Tony® Awards Make History

DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Tony® Awards Make History
© NaimaLett.com/blog

tonys2013
© Angela Bassett, Courtney B. Vance, Cyndi Lauper, Pantina Miller, Cicely Tyson, Billy Porter

While the San Antonio Spurs were losing spectacularly to Miami Heat last night (to my dismay), the Tony® Awards decided to make history. The 67th annual Antoinette Perry Awards represented Broadway and American theater’s biggest night.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

The ladies rocked the awards Sunday night.

Best Music: Cyndi Lauper

Pop star and 1st-time stage composer Cyndi Lauper, best known for her 1980s hits Girls Just Want to Have Fun and True Colors, made history as the 1st woman (without a writing partner) to win the Tony® Award for best original score for Kinky Boots, a controversial musical about drag queens who save a boot factory, which also won Best Musical, Best Lead Actor in a Musical, Best Choreography, Best Sound Design and Best Orchestration.

Best Directors: Diane & Pam

Diane Paulus won Best Director of a Musical for Pippin, and Pam MacKinnon won Best Director for a Play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? This may have happened only 1 other time in the history of the awards show, that 2 women took home the Best Director awards. Amazing.

Oldest Winner: Cicely Tyson

Academy Award® nominee Cicely Tyson, reportedly 88 years old, returned to Broadway after 30 years and won the Best Leading Actress in a Play for A Trip To Bountiful, to become the oldest Tony Award winner ever. The only controversy is that some reports say she’s 79. Which is it Ms. Cicely?

“Thou art the Potter, I am the clay…”
Tyson quoted the shortened version of Isaiah 64:8 when she first stepped to the mic to accept her award. The Tony® Awards website conveniently deleted that part from the YouTube video on its site. But, we see you giving honor, Ms. Cicely.

Truly Colorful

A Tony® First: 5 African Americans took home statues: 4 Actors & 1 Producer

Cicely Tyson is one (info above). Patina Miller, previously nominated for Sister Act, won the Best Leading Actress in a Musical for Pippin. She also made history by portraying the first character to earn a Tony for both a man and man. Ben Vereen won the Tony for the same role in 1973.

Billy Porter won the Best Lead Actor in a Musical for Kinky Boots. This was his first nomination.

And Courtney B. Vance, previously nominated for Fences and Six Degrees of Separation, won Best Featured Actor in a Play for Lucky Guy, opposite Academy Award winner Tom Hanks. Courtney is married to Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett and praised her for holding it down with their twins while he played 8 shows a week.

Lastly, film and play producer Ron Simons won Best Play for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. He also received a Tony last year for producing Porgy & Bess.

Extraordinary Artists

The Tony’s can seem like an inside party. If you’re not a theatre fan, it’s hard to hang. Everything seems a bit over the top. But if you understand the sheer skill it takes to pull theatre off, you would appreciate the unapologetic BIG opening number starring Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Doogie Houser MD) and the BIG musical numbers throughout the broadcast.

Broadway is a LOT of work. That’s the reason so few actually become a part of that inside group. You have to be an EXTRAORDINARY artist to survive 8 shows a week at that level of artistry and professionalism.

Kudos to all the extraordinary artists on and off Broadway and all over the world keeping theatre alive.

One one theatre baby to another,
Naima

Rev. Naima Lett, D.MIN, ABD
Author of coming release Confessions of a Hollywood Christian

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About Naima Lett

Naima loves helping folks find their purpose and follow their dreams while deepening their faith. Often called The Hollywood Christian, she believes everyone should find a reason to dance daily, enjoy the 80 degrees and a breeze of the LaLa at least once, and have her Grandmother's bread pudding or sweet potato pie on holidays. Both are divine! :=) -- Dr. Naima Lett, Author: Confessions of a Hollywood Christian, CoPastor: Hope in the Hills, Beverly Hills