Tony Honour for Scarlett Johansson
HOLLYWOOD actors Scarlett Johansson, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Denzel Washington walked away with awards while host Sean Hayes drew early applause for his performance at the 2010 Tony Awards.
The stars, all first-time nominees, were recognised for their work on the stage during the star-studded ceremony at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
Johansson, the voluptuous star best known for such films as Match Point and Lost in Translation, won for best featured performance as an actress, for playing the object of her uncle’s lust in Arthur Miller’s A View From a Bridge.
“Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be on Broadway and here I am,” said Johansson accepting her award.
Zeta-Jones won for best actress in a musical for her role as the amorous actress in the revival of A Little Night Music.
She thanked many, including her husband, fellow actor Michael Douglas, who she “gets to sleep with every night”.
Washington and his Fences co-star Viola Davis won for best actors in a play, while their production, a revival of August Wilson’s deeply personal drama about family, won for best revival of a play.
“My mother always says: ‘Man gives the award, God gives the reward’. I guess I got both tonight,” Washington said after winning for his performance as the sanitation man who might have been a baseball star.
Two socially conscious but radically different stories set in mid-20th century America, the exuberant rhythm’n'blues musical Memphis and anguished two-man drama Red were big winners at the awards.
Red dominated, winning six gongs including the best play award which was presented by Australia’s Cate Blanchett. Blanchett scored her own win in the fashion stakes with a glittering silver pants suit complete with plunging neckline.
Red also won best director of a play for Michael Grandage and featured performance by an actor for Eddie Redmayne. It also picked up best lighting design for a play, best sound design and best scenic design.
Memphis, a tale of segregation and integration in the American South, won best musical and three other awards: best orchestration, original score and best book of a musical.
Fela!, the innovative Afro-beat biography of Nigerian superstar Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, and La Cage aux Folles, a revival of the classic Jerry Herman-Harvey Fierstein musical farce, each had 11 nominations, but won just three Tonys apiece.
La Cage Aux Folles won for best revival of a musical, actor David Hodge won the best lead actor in a musical award and director Terry Johnson won for best direction of a musical.
Fela! won for choreography, best costume design of a musical and best sound design of a musical.
The ceremony, also attended by Glee cast members Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison, Katie Holmes, Daniel Radcliffe, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, was hosted by Sean Hayes, who didn’t win as lead actor in a musical for Promises, Promises, but did put on a memorable show of song, jokes and costumes, dressing up as everyone from Spiderman to Little Orphan Annie.
“I have actually managed to combine a good chance of losing with a good chance of bombing,” he joked during his opening monologue, which was widely applauded.
Historically, Tony-nominated hosts have fared well.
Australian Hugh Jackman won a trophy in 2004 for his portrayal of Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz.
Nathan Lane won twice while at the helm: in 1996, when he won lead actor in a musical for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; and in 2001, when he shared duties with Matthew Broderick and won a Tony for The Producers.
Australian actor Anthony LaPaglia also featured in this year’s Tony Awards telecast in the US, during a special presentation of Tony-nominated plays and play revivals. LaPaglia and co-star Tony Shalhoub performed for Lend Me a Tenor.