Our 10 Favorite Moments from the Tony Awards
June 13, 2016

If you’re like me, you know that the glitz and glamour of the Oscars aren’t where it’s at—I’m all about the American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards (or, to be official, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre). The opening number is better; people sing and dance; and the acceptance speeches are beautiful roller coasters of heartfelt emotion. Here are our top 10 fave moments from last night’s awards.

1. Host James Corden’s graceful acknowledgement of the horrific shooting in Orlando (“Hate will never win. Together, we have to make sure of that.”) was topped only by his truly tour-de-force opening number. My favorite moment was his seamless transition from Maria singing “Tonight” in West Side Story to Annie singing “Tomorrow” at 3:49:

2. Getting the chance to see some serious hoofing—with Audra McDonald, Billy Porter and Brian Stokes Mitchell, among others:

3. Andy Blankenbuehler taking home the Tony for best choreography in Hamilton.

4. Jane Krakowski’s split-drags from She Loves Me:

5. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s sonnet to his wife and the victims of the Orlando shooting:

6. James Corden finding his father in the audience and asking him how he thinks he’s doing so far—only to hear: “It’s great, mate, but it’s going on a bit, isn’t it?” (#dadjokes)

7. Frank Langella’s moving acceptance speech (“When something bad happens, we have three choices. We let it define us; we let it destroy us; or we let it strengthen us…I urge you, Orlando, to be strong.”):

8. James Corden’s star-studded car karaoke with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jane Krakowski, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Audra McDonald (bringing out the big guns during the Les Mis ending):

9. EVERYTHING Hamilton, from the opening number parody to the show’s performance number:

10.  What Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller said when accepting the Best Musical award: “Look around. Look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now.”

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