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The stars of the stage gathered in New York on Sunday night for Broadway's highest honours, the Tony Awards .

"Dear Evan Hansen", the teen-angst driven musical about a high school outsider, won the top prize.

Meanwhile J.T. Rogers' Mideast peace accord drama "Oslo" was named best play.

The surprise hit musical won a total of six Tonys, including best musical actor for 23 year-old newcomer Ben Platt, featured actress Rachel Bay Jones, as well as best book, score and orchestrations.

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(Image: REUTERS)

(Image: REUTERS)

As widely predicted, Bette Midler won her first competitive Tony as best actress in a musical for "Hello, Dolly!".

Living up to her bawdy reputation, Midler delivered a profanity-laced speech to the star-laden audience at Radio City Music Hall, chastising the orchestra as its music welled when she spoke at length.

"Hello Dolly!" won four Tonys, including best musical revival.

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(Image: Getty Images North America)

"It's a very tough schedule," Midler, 71, said backstage, noting she is "a woman of a certain age."

But she said the experience had been "life-affirming and life-changing," telling reporters between tears, "It's more than I deserve."

Actors Cynthia Nixon, Kevin Kline and Laurie Metcalf all won Tonys for performances in plays.

(Image: Getty Images North America)

Kline won the lead actor Tony for his turn as an egocentric actor in Noel Cowards' "Present Laughter."

"I want to thank everybody," Kline said, adding "we don't do this alone."

Former "Roseanne" star Metcalf won her first Tony after several nominations, taking best actress in a play for "A Doll's House, Part 2," a lively, fast-paced sequel to the Henrik Ibsen classic.

(Image: Getty Images North America)

Nixon was named best featured actress in a play for a revival of Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes," about a greedy southern family's underhanded business practices.

The actress lauded Hellman for her "eerily prescient play."

Noting one of its lines about people who "eat the Earth" and others who "watch them do it," Nixon praised present-day activists as "the people who in 2017 are refusing to just stand around and watch them do it."

(Image: REUTERS)

Michael Aronov was a surprise winner in the featured actor category for his kinetic performance as an Israeli negotiator in "Oslo," a behind-the-scenes look at the 1993 Middle East peace accords.

"Oslo" playwright Rogers, making his Broadway debut, thanked "The ladies and gentlemen who believed in democracy, who believed in peace, who believed in seeing their enemies as humans, I give this up to you."

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Gavin Creel won best featured actor in a musical for "Hello, Dolly!" and "August Wilson's Jitney" won best revival of a play.

First-time Tonys host Kevin Spacey kicked off the show with a medley of songs referencing his self-doubt about successfully hosting the annual awards show compared to past hosts Neil Patrick Harris, James Corden or Hugh Jackman.

Broadway enjoyed a record-breaking season this year thanks to last year's Tony winner and pop culture juggernaut "Hamilton," and musicals like "Sunset Boulevard," starring Glenn Close, and "Hello, Dolly!"

Following is a list of winners in key categories:

Best musical : "Dear Evan Hansen"

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Best play : "Oslo" by J. T. Rogers

Best revival of a musical : "Hello, Dolly!"

Best revival of a play : "August Wilson's Jitney"

(Image: Getty Images North America)

Best performance by a leading actress in a musical : Bette Midler, "Hello, Dolly!"

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Best performance by a leading actor in a musical : Ben Platt, "Dear Evan Hansen"

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Best performance by a leading actress in a play : Laurie Metcalf, "A Doll's House, Part 2"

Best performance by a leading actor in a play : Kevin Kline, "Present Laughter"

(Image: Getty Images North America)

Best performance by a featured actor in a play : Michael Aronov, "Oslo"

Best performance by a featured actress in a play : Cynthia Nixon, "Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes"

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Best performance by a featured actor in a musical : Gavin Creel, "Hello Dolly!"

Best performance by a featured actress in a musical : Rachel Bay Jones, "Dear Evan Hansen"

Best book of a musical : "Dear Evan Hansen"

Best original score : "Dear Evan Hansen"

Best choreography : "Bandstand"

Lifetime achievement : James Earl Jones</s>NEW YORK -- Dear Evan Hansen, the musical about young outsiders, became very popular at the Tony Awards on Monday, winning statuettes for best musical, best book, score, best actor for Ben Platt, orchestrations and best featured actress.

Platt thanked his cast mates, crew and family, calling his parents his heroes. He had this inspiring message to young people out there: "The things that make you strange are the things that make you powerful."

While Dear Evan Hansen had the most Tonys, other shows were shining, too, including Oslo, a three-hour meditation on diplomacy, which was named best play and had the best actor in a featured role for Michael Aronov.

A revival of Hello, Dolly starring Bette Midler, took four statuettes, including best revival, and Midler took the best actress trophy. She refused to be played off, silencing the orchestra as the crowd roared. "This has the ability to lift your spirits in these terrible, terrible times," she said of her show.

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who recently won Oscars for the song "City of Stars" from the movie La La Land, added to a remarkable year by earning Tonys for best score for writing the songs for Dear Evan Hansen.

The show's story writer, Steven Levenson, won the Tony for best book, and Alex Lacamoire earned one for best orchestrations. Rachel Bay Jones won her first Tony for her work in the musical.

Dear Evan Hansen came into the night as the second-leading Tony nominee. The show centers on a profoundly lonely 17-year-old who fabricates a prior friendship with a classmate who has just committed suicide. It has a passionate following and triggered cheers whenever it was mentioned in Radio City Music Hall.

The show came in behind Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 with 12 nominations, but that musical which dramatizes a 70-page slice of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace seemed to stall after winning two technical awards earlier, for best set and lighting.

Cynthia Nixon won her second Tony, this time for her work in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes.

Kevin Kline won his third Tony Award playing an egomaniacal matinee idol in the midst of personal turmoil in the play Present Laughter. Andy Blankenbuehler won his second choreography Tony in as many years -- last year for Hamilton and this time for Bandstand.

Laurie Metcalf won her first Tony, winning best actress honors in A Doll's House, Part 2. Rebecca Taichman won best directing play honors for Indecent.

Kevin Spacey kicked off his first-ever Tony Award hosting gig with grace and self-deprecating wit, dancing, singing and joking his way through an opening number that linked all four best new musical nominees.

Spacey, who was named Tony host after several other celebrities turned down the job, laughed at himself in the 10-minute opening song, in which he gradually grows comfortable with hosting duties despite what he fears will be nasty tweets crashing down.

The telecast opened on a mournful host dressed like the title character in Dear Evan Hansen -- complete with arm cast -- before he soon showed up in a bed to mock Groundhog Day The Musical with an assist from Stephen Colbert, and then donning a fake beard as if he was in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. He went on to do impersonations of former President Bill Clinton and Johnny Carson.

In an attempt to shake up the show, producers asked the Rockettes back on a Tony stage after 13 years and asked all four playwrights nominated for best play Tonys to appear to present their works.

Other winners included August Wilson's Jitney, which drove away with the Tony for best play revival. Gavin Creel won his first Tony for featured actor in a musical in Hello, Dolly!</s>"Dear Evan Hansen" was the big winner at the 2017 Tony Awards. The heartwrenching musical centered on a lonely, depressed high-school student at the center of a social-media storm won six awards, including best musical. Star Ben Platt won for lead actor in a musical.

Among the other acting winners were Bette Midler, who won her very first Tony Award, Kevin Kline, Cynthia Nixon and Laurie Metcalf.

August Wilson's "Jitney" captured the Tony for best revival of a play, while "Hello, Dolly!" scored in the best musical revival category. Best play went to J.T. Rogers' "Oslo."
• The complete list of winners and nominees | PHOTOS: Red carpet and show highlights</s>Move over, Hamilton . The tear-jerking Dear Evan Hansen dominated the 71st Annual Tony Awards on Sunday night, scooping up six awards including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Actor.

The modern musical that explores depression, loneliness and teen suicide edged out its top competitor Come From Away , a Canadian musical about a Newfoundland town's effort to help diverted travelers on Sept. 11, 2001. Come From Away still left with the title for Best Director of a Musical.

The Bette Midler-led Hello, Dolly! won Best Revival of a Musical, Oslo won Best Play and Jitney won Best Play Revival. The most nominated show this year, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 won two creative awards.

Kevin Spacey hosted the show, which was held in Radio City Music Hall in New York City and included a slew of appearances from celebrities in and out of the Broadway world like Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Lin Manuel Miranda and Whoopi Goldberg. A Tony winner himself, Spacey held his own in the theatre world and delivered an opening number that channeled each of the nominees for Best Musical. And while the number of political jokes were less frequent than those seen in other awards shows, nominees and winners voiced their support for funding for the arts in schools and around the country as potential cuts face the National Endowment for the Arts.

Here are the best — and worst — moments from the show:

Ben Platt: At just 23-years-old, Ben Platt won Best Actor in a Musical for his emotional performance of the titular character in Dear Evan Hansen . Platt stunned while leading his cast in a performance of "Waving Through a Window" before accepting his Tony. Platt's mannerisms during his acceptance speech, of course, mirrored those seen in the character he plays eight times a week: A lot of tears, and an ability to talk really, really quickly. But perhaps his most memorable message came at the end of his speech, when he highlighted a key theme from the musical: You will be found. “Don't waste any time being anyone but yourself because the things that make you strange are the things that make you powerful," he said.

Kevin Spacey's impressions: Spacey was not the the first pick to host the awards show. Singing and dancing isn't his best known method of acting, and he made many self-deprecating jokes in his opening performance to make that clear. But Spacey threw in some remarkable impressions throughout the night, taking the stage as Johnny Carson and Bill Clinton. He made one of only a few political jokes throughout the night as Clinton, speaking to Dear Evan Hansen 's Platt, who in the musical creates a fake email account: "Now, between you and me, you might be a better singer, but after seeing your show, there’s no doubt that Hillary is much better at creating fake email accounts than you.” While Spacey had many good moments, his role as host likely won't top performances from past hosts James Corden or Neil Patrick Harris .

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul: These two have had quite a year. The songwriting duo won Best Score for Dear Evan Hansen just months after winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song for La La Land .

Rebecca Taichman: One of few woman who have one the Best Direction of a Play, Rebecca Taichman took home the Tony for her work on Indecent , a play that retells the history of a controversial Yiddish play. “I hope this amazing thing that just happened helps encourage women all over—of every color and taste and style and viewpoint—to make theatre to tell stories that matter to them,” Taichman told the media of her win.

Alex Lacamoire: While his speech wasn't televised, Alex Lacamoire won Best Orchestrations for the second year in a row — having a hand in both of the most recent Tony dominating musicals Dear Evan Hansen and Hamilton . He also won his first Tony in 2008 for the same category for In the Heights .

Cynthia Erivo and Leslie Odom Jr.: The two 2016 Tony Awards winners returned for a stunning performance of "New York, New York" with the Radio City Rockettes. In 2016, Odom won Best Actor in a Musical for his complex portrayal of Aaron Burr in Hamilton , and Erivo won Best Actress in a Musical for her groundbreaking performance as Celie Harris in The Color Purple .

Falsettos reunion: The star-studded cast of the revival of Falsettos reunited in a performance at the Tonys this year, where it was also announced a taped version of the musical will hit movie theaters around the country this summer. Led by Christian Borle, who won for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, and Andrew Rannells, the cast performed the upbeat "A Day in Falsetto Land."

Great Comet performance: While the most-nominated musical missed out on all of the top awards for the night, the cast of Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 left its mark with a vibrant performance led by its star Josh Groban.

Bette Midler's absence from Hello, Dolly! performance: Due to some behind-the-scene drama, the iconic star did not represent Hello, Dolly! in its Tonys performance. (David Hyde Pierce instead performed "Penny in a Pocket" from the musical's revival.) Midler's absence came as a result of a disagreement between the producers of the Tony's and Hello, Dolly! . Producer Scott Rudin offered Midler's performance on the condition that it would be done at the Shubert Theatre — where it is performed. But the Tony's producers declined, Playbill reported. As expected, Midler won Best Actress in a Musical — and outlasted the orchestra trying to play her off during her acceptance speech. ("Shut that cr—p off!")

Very predictable: Predictability with the Hamilton -dominated 2016 awards wasn't surprising. But with a slew of competition this year it would've been nice to see some surprise wins for musicals. Though Dear Evan Hansen lost Best Director to Come From Away , it beat its fiercest competitor in every other top category. Even in the highly competitive Best Actress in a Musical field this year, the expected winner Bette Midler beat out performances from legends Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole.

Weak jokes: While Spacey did a decent job in his role as host, a few jokes fell flat. In his opening number, Billy Crystal offered some advice to the nervous host to "wear a dress" if all else fails. Spacey then immediately donned a dress and turban, a la Glenn Close's Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. "I'm coming out," Spacey belts. "No. Wait." Especially during Pride Month, it's unclear if jokes about coming out and cross-dressing were warranted.</s>If last year’s Tony Awards put the spotlight on the breakthrough musical “Hamilton,” the 2017 edition, held Sunday night at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, proved to be more of an equal-opportunity affair.

A number of musicals took home honors, including the new shows “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Bandstand,” “Come From Away” and “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” and the revival of “Hello, Dolly!”

“Dear Evan Hansen,” which chronicles an awkward teen’s rise to fame via social media, grabbed the night’s most high-profile award of best musical. “Hello, Dolly!” was recognized as the best revival of a musical. As widely expected, Bette Midler, who plays the show’s title character, was named best leading actress in a musical.

Among plays, the winners included the new works “Indecent” and “Oslo” and the revivals of “Jitney” and “The Little Foxes.” “Oslo” was named best play. “Jitney” received the honor for best revival of a play.

Special Tony Award for lifetime achievement in the theater: James Earl Jones

Tony Honors for excellence in the theater: Nina Lannan, Alan Wasser

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

The night the NBA Finals got weird.</s>— “Dear Evan Hansen” claimed the top prize — best musical — at the 71st Tony Awards on Sunday, a nail-biter of a night that saw it scoop up five other awards, including one for its universally heralded star, Ben Platt.

The musical, birthed in the summer of 2015 at Arena Stage, garnered trophies for its book writer, Steven Levenson, and composer-lyricists, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who earlier this year earned an Oscar for their music in “La La Land.” “Dear Evan Hansen” tells the story of an introverted teenager who, desperate to be accepted, perpetuates a lie about a friendship with a classmate who has taken his own life, a falsehood that earns him Internet fame but ends in disaster.

The show, which also won for Alex Lacamoire’s orchestrations and for Rachel Bay Jones’s featured performance as Evan’s struggling mom, won in the category that also included “Come From Away,” “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” and “Groundhog Day.”

“When I was 6, I was the prince in ‘Cinderella,’ ” Platt exclaimed. Of musical theater, he said, “It’s where I’ve always belonged.”

“I have been in and out of this business for so long,” an excited Jones said. “Thanks to my Nana,” she added, “who sold her engagement ring so I could come to New York and be an actress.”

[How ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ became one of the most remarkable shows in musical-theater]

Another tight race saw the Tony for best play go to “Oslo,” J.T. Rogers’s fact-based, three-hour drama of the back-channel efforts of two married Norwegian diplomats to bring Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table. “Oslo” won in a particularly strong field of new plays on Broadway that included Lucas Hnath’s “A Doll’s House Part 2,” Lynn Nottage’s “Sweat” and Paula Vogel’s “Indecent.” “Indecent’s” director Rebecca Taichman, won for best director.

No single show had been expected to dominate the three-hour ceremony — broadcast on CBS from Radio City Music Hall and hosted by Kevin Spacey — the way the Broadway juggernaut “Hamilton” did last year, when it vacuumed up 11 awards. That proved to be the case this year, as the prizes were scattered over 12 shows, none of which nabbed more than the six statuettes secured by “Dear Evan Hansen.”

[Kevin Spacey was not first choice for Tonys host. And he reminded us again and again during his opening.]

And the nation’s capital proved to be a strong presence at this year’s proceedings, not so much because of the country’s wild political atmosphere as the amount of Washington theater that was represented in the ceremony. “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Come From Away” and “Sweat” all had crucial lives in the District that were instrumental in their destinies on Broadway.

Awards were handed out in 24 categories, divided between musicals and plays, new and old. The Tonys for best revival went to the widely lauded “Hello, Dolly!” and August Wilson’s play “Jitney,” the only drama in his 10-play cycle of black life in the 20th century not to have been staged before on Broadway.

Producer Scott Rudin said bringing “Dolly!” back was an attempt “to remind people of what musicals were like in the ’60s, the golden age.”



“Dolly!” star Bette Midler was named best actress in a musical in a contest that notably also included Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole of the musical “War Paint.” Laurie Metcalf, who plays an older version of Ibsen’s Nora Helmer in “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” won best actress in a play, and Kevin Kline took home the Tony for best actor in a play for his portrayal of a self-infatuated British actor in the revival of Noel Coward’s “Present Laughter.”

“I’m so honored to receive this from you all,” Midler said. “This has been one of the greatest professional experiences of my entire life.” She followed her opening remarks with a couple of characteristically off-color ones. And when the band tried to play her off, she shouted, “Shut that crap off!” And wonder of wonders, the band stopped playing.

Kline took his moment to thank the usual assortment of family and artistic collaborators and added a plug for two threatened government organizations, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities — without which, Kline said, “half the people in this room probably wouldn’t be here.”

In other supporting categories, Cynthia Nixon of “The Little Foxes” won as featured actress in a play, and Gavin Creel of “Hello, Dolly!” and Michael Aronov of “Oslo” were voted best featured actor in a musical and play.

As usual, all the nominated musicals performed a number, although Midler was not among the performers — her co-star David Hyde Pierce sang instead — a decided loss for the ceremony’s look-in value.

The celebrities appearing included Tina Fey, Anna Kendrick, David Oyelowo, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sara Bareilles, Stephen Colbert, Uma Thurman, Josh Gad and Sarah Paulson. A nice innovation this year had each playwright of a Tony-nominated original play spotlighted onstage, giving a short description of their work.

Given the propensity of artists to speak out on political issues at awards shows, the Tonys were surprisingly devoid of grandstanding speeches. One of the largest ovations of the evening, however, was for Jill Biden, wife of the former vice president, who introduced a production number from the musical “Bandstand.”

And Colbert, in announcing best revival of a musical, made an irreverent allusion to President Trump, saying of his administration: “The D.C. production is supposed to have a four-year run, but the reviews have not been kind.”

Spacey, a smooth raconteur and skilled impressionist, opened the show dressed in Evan Hansen’s now well-known blue striped polo shirt and wearing a cast on his arm, a la Evan, emblazoned in this case with the hashtag “host.” He assayed characters from each of the nominated musicals and finished up in the number, in versatile style, tap dancing in a tuxedo. The jokes were all for Broadway insiders, which were fun for the cognoscenti but probably went over the heads of a lot of viewers. Later in the show, Spacey came on stage doing some of his better known impersonations — of the late Johnny Carson and former president Bill Clinton.

Addressing Platt in the audience, Spacey-as-Clinton said that after seeing “Dear Evan Hansen,” he could see that “Hillary’s a lot better at creating fake email accounts than you.”</s>“Dear Evan Hansen” won “Best Musical” at the 71st Annual Tony Awards on Sunday.

The awards show was hosted by “House of Cards” star Kevin Spacey. He kicked off the show with a little help from his fellow Hollywood stars and joked that he wasn’t anywhere near the first choice to host the show. That’s when Stephen Colbert joined Spacey as the groundhog from the current production of “Groundhog Day,” to give him a little advice.

“Just read the prompter,” Colbert sang. “Hey, even Steve Harvey would be okay. You’re no dope. Never give up hope. Never let yourself be defeated.”

Next came Whoopi Goldberg: “If you want to learn, you got to go where some of the greatest hosts of all times have gotten their start: Carson, Letterman. You gotta go to the Rock.”

Then it was none other than Billy Crystal who joked that he had been asked to host but declined. Billy Crystal gave advice and said, “Kevin, if all else fails, put on a dress.”

Fans might not realize that Spacey has a theater background: He won a Tony Award in 1991 for his performance in “Lost in Yonkers.”

The one to watch this year was “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,” based on Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” which led the way with 12 Tony nominations. Singer Josh Groban made his Broadway debut in the musical.

One of the most coveted awards of the evening, Best Featured Actress in a play, went to Cynthia Nixon for her role as Regina in “Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes.” When taking the stage she got political during her speech.

“Sixty years ago, [Hellman] wrote, ‘There are people who eat the earth and eat all the people on it and other people who just stand around and watch them do it,'” Nixon said. “My love, gratitude and undying respect go out to all the people in 2017 who are refusing to just stand and watch them do it.”

Kevin Kline won the award for Best Leading Actor in a Play for “Present Laughter” and Laurie Metcalf won her first ever Tony Award for “Best Leading Actress in a Play,” for “A Doll’s House, Part 2.”

It was also a big night for “Hello, Dolly!” which earned “Best Musical Revival” and Bette Midler won “Best Leading Actress in a Musical.”

James Earl Jones was honored with the 2017 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theater.

“Come From Away,” Music and Lyrics: Irene Sankoff and David Hein

“Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,” Music and Lyrics: Dave Malloy</s>"Dear Evan Hansen," the teen-angst driven musical about a high school outsider, won the top prize at Sunday's Tony Awards, Broadway highest honors, while J.T. Rogers' Mideast peace accord drama "Oslo" was named best play.

The surprise hit musical won a total of six Tonys, including best musical actor for 23 year-old newcomer Ben Platt, featured actress Rachel Bay Jones, as well as best book, score and orchestrations.

As widely predicted, Bette Midler won her first competitive Tony as best actress in a musical for "Hello, Dolly!".

Living up to her bawdy reputation, Midler delivered a profanity-laced speech to the star-laden audience at Radio City Music Hall, chastising the orchestra as its music welled when she spoke at length.

"Hello Dolly!" won four Tonys, including best musical revival.

"It's a very tough schedule," Midler, 71, said backstage, noting she is "a woman of a certain age."

But she said the experience had been "life-affirming and life-changing," telling reporters between tears, "It's more than I deserve."

Actors Cynthia Nixon, Kevin Kline and Laurie Metcalf all won Tonys for performances in plays.

Kline won the lead actor Tony for his turn as an egocentric actor in Noel Cowards' "Present Laughter."

"I want to thank everybody," Kline said, adding "we don't do this alone."

Former "Roseanne" star Metcalf won her first Tony after several nominations, taking best actress in a play for "A Doll's House, Part 2," a lively, fast-paced sequel to the Henrik Ibsen classic.

Nixon was named best featured actress in a play for a revival of Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes," about a greedy southern family's underhanded business practices.

The actress lauded Hellman for her "eerily prescient play."

Noting one of its lines about people who "eat the Earth" and others who "watch them do it," Nixon praised present-day activists as "the people who in 2017 are refusing to just stand around and watch them do it."

Michael Aronov was a surprise winner in the featured actor category for his kinetic performance as an Israeli negotiator in "Oslo," a behind-the-scenes look at the 1993 Middle East peace accords.

"Oslo" playwright Rogers, making his Broadway debut, thanked "The ladies and gentlemen who believed in democracy, who believed in peace, who believed in seeing their enemies as humans, I give this up to you."

Gavin Creel won best featured actor in a musical for "Hello, Dolly!" and "August Wilson's Jitney" won best revival of a play.

First-time Tonys host Kevin Spacey kicked off the show with a medley of songs referencing his self-doubt about successfully hosting the annual awards show compared to past hosts Neil Patrick Harris, James Corden or Hugh Jackman.

Broadway enjoyed a record-breaking season this year thanks to last year's Tony winner and pop culture juggernaut "Hamilton," and musicals like "Sunset Boulevard," starring Glenn Close, and "Hello, Dolly!"</s>The American Theatre Wing’s 71st Annual Tony Awards took place on Sunday, and here’s a list of winners for the Kevin Spacey hosted event at Radio City Music Hall:

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play: Kevin Kline, “Present Laughter.”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play: Laurie Metcalf, “A Doll’s House, Part 2.”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play: Michael Aronov, “Oslo.”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play: Cynthia Nixon, “Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes.”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical: Ben Platt, “Dear Evan Hansen.”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical: Bette Midler, “Hello, Dolly!”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical: Gavin Creel, “Hello, Dolly!”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical: Rachel Bay Jones, “Dear Evan Hansen.”</s>Of course, the Tony Awards are about who won and who didn’t.

They are also about the show, which is an unapologetically lengthy, theater-nerd paradise of three hours.

And the Tonys is about its host.

This year Kevin Spacey was mostly an absent one—bar odd staccato interruptions and impressions—after a curious opening number in which, as my colleague Kevin Fallon noted, he joked about coming out of the closet during a labored number taking in many of the evening’s nominees.

Still, at least when she won Lead Actress in a Musical, Bette Midler (Hello, Dolly!) owned the stage with a riotous and long speech that the Tonys band tried and failed to drown her out from completing.

Hello, Dolly! also won best revival of a musical and, for Gavin Creel, the featured actor in a musical category.

In the battle of original musicals, Dear Evan Hansen, that complex, hailed, and criticized musical focusing on youth suicide and a teen fabulist hero resoundingly beat out Come From Away, and its tale of wholesome Canadian hospitality in the shadow of 9/11.

Dear Evan Hansen won six awards: Best Musical, lead actor in a musical for its 23-year-old star Ben Platt, featured actress in a musical for Rachel Bay Jones, original score for Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, orchestration for Best Book of a Musical for Stephen Levenson, and Best Orchestrations for Alex Lacamoire (he won last year for Hamilton too).

Come From Away managed to scoop only one big award, Best Direction of a Musical for Christopher Ashley, meaning that the acclaimed Michael Greif, Dear Evan Hansen’s director, is still yet to win a Tony.

The most nominated original musical, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 won two awards for scenic design (Mimi Lien) and lighting design (Bradley King). It also put on the most stunning performance of the evening.

Andy Blankenbuehler won best choreography for Bandstand, Hello, Dolly! won best revival of a musical, though as signaled in a pre-ceremony controversy, Midler did not sing at the awards—her co-star David Hyde Pierce instead sang his solo from the show whose sumptuous costumes also won Santo Loquasto a Tony.

In the play categories, J.T. Rogers’ Oslo emerged triumphant over A Doll’s House, Part 2 to win Best Play, and August Wilson’s Jitney was triumphant in the Best Revival of a Play category.

Kevin Kline won Lead Actor for his marvelously sanguine performance in Present Laughter. Laurie Metcalf beat strong competition, particularly from Laura Linney (Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes), to win Lead Actress for her role as Nora in Lucas Hnath’s Ibsen sequel, A Doll’s House, Part 2.

Linney’s co-star, Cynthia Nixon, won the featured actress Tony for her role in The Little Foxes, and Jane Greenwood won the play-costuming Tony for her meticulously realized period attire in the production.

For assembling a set that magnificently collapses in utter chaos every night, Nigel Hook won the scenic design (play) Tony for English country house murder parody, The Play That Goes Wrong.

Welcome surprises littered the evening, not least in Best Direction for a Play, which went to Rebecca Taichman for Indecent, Paula Vogel’s play about the history of a lesbian play whose suppression in the 1920s is used as the focus for a wider meditation on profound individual and social oppression. (Christopher Akerlind’s evocative lighting won the play another Tony.)

In another (much deserved) surprise, Michael Aronov won Featured Actor for Oslo.

The evening was long, and far from frenzied. The Tonys is a welcome network TV curio: three hours of prime time featuring theater people awarding each other and speaking passionately about theater, and its importance.

Still, surprisingly, nobody at the ceremony mentioned the news story that—as timing and karma would have it—brought theater to the center of the news agenda on the day of the Tonys: Delta Air Lines’ and Bank of America’s withdrawal of sponsorship of New York’s Public Theater.

Relating to a scene within the company’s production of Julius Caesar, themed around Donald Trump’s presidency and featuring the graphic murder of Caesar/Trump, Delta said in a statement: “No matter what your political stance may be, the graphic staging of Julius Caesar at this summer's Free Shakespeare in the Park does not reflect Delta Air Lines’ values. Their artistic and creative direction crossed the line on the standards of good taste. We have notified them of our decision to end our sponsorship as the official airline of The Public Theater effective immediately.”

The Bank of America joined Delta in withdrawing its sponsorship of the Public Theater later in the evening.

Indeed, this year’s Tonys were mostly apolitical, which may have been surprising to some expecting more overtly resistance-themed speeches in the first year of Trump’s presidency, especially after one of the first expressions of that occurred at a performance of Hamilton, attended by Vice President Mike Pence.

As reported by my colleague Matt Wilstein, Stephen Colbert turned up near the end of the show to skewer President Trump, though not as harshly as he does on his late night talk show.

Of the awards winners, Cynthia Nixon spoke most passionately about the present politics.

“It is a privilege to appear in Lillian Hellman’s eerily prescient play, at this specific moment in history,” Nixon said. “Eighty years ago, she wrote, ‘There are people who eat the earth and eat all the people on it, and other people who just stand around and watch them do it.’ My love, my gratitude, and my undying respect go out to all the people in 2017 who are refusing to just stand and watch them do it. Thank you.”

Gavin Creel spoke passionately about arts education, and others—like Platt—encouraged young theater-lovers like himself to pursue their passions.

A special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre went to James Earl Jones, although this, oddly, was not featured in the main broadcast.

A special Tony Award also went to Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin, sound designers for Simon McBurney’s stunning piece, The Encounter.

The standout speech of the evening belonged to Midler, who said she owed “everything” to producer Scott Rudin. She hoped she wouldn’t cry and thanked all the Tony voters, “many of whom I’ve actually dated.”

Performing in the show was “one of the greatest professional experiences” of her entire life, she said, and she was “so grateful for the outpouring of love and affection that has greeted me and this production… I can’t remember the last time I’ve had so much smoke blown up my ass, but there is no room for any more, so thank you—this is the cherry on the cake.”

A determined salesperson, Midler said she hoped many would come and see the show. Hello, Dolly! was perfect to lift spirits at this time, she added.

And then Midler carried on thanking people.

When the band threatened to drown her out, Midler said, “Shut that crap off,” and carried on talking and thanking. The band gave up. When it came to attempting to stop Bette Midler, it knew it was beat.
The Tony Awards are held in New York City with Dear Evan Hansen winning six awards including Best Musical and Oslo winning best play.