It's Tony Time!

Nope, not that one. Or that one.

The 61st Tony Awards were given out Sunday evening at Radio City Music Hall. It's one of my favorite occasions of the year. (Okay, full disclosure: I've been known to refer to it as "The Happiest Day of the Year.") I thought I'd single out a few of the more awe-inspiring (and surprising) moments:

1. Electric Esparza. Raul Esparza’s engrossing performance of “Being Alive” from Company. If ever a more convincing case was made for the award for Best Actor in a Musical, I have yet to see it. Esparza’s performance was taut, sensitive, and completely fearless. I’ve always loved the song (and I loved him in the show when I reviewed it), but the intensity of this particular performance transcended into its own emotional sphere. It left me in tears, and I was astonished when the Tony Award later went to Curtains’ David Hyde Pierce (as was the winner himself, judging by his expression). Don't get me wrong, Pierce's turn as a musical-loving detective was a marvel of wit and comic timing, but it simply wasn't as splashy or simmering as Esparza's masterwork. As that rare stage beast, the straight-acting leading man, Esparaza will certainly enjoy a long, rich career, but it was heartbreaking to see him overlooked in this role. Side note: The opportunity to watch an actor become so exposed and vulnerable (on national television) made a case for the theatrical potential of the TV set.

2. Spring Has Sprung. Little more than a year ago, I saw Spring Awakening Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company. During the first few songs, I realized that I was holding my breath. When something is THAT sensational right off the bat, you begin to worry about whether it can possibly last. The little-rock-musical-that-could certainly has its (miniscule) flaws, but I haven’t been this moved by a show in years. (That lighting! That choreography! Those chairs!) And now, with 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, this important show will undoubtedly have the chance to move many other theatergoers for years to come—and, reportedly, across international stages …

3. Repertory Revolution? The Coast of Utopia, Tom Stoppard’s intense(ly) intellectual chronicle of Russian thinkers in the 19th century, won a record number of Tonys for a play, and I’ve been reading everywhere about how the cast created its own sort of utopia over the year they were together: an actors’ paradise. The cast of 44 joined forces in three daunting plays (performed both separately and together in a handful of marathon performances) and truly defined the term ensemble. The cast members who didn't attend the ceremony were, allegedly, watching the Tony Awards from the “cast” bar, where they all planned to meet up afterwards. Making theater is by nature an ephemeral process—typically, you meet and grow close to other performers only to bid them farewell a few months, or even weeks, later—but in her acceptance speech for Best Featured Actress in a Play, Jennifer Ehle (of Utopia) proclaimed a wish to form a repertory company at Lincoln Center (where the trilogy was produced). What an exciting thing that would be, to see what would come of a company of actors united in craft and trust, incubated over time …

4. White Noise. In one of the more ecstatic (and surprising) moments of the evening, Julie White won the award for Best Actress in a Play for her acute, relentless performance as a take-no-prisoners Hollywood agent in Douglas Carter Beane’s modern sex comedy of manners, The Little Dog Laughed. A downtown veteran, White was ebullient—and completely flabbergasted—about her win.

5. Acrobatic Audra. In her bold and brassy performance of “Raunchy” (from 110 in the Shade), Tony nominee Audra McDonald kicked up her heels, for real—she turned her signature cartwheel into a semi aerial, momentarily pausing upside down with all limbs off the ground. This was McDonald’s sixth nomination (she’s already won four), and it seems like there is nothing she can’t do. For more Audra, here's my review of her exceptional work in 110 in the Shade.