(TONYS 2015) Inside Broadway's Fanciest Tony Awards Party!

Criss and Leung

by David Gordon
Theater Mania

In the immortal words of newly minted 2015 Tony winner Alex Sharp, "Let's get f**ked up." That's what happens when Broadway's Biggest Night turns into Broadway's Biggest Wee-Hours-of-the-Morning Bash: Whether you win or lose, people keep putting glasses of spirits in your hand until it's time to go home.

But there's a long time — and a lot of parties to get to — between the end of the Tonys show at Radio City Music Hall and the hour when celebrators hit the hay. The first stop is the invite-only Tony Awards Gala, the officially sanctioned party at the Plaza Hotel, where guests mingle freely without the snooping ears of the ever-present press corps.

Once all was said and done (and eaten and drunk), performers and creatives headed to the parties thrown by individual shows. The family of Best Musical Fun Home headed to Tanner Smith's on West 55th Street, while the team of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time went to Hudson Terrace on West 46th and 11th Avenue to toast their success.

Best Actress Kelli O'Hara and Best Featured Actress Ruthie Ann Miles took a jaunt uptown to P.J. Clarke's, across the street from their theatrical home at Lincoln Center, to celebrate the Tony-winning revival of The King and I. Given that Hand to God and Something Rotten! share a lead producer (Kevin McCollum), it's no surprise that a joint party was held at Bryant Park Grill for those two nominated productions.

Tommy Tune and Company

But where can you find all of Broadway's biggest stars mixing and mingling? At the Carlyle, of course, where publicist Rick Miramontez and his firm O&M Co. held court on multiple floors until dawn. The Carlyle party is the after-prom of Tonys gatherings, the only place you could see 2015 Lifetime Achievement recipient Tommy Tune singing with Broadway favorite Patrick Page and a host of others as Billy Stritch played "What I Did for Love" on the piano, and where last year's Best Leading Actor winner, Bryan Cranston, will confess to you in an elevator that he's plotting a Broadway return, because he misses it.


The Carlyle is where all the stars end up when their parties come down, and this year's event was even bigger than it has been in the past. The dance floor (on the invite called "Chita's Disco") was packed as young Fun Home Tony nominee Sydney Lucas cut a mean rug until she got tired (around 3:30am!). On the Town nominee Tony Yazbeck held court in the corner. In the lobby, nobody could get near O'Hara, who received congratulatory conversations from nearly every attendant.

As the sun began to rise over Central Park, it was time to go home. Guests were a little less sure on their feet than they were when they walked the red carpet a whopping 10 hours earlier, but all had a great time.

(TONYS 2015) Winners, Live from the Press Room!

Press-room moments with Kelli O’Hara, Annaleigh Ashford, and more of the 2015 Tony Award winners.

The victors are announced, the trophies distributed, and celebrations are under way. But before the newly christened 2015 Tony winners could thank and run, TheaterMania caught up with them in the press room just minutes after their names were called before all of America. Take a look at what a few of them had to say under the influence of Broadway ecstasy.

Courtsy of Theater Mania

(Tony 2014): List of Winners!

Sunday night marked theater's biggest night, with the exception of every night at the actual theater, as the 68th annual Tony Awards aired on CBS.

The biggest winner of all last night? And ever, for acting Tonys?

Broadway record-breaker Audra McDonald, winner of best dramatic actress for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, took home her SIXTH Tony.

McDonald, 43, bested Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris' previous records of five acting Tony Awards each, and gave an emotional speech to the crowd.

The Radio City Music Hall audience acknowledged the significance of the achievement with a prolonged standing ovation, bringing her to tears.

McDonald cried openly, and acknowledged Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll, Ruby Dee, Maya Angelou and Billie Holiday, whom she plays in the drama.

(TONYS 2014) A Gentleman's Guide, Hedwig Top List of 2014 Tony Award Nominees!

 

Jonathan Groff and Lucy Liu announced the nominations for the 68th annual Tony Awards at the Paramount Hotel’s Diamond Horseshoe April 29, with Tony host Hugh Jackman also popping up to remind theater fans to watch the telecast live on CBS on June 8. The new musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder led the pack with ten nominations, with the revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch trailing closely behind with eight nominations. The new musicals After Midnight and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical each received seven nominations, as did the revivals of The Glass Menagerie and Twelfth Night. As for new plays this season, Act One garnered the most nominations, with five. A complete list of this year’s nominees follows.

(OUTscene TV) The 17th Annual ACTORS FUND GALA for the West Coast TONYS !

Ester Goldberg on the red carpet for the 17th Annual ACTORS FUND Gala for the WEST COAST TONYS!



Guests Include: Loni Anderson, Mitzi Gaynor, Norm Crosby, Stefanie Powers, Ruta Lee, Frances Fisher, Kate Linder, Ilene Graff, Bridget Hanley, Theo Bikel, Barbara Van Orden, David Michaels and Mickey Rooney

written & produced by Michael Airington for Matzoball Entertainment LLC

(LIST) Complete TONY Winner's List!

Best Musical
Once


Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Audra McDonald (The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess)


Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Nina Arianda (Venus in Fur)


Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
James Corden (One Man, Two Guvnors)

(LIST) 2012 Tony Award Nominations!

The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing announced nominations for the 2012 Tony Awards this morning.

Once led the way with 11 nominations, followed by The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and Nice Work If You Can Get It with ten each. Peter and the Starcatcher grabbed nine nominations while Follies and Newsies each took 8.

So GAY: Book of Mormon Sweeps GAY Tonys!

Broadway's gaspingly irreverent Book of Mormon took home nine Tony Awards last night, winning everything from Best Musical to Best Score to Best Direction to Best Actress in a musical (Nikki M. James). "You did it, Joseph! You got the Tony!" joked the co-creator of the musical, Trey Parker, referring to Mormon founder Joseph Smith. It was one more dig linked to an over-the-top musical that jokes about Mormon missionaries, misery, gun-toting African war-lords, and sex with babies. Asked backstage if he and fellow South Park writer Matt Stone will jinx their chances in heaven for spoofing spiritual matters, Parker quipped that he'll tell God to "look at the box office." 

Puppeteering anti-war masterpiece War Horse won five awards, while the revival of Larry Kramer's play about AIDS The Normal Heart, and Anything Goes won three top spots each, AP reports. Frances McDormand won Best Actress in a play for Good People and Mark Rylance won top actor honors for Jerusalem. The top directing award for a play went to Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris for the tear-jerker War Horse. "We quite like it when people cry," Morris quipped.

NOMINATIONS: 2011 Tony Awards

Nominations for the 2011 American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards®
Presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. Biggest Snubs: Priscilla and Daniel Radcliffe.

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 Musical
The Book of Mormon
Catch Me If You Can (World Premiere in Seattle)
The Scottsboro Boys
Sister Act

Revival of a Play
Arcadia
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Merchant of Venice
The Normal Heart
Best Revival of a Musical
Anything Goes
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

BROADWAY: Dear Scarlett: You're Ruining Broadway!

After Sunday night’s Tony travesty—Scarlett Johansson and Catherine Zeta-Jones both won awards(Angela Lansbury and Valerie Harper were better)?!—Natasha Vargas-Cooper can no longer stay silent. “Hollywood actresses need to stay the hell away from the theater,” she writes on Salon. “Those women belong to the world of perfect studio lighting, multiple takes, and on-location shoots.” The theater actress has to give memorable performances night after night, while “film actresses are objects in a big shiny machine that can be reproduced in perpetuity."

Broadway wannabes like Scarlett are “snuffing out the dreams of girls belting out Little Shop in their teenage bedrooms across America. Why struggle to be a bit player to the Chekhov matriarch when Ashlee Simpson can just put in a call to her publicist and dabble in a bit of theee-tahhh?”

Tony Awards: the Best, the Worst, the Hottest

The Tony Awards were full of bright colors, from Lea Michele’s stunning yellow gown (good) to Angela Lansbury’s blinding red one (bad). Check out some of the best and worst dressed in the gallery, or for more, visit Radar. For last night's winners (Hollywood dominated!) click here.

BROADWAY: Denzel Washington Wins 1st Tony Award

Denzel Washington won his first Tony Award tonight for his performance in August Wilson's Fences, and Scarlett Johansson and Catherine Zeta-Jones joined the Hollywood-to-Tony parade by picking up statuettes of their own. Best play Red and best musical Memphis also enjoyed big nights, the AP reports.

Washington's co-star Viola Davis and the show captured the best lead actress in a play and best revival of a play awards, and La Cage aux Folles was named best revival of a musical. Host Sean Hayes didn't win the leading actor in a musical award but did make out with Promises, Promises co-star Kristin Chenoweth, New York notes—take that, Ramin Setoodeh—and Zeta-Jones congratulated herself for getting to sleep with Michael Douglas every night. To see a complete list of the winners, click here.

BROADWAY: Sean Hayes Will Host Tony Awards!

Sean Hayes is a Broadway newcomer, but he's nominated for a Tony for lead actor in a musical—and he'll be hosting the award ceremony as well. Today's announcement comes in the wake of the controversy over Newsweek critic Ramin Setoodeh's dismissal of the openly gay Hayes' ability to play straight, and co-star Kristin Chenoweth's stinging rebuttal. By tapping Hayes, the Los Angeles Times notes, the Broadway establishment is standing up for an actor best known for his TV work, as dizzy sidekick Jack on Will & Grace.