The Tonys.

"The 61st annual Tony Awards last night were dominated by two shows drawn from the 19th century: Spring Awakening, about sexually frustrated German teenagers in that era, won best musical and most of the other musical awards, while The Coast of Utopia, Tom Stoppard's epic period trilogy about Russian intellectuals, set a record for the most awards won by a play in Tony history." Campbell Robertson reports for the New York Times.

More from the Guardian's Ed Pilkington: "The extent to which British drama is hogging the Broadway limelight has prompted a degree of backlash locally."

"Why does Britain do theatre so successfully?" asks Matt Wolf, introducing the Observer's guide to 50 British actors. "[F]or every cod-psychological theory about why a country in thrall to irony, argument and dressing up should find a natural artistic outlet in the theatre, comes a less sophisticated explanation pertaining, say, to the weather - a culture with so unpredictable a climate is bound to thrive on what can take place indoors." Also, a talk with Eve Best, Gavin Lee, Hugh Dancy, Xanthe Elbrick and Vanessa Redgrave about performing on Broadway.

"For the second straight year, Broadway has registered record attendance and gross revenues at a time when other forms of entertainment are looking at bleak bottom lines," notes Paul Lieberman in the Los Angeles Times.

"I glance at the Grammys, abide the Emmys, enjoy the Golden Globes and have a morbid fascination with the Oscars, but I love the Tonys," blogs Noel Murray at the AV Club. "Back when I was in high school and discovering David Mamet, I stumbled across a Tonys broadcast one summer night and was stunned to see a live performance of a scene from Mamet's nominated drama Speed-The-Plow, with Joe Mantegna, Ron Silver and Madonna. I'd never realized before that just as the Oscars show clips from nominated films, the Tonys stage scenes from dramas and musicals—scenes I couldn't otherwise see. From that point on, I was hooked."

Nathaniel R offers several thoughts on how the evening played out.

David Marchese in Salon: "Über-clever Utopia playwright Tom Stoppard briefly broke the fawning monotony with a gag about retitling a musical version of his play 'Serf's Up' but it wasn't long before people whose names and faces I didn't recognize from shows I haven't seen went back to talking about why their production was a life-changing experience and the epic struggle to have it produced."

Posted by dwhudson at June 11, 2007 9:10 AM