'Spamalot' and 'Doubt' Take Top Tony Honors

A medley of performances from the nominees for Best Musical started off the 59th Tony Awards, Sunday night. Following the rousing five cast ending, Billy Crystal walked out to open the show at Radio City Music Hall and launched into a monologue as if he were hosting.

But wait...Crystal hosts the Oscars, not the Tonys.

Crystal, however, acted like nothing was wrong, cracking "I, too, am head over heels in love with Katie Holmes" (a playful nod to Tom Cruise's recent Oprah appearance), and even poking fun at the Oscars by announcing that all the musical numbers this year "will be sung by Beyoncé -- in French."

The show's actual host, Hugh Jackman, cut the monologue short by walking out and asking Crystal to return to his seat. Jackman then launched into his own musical number, "Gotta Dance," where he pretended to fight the urge to sing and dance. Broadway fans will remember that Jackman stole the show last year with a playful number from his "Boy From Oz" musical, and this year's performance gave a playful nod to that by incorporating a short segment of KC & the Sunshine Band's "Shake Your Booty." Jackman fought in vain, finally giving into the urge to shake his booty -- accompanied by loud screams and catcalls from the audience.

He soon returned to his place in center stage, and while introducing Christina Applegate, the Tony-nominated star of Sweet Charity, he mentioned that several months ago, she had broken her ankle in an accident during a lamp post dance routine rehearsal for her show. She then appeared and twirled around an onstage lamp post...promptly toppling over into a pit in the center of the stage. It turned out to be an elaborately choreographed -- and very funny -- bit leading in to Applegate's presentation of the Tony Award for Best Choreography, which went to Jerry Mitchell for La Cage aux Folles. The smash hit also won a Tony for Best Revival of a Musical.

Monty Python's Spamalot went into the evening with 14 nominations, but it was an hour into the show before it picked up its first win, Best Featured Actress in a Musical category for Sara Ramirez's performance as the Lady in the Lake. Ramirez attempted to get out of her seat and onto the stage to accept her award, but her tight red strapless dress wouldn't allow her to do so gracefully. Soon after, director Mike Nichols won the ninth Tony Award of his long and distinguished career for his direction of the show "lovingly ripped off" of the Monty Python film. Spamalot capped the night off by winning the award for Best Musical.

The underdog musical of the evening, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, walked away with two awards of the evening, including Featured Actor in a Musical award for Dan Fogler's performance as William Barfee ("pronounced bar-FAY"), the nasally-challenged footwriting speller. Lucky number 13, indeed. During the performance of a song from the musical, the cast surprised the audience by sneaking in a appearance by Rev. Al Sharpton as a guest speller who is eliminated in the first round.

The musical love story, Light In the Piazza, surprised many by being the big winner of the evening. Among its six Tonys won was the award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, which went to Victoria Clark, and Best Original Score.

Doubt, the season's most honored play, having already won Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, took home four awards, including Best Play. Dealing with the serious subject of child molestation by priests, the play also earned Tonys for its director, Doug Hughes, and for performers Cherry Jones (Leading Actress in a Play) and Adriane Lenox (Featured Actress in a Play).

In the hotly contested Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play category, first-time winner Liev Schreiber beat out his Glengarry Glen Ross co-stars Alan Alda and Gordon Clapp to take home the award. The show also won for Best Revival of a Play.

Faux host Billy Crystal may not have received the gift basket he was angling for onstage, but he did receive a Tony for Best Special Theatrical Event for his one-man play, 700 Sundays.

Hugh Jackman returned for one more number later in the evening, performing "Somewhere" from the classic musical West Side Story, in a duet with legendary R&B diva Aretha Franklin.

Overall, the event proved to be one of the best televised award shows of the year. Aside from a few sound problems, usually during the musical performances, the 59th Tonys was a brash, funny and even-paced production. It's also made me want to take a trip to Broadway in the near future...though the downside of a successful Tony Awards means tickets will be that much harder to come by.

Here is the complete list of winners for the 59th Tony Awards: