee explained to fellow nominee how musicals work, packed with references to famous shows from Annie to .
's heartfelt acceptance speech upon winning Best Actress in a Musical, after which she exited doing a dance she called "The Worm," but which was actually more of a buck-and-wing.
Chenoweth's peeved facial expression during her "throw" to commercial after O'Hara beat her for the Leading Actress in a Musical award and gave the above speech.
Several of the show's peaks were provided by dance ensembles from , and, in a sexy recreation of the classic "Shall We Dance," The King and I.
Not-even-nominated 's slamming rendition of the anthem, "Jenny's Blues."
Great moments were supplied by the youngest and eldest nominees. , 11, of Fun Home, left stunned with her "Ring of Keys." , 82, did the same with "Love and Love Alone" from . Neither one wound up winning in her category.
The film clip of inspiring Excellence in Theatre Education winner Corey Mitchell goading his students to greatness.
's Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech. "You see, my father鈥檚 great dream for me was the same as every Texas father鈥檚 dream for their first born son 鈥� they wanted us all to leave Texas, go to New York, and dance in the chorus of a Broadway show. And I did it and I loved every single time step."
's Special Tony acceptance speech. "I say turn off the Internet, combine all the things you love in the world鈥攖ake some time and you might come up with something special that鈥檚 lasting."
The show's high point may have been a segment that was banned last year: In Memoriam. Groban sang Rodgers and Hammerstein's "You'll Never Walk Alone" (in an unaccountably low key) as they began projecting the faces and names of , , , , and others. Then the key changed and a huge chorus from all the shows joined in the song in an extraordinary and moving tribute. If only the camera angles had allowed the home viewing audience to see all the names.
FUNNIEST MOMENTS
The only-on-Broadway warning that those who went overtime with their acceptance speeches would be danced off by the tapping redcaps from .
Cumming described (eventual) Best Leading Actress in a Play winner (The Audience) as the fiercest queen on the Great White Way. Chenoweth quickly cautioned him, 鈥淐areful! You鈥檙e messing with our core audience.鈥�
and 's comedic dialog before giving the Best Musical Award. The non-nominated David scoffed as Alexander reeled off his many award nominations, saying, "The true measure of a man is to not be nominated, and still show up to read a list of names of those who are nominated. That鈥檚 a big man.鈥� He then turned around and claimed鈥搈ore or less tongue-in-cheek鈥揾is lack of a nomination (along with producer 's shutout for ) was clearly an act of anti-Semitism.
MOMENTS TO BE PROUD OF
History Made: and were the first all-female book-and-score writing team to win the Tonys for Best Score and Best Book. Tesori's acceptance speech: 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 realize that a career in music was available to women until 1981, when I saw the magnificent Linda Twine in The Lady and Her Music with . That was my 鈥楻ing of Keys鈥� moment鈥攚hich, by the way, is not a song of love but a song of identification. Because for girls, you have to see it to be it."
More History Made: Fun Home is also the first show from Broadway's Circle in the Square to win Best Musical since that theatre opened in 1972. Ruthie Ann Miles' comments about opportunities (or lack of them) for Asian-American actors: "We have a lot of amazing, talented people who just don't have a platform. They don't have an opportunity. But they are working. They are going to class. They are hitting those auditions and doing readings, and they are striving and working so hard. But there's no place to practice, which is on the stage. There aren't enough roles. There aren't enough opportunities."
MISSED OPORTUNITIES
There were no awards for Best Sound Design because the category was eliminated this year.
Though it was a good year for gay, lesbian and even Asian-American winners, no African-American faces were seen in the winners' circle other than teacher Corey Mitchell (Excellence in Theatre Education Award).
Tommy Tune picked up the Lifetime Achievement Award, but was not allowed to accept it on camera. The award is usually given in the non-televised pre-show and organizers apparently didn't want to create a precedent. But they did want Tune. So, while there was a brief tribute to Tune on the televised section of the show, and Tune was permitted to present an award to someone else, his own award was given off-camera.
Similarly, Kron and Tesori had to give their historic acceptance speeches in the pre-show.
