And it was an especially good night for Broadway record setter Audra McDonald, winner of best dramatic actress for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill – her sixth Tony.
McDonald's historic win topped Angela Lansbury's previous record of five Tonys, and the Radio City Hall audience acknowledged the significance of the achievement with a prolonged standing ovation.
As the cheers continued, McDonald cried openly, and acknowledged Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll, Ruby Dee, Maya Angelou and Billie Holiday, whom she plays in the drama.
She also told her children and husband they are most important thing in life to her, and thanked her late parents, up in heaven, for ignoring their doctor's advice and not medicating their overactive daughter.
Instead, she said, they directed her toward the theater.
Bryan Cranston also brought down the formidable, 6,000-seat house with his win as best dramatic actor as President Lyndon B. Johnson in Tony-winning best play All the Way, about the passage of the historic 1964 Civil Rights Bill.
Cranston admitted he was introduced to the theater when in 1967 he sneaked into Hair, for the nudity.
Neil Patrick Harris in Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Marie Havens / Patrick McMullan / Sipa
Immediately afterward, nominee Neil Patrick Harris stopped the show by performing a number in full regalia from his nominated role in the gender-bending musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He milked his number by engaging the audience.
Returning for his fourth stint at host (after an absence of nine years), Hugh Jackman brought his usual mixture of sex appeal and charm to the Music Hall stage, and he was in good company. Presenters this year included the most-star-studded roster in recent memory.
Hugh Jackman
Steve Granitz / WireImage
Names from stage, screen and TV during the three-hour live CBS broadcast included Kevin Bacon, Matt Bomer, Zach Braff, Kenneth Branagh, Bradley Cooper, Fran Drescher, Clint Eastwood, Gloria Estefan, Vera Farmiga, Will Ferrell, Tony Goldwyn, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ethan Hawke, Carole King, Lucy Liu, Leighton Meester, Zachary Quinto, Emmy Rossum and Liev Schreiber.
For more on the shows and a list of winners, click here.
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