Moulin Rouge! The Musical, a jukebox adaptation of Baz Luhrmann's hyperactive 2001 movie, has taken an early lead at the Tony Awards, earning eight trophies at the halfway point.
The pandemic-delayed telecast of the annual theatrical awards kicked off with an energetic performance of You Can't Stop The Beat from the original Broadway cast of Hairspray!.
The optimistic number was performed for a masked and appreciative audience at a packed Winter Garden Theatre, hosted by Audra McDonald.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical - based on the Oscar-winning movie by superstar Australian director Luhrmann - has won early awards for scenic design, costume, lighting, sound design, orchestrations and a featured acting Tony for Broadway favourite Danny Burstein.
Sonya Tayeh won for choreography on her Broadway debut and Alex Timbers won the trophy for best direction of a musical.
Burstein, who won for featured actor in a musical, thanked the Broadway community for supporting him after the death last year of his wife, Rebecca Luker.
David Alan Grier won featured actor in a play for his role in a A Soldier's Play.
Lois Smith won her first Tony for best performance by an actress in a featured role in a play for The Inheritance, while Lauren Patten edged out her co-stars from Jagged Little Pill to win the award for best featured actress in a musical.
A Christmas Carol cleaned up with five technical awards: scenic design of a play, costumes, lighting, sound design and score.
English director Stephen Daldry now has a trio of Tonys. He won on Sunday for helming The Inheritance, playwright Matthew Lopez's two-part, seven-hour epic that uses Howards End as a starting point for a play that looks at gay life in the early 21st century.
While other entertainment industries like TV and film found ways to restart during the pandemic, Broadway was unable until now due to financial and physical impediments. The lifting of all capacity restrictions was crucial to any reopening since Broadway economics demand full venue capacity.
The last Tony Awards ceremony was held in 2019. The virus forced Broadway theatres to abruptly close on March 12, 2020, knocking out all shows and scrambling the spring season. Several have restarted, including the so-called 'big three' of Wicked, Hamilton and The Lion King.
Australian Associated Press
