August, In the Heights, South Pacific Big Winners at 62nd Annual Tony Awards

The 62nd Annual Tony Awards were presented at Radio City Music Hall, June 15, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg.

South Pacific lead the pack of winners, picking up seven awards, including Best Revival of a Musical, Best Leading Actor for Paulo Szot, Best Scenic, Costume, Lighting, and Sound Design, and Best Direction for Barlett Sher.

The Best Musical Tony went to In the Heights, which also won for Best Score, Choreography, and Orchestrations.

August: Osage County took home five awards for Best Play, Best Direction for Anna D. Shapiro, Best Leading Actress for Deanna Dunagan, Best Featured Actress for Rondi Reed, and Best Scenic Design. While it wasn’t explicitly confirmed, participants in the show told the press that the original cast will bring the play to London’s National Theatre in the fall.

Other winners of multiple Tonys included Gypsy with awards for actors Patti LuPone, Laura Benanti, and Boyd Gaines, and The 39 Steps and Boeing Boeing, each with two awards, with the latter being named Best Revival of a Play and earning Mark Rylance a Tony as Best Leading Actor in a Play. Passing Strange, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and The Seafarer took home one award each.

This year’s show opened with a performance of “Circle of Life” from the cast of The Lion King, complete with an elephant marching down aisle. Other entertainment included performances of all 11 eligible musicals, and a special performance featuring both the current cast and original cast members of Rent, which will close in September after a 12-year run.

Goldberg was also seen performing in pre-taped appearances with the casts of such shows as Monty Python’s Spamalot, Spring Awakening, Phantom of the Opera, and Mario Lopez of A Chorus Line, as well as at Radio City in costumes from The Little Mermaid and Mary Poppins, among other shows.

Among the show’s most notable moments: LuPone received a standing ovation for her performance of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses;” In the Heights‘ Lin Manuel-Miranda delivered his acceptance speech for Best Original Score as a freestyle rap; Stew accepted the award for Best Book of a Musical with an expletive-filled speech; and Rylance’s seemingly bizarre acceptance speech was later revealed to be a poem by a Minnesota poet named Lewis Jenkins.

The night’s presenters included Alec Baldwin, Barry Bostwick, Gabriel Byrne, Julie Chen, Kristin Chenoweth, Glenn Close, Harry Connick, Jr., Laurence Fishburne, Mandy Patinkin, David Hyde Pierce, Lily Tomlin, Richard Griffiths, Laura Linney, John Lithgow, Liza Minnelli, Mary-Louise Parker, Daniel Radcliffe, Duncan Sheik, Brooke Shields, Marisa Tomei, and John Waters.

Below is a full list of nominees, with the winners marked in bold.

Best Play
August: Osage County
Rock ‘n’ Roll
The Seafarer
The 39 Steps

Best Musical
Cry-Baby
In the Heights
Passing Strange
Xanadu

Best Book of a Musical
Cry-Baby, Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan
In the Heights, Quiara Alegria Hudes
Passing Strange, Stew
Xanadu, Douglas Carter Beane

Best Original Score
Cry-Baby, Music & Lyrics: David Javerbaum & Adam Schlesinger
In The Heights, Music & Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda
The Little Mermaid, Music: Alan Menken and Lyrics: Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater
Passing Strange, Music: Stew and Heidi Rodewald Lyrics: Stew

Best Revival of a Play
Boeing-Boeing
The Homecoming
Les Liaisons Dangereueses
Macbeth

Best Revival of a Musical
Grease
Gypsy
South Pacific
Sunday in the Park With George

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Ben Daniels, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood
Mark Rylance, Boeing-Boeing
Rufus Sewell, Rock ‘n’ Roll
Patrick Stewart, Macbeth

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Eve Best, The Homecoming
Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County
Kate Fleetwood, Macbeth
S. Epatha Merkerson, Come Back, Little Sheba
Amy Morton, August: Osage County

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Daniel Evans, Sunday in the Park With George
Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights
Stew, Passing Strange
Paulo Szot, South Pacific
Tom Wopat, A Catered Affair

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Kerry Butler, Xanadu
Patti LuPone, Gypsy
Kelli O’Hara, South Pacific
Faith Prince, A Catered Affair
Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park With George

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Bobby Cannavale, Mauritius
Raúl Esparza, The Homecoming
Conleth Hill, The Seafarer
Jim Norton, The Seafarer
David Pittu, Is He Dead?

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Sinead Cusack, Rock ‘n’ Roll
Mary McCormack, Boeing-Boeing
Laurie Metcalf, November
Martha Plimpton, Top Girls
Rondi Reed, August: Osage County

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Daniel Breaker, Passing Strange
Danny Burstein, South Pacific
Robin De Jesús, In The Heights
Christopher Fitzgerald, Young Frankenstein
Boyd Gaines, Gypsy

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
de’Adre Aziza, Passing Strange
Laura Benanti, Gypsy
Andrea Martin, Young Frankenstein
Olga Merediz, In The Heights
Loretta Ables Sayre, South Pacific

Best Direction of a Play
Maria Aitken, The 39 Steps
Conor McPherson, The Seafarer
Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County
Matthew Warchus, Boeing-Boeing

Best Direction of a Musical
Sam Buntrock, Sunday in the Park with George
Thomas Kail, In The Heights
Arthur Laurents, Gypsy
Bartlett Sher, South Pacific

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Peter McKintosh, The 39 Steps
Scott Pask, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Todd Rosenthal, August: Osage County
Anthony Ward, Macbeth

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
David Farley and Timothy Bird & The Knifedge Creative Network, Sunday in the Park with George
Anna Louizos, In The Heights
Robin Wagner, Young Frankenstein
Michael Yeargan, South Pacific

Best Costume Design of a Play
Gregory Gale, Cyrano de Bergerac
Rob Howell, Boeing-Boeing
Katrina Lindsay, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Peter McKintosh, The 39 Steps

Best Costume Design of a Musical
David Farley, Sunday in the Park with George
Martin Pakledinaz, Gypsy
Paul Tazewell, In The Heights
Catherine Zuber, South Pacific

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Kevin Adams, The 39 Steps
Howard Harrison, Macbeth
Donald Holder, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Ann G. Wrightson, August: Osage County

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Ken Billington, Sunday in the Park with George
Howell Binkley, In The Heights
Donald Holder, South Pacific
Natasha Katz, The Little Mermaid

Best Sound Design of a Play

Simon Baker, Boeing-Boeing
Adam Cork, Macbeth
Ian Dickson, Rock ‘n’ Roll
Mic Pool, The 39 Steps

Best Sound Design of a Musical

Acme Sound Partners, In The Heights
Sebastian Frost, Sunday in the Park with George
Scott Lehrer, South Pacific
Dan Moses Schreier, Gypsy

Best Choreography
Rob Ashford, Cry-Baby
Andy Blankenbuehler, In The Heights
Christopher Gattelli, South Pacific
Dan Knechtges, Xanadu

Best Orchestrations
Jason Carr, Sunday in the Park with George
Alex Lacamoire & Bill Sherman, In The Heights
Stew & Heidi Rodewald, Passing Strange
Jonathan Tunick, A Catered Affair

In addition, a special award for Lifetime Achievement was given to composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, while another special Tony was presented posthumously to orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett. Chicago Shakespeare Theatre won the Regional Theatre Tony.