'The Book Of Mormon' Sweeps The Tonys

The Book of Mormon was the big winner at the Tony Awards, which were given out on Sunday night in New York City's Beacon Theater, bagging six wins from 14 nominations.

The hilarious — yet poignant — musical, directed by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, which follows two young missionaries sent to Uganda to convert citizens to Mormonism, won the awards for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Orchestrations and Best Scenic Design of a Musical.

The only other production that came close to The Book of Mormon in terms of nominations was The Scottsboro Boys (the story of nine young, innocent African American men accused of raping two white women in rural Alabama in the 1930s) with 12 nominations. However, the cast and crew will be ruing their poor luck – they couldn’t convert any of the nominations into wins.

The award for the Best Play went to War Horse, which centers on the relationship between Albert, a teenager growing up on a farm in Devon, England, just before World War I, and his beloved half-thoroughbred horse, Joey, who is sold by Albert’s cash-strapped parents to the cavalry. The play’s directors Marianne Elliot and Tom Morris, and set designer Rae Smith also walked away with awards.

Neil Patrick Harris (pictured) excelled as the host, with his 30-second jokes binge on Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and uproarious skit with Hugh Jackman, much to the delight of the audience, which included Brooke Shields, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Al Pacino, to name a few.

The other winners:

Best Revival of a Play

The Normal Heart

Best Revival of a Musical
Anything Goes

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Mark Rylance, Jerusalem

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

Frances McDormand, Good People

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Norbert Leo Butz, Catch Me If You Can

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

Sutton Foster, Anything Goes

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

John Benjamin Hickey, The Normal Heart

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

Ellen Barkin, The Normal Heart

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

John Larroquette, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Best Choreography

Kathleen Marshall, Anything Goes

Best Costume Design of a Play

Desmond Heeley, The Importance of Being Earnest

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Tim Chappel & Lizzy Gardiner, Priscilla Queen of the Desert