CheekyChicago

My all-time favorite night of the year is, by far, the Tony Awards.  Call it the theatre dork in me, call it the showtune-lover, call it the fact that I’m just not that cool…however you cut it, I freaking love the Tonys.  And although I don’t practice the art that I so preach anymore, I will appreciate the artists, directors, creators, magicians, writers, and so on and so forth forever and ever…amen.  Here are my top 10 moments from last night’s glitzy, glamorous, song-and-dance filled evening (in no particular order):

1)  Sean Hayes opening the show with the original Chicago cast of Million Dollar Quartet (check out our review of the original production complete with brilliant foreshadowing), including Levi Kreis, whom we interviewed last year.

2)  Speaking of Levi Kreis…  Our favorite Chicagoan and original MDQ cast member won – WON – the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (his first time ever being nominated)!

3)  La Cage Aux Folles making history as the first ever musical to win the original Best Musical Tony, the Best Revival of a Musical Tony and a second Best Revival of a Musical Tony.  There’s nothing like a little guts and lots of glitter.

4)  Glee‘s Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison singing solo some of our all-time favorite showtune numbers, including the Streisand-y Don’t Rain On My Parade.

5)  Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, currently starring as Morticia and Gomez Addams in The Addams Family (which had its world premiere here in Chicago) acting coy as they presented the Tony Awards for Best Featured Actor and Actress in a Musical, for which they were conspicuously not nominated (Lane made a joke that the Tonys are like Passover in his family).

6)  The awkward, awkward first award presentation by charming duo, Katie Holmes and Daniel Radcliffe.

7)  The shocking, shocking win by Catherine Zeta Jones as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for A Little Night Music. I suppose pigs can fly now.

8)  Ricky “We Had No Idea You Were Gay” Martin presenting the second award of the evening.

9) The fact that there is a production – and that it was nominated for Best Play – called The Vibrator Play (by Sarah Ruhl), which is about… exactly what you think it’s about.

10)  Viola Davis’ passionate and humble acceptance speech for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Fences (with Denzel Washington, who also won the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Play).