LIVEBLOG: The 63rd Tony Awards!

Welcome to my very first attempt at a Live Blog! On tonight's bill: The 63rd Annual Tony Awards!

The Tony Awards, established by the American Theatre Wing in 1943, were named for Antoinette Tony, an actress, director, producer and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing. The awards are given to recognize outstanding achievement in American theatre.

Tonight's show will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, and will feature performances by Dolly Parton and the cast of "9 to 5: The Musical", Sir Elton John and the cast of "Billy Elliot", Liza Minnelli (oh boy), Stockard Channing (of "Pal Joey") and — wait for it — rock band Poison. This motley crew of performers will join the nominees “Guys and Dolls,” “Hair,” “Next to Normal,” “Shrek the Musical” and “West Side Story." For a full list of tonight's nominees, check out the list here. Leading in the nominations tonight is "Billy Elliot", with 15 nominations.

Aaaaand ... we're off!!!

8:02pm - Starting with a sound glitch? Shame on you Tony's! A very delicate and beautiful opening of "Electricity" by Elton John and the cast of "Billy Elliot". Lovely image with the three Billys and the chairs.
8:04pm - Great collaboration between the casts of "West Side Story" and "Guys and Dolls" for "Tonight" and "Luck be a Lady Tonight". Poison feels a bit out of place (as I suspected they would) in this musical-mash-up opening though ...
8:07pm - I completely forgot how fake Dolly Parton's boobs and hair were until this moment. She performs a campy rendition of "9 to 5" with the cast of "9 to 5: The Musical".
8:09pm - Liza with a "z" sounds alright at the start of her song, but starts to sound drunk after the first few minutes.
8:11pm - Ah! Attack of the hippies! Are they filming in Ithaca?! Oh no, wait, it's the cast of "Hair". This has got to be the oddest mix of musical performances the Tony's has ever seen. Let's see what happens, I guess?
8:14pm - Did Neil Patrick Harris just use the term "fetching"? His suit is remarkably shiny. It's oddly memorizing ...
8:19pm - First award of the night goes to Roger Robinson in “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone" for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Nice pithy speech — he even thanked a tech! Huzzah!
8:24pm - Oh boy, here comes "Shrek: The Musical". Stick to movies, Disney. Please?!
8:25pm - Those Duloc singer/puppet people are the most frightening dolls since Furby. Yikes!
8:29pm - N.P.H. just used the term "BTW". Stop trying to be hip, Neil. You'll always be Doogie Howser in our minds.
8:30pm - James Gandolfini sets the record straight: him and Shrek — no relation!
8:31pm - Angela Lansbury takes home the award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for "Blithe". No surprise there; this is her fifth Tony Award.
8:33pm - Hey there drunken cameraman! Hold it still, for God sake — we're going out live here!
8:35pm - Thank you touring cast of "Mama Mia" for that campy, sequined rendition of "Dancing Queen." You were at least slightly better than the movie version! Congratulations.
8:44pm - Who invited Will Ferrell? ... And why?
8:45pm - The Tony for Best Original Score goes to Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt for "Next to Normal." Damn, I had "Billy Elliot" in the pool.
8:47pm - Not only did they play the cutoff music when Yorkey and Kitt took too long with their speeches, but they also shut off the mic. Ooooh! Burned!
8:53pm - Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the Spanish-language lyrical translation of WSS (up for Best Revival tonight), introduces the cast in the "Dance at the Gym". And as good as some of the dancing is, the routine doesn't seem to translate too well to TV. Alas!
8:57pm - Susan Sarandon is looking a bit too skinny (her arms look particularly anorexic) in her full-length black dress and struggles a with the teleprompter. It's just not her night. Best Direction of a Play goes to Matthew Warchus, who was nominated twice in this category, for "God of Carnage". Best Direction of a Musical goes to Stephen Daldry for "Billy Elliot", who gives a classy speech thanking the crew (huzzah again!) and the three Billys.
9:05pm - Oh boy, it's time for the Tonys to take a break for a rock concert. It's the "Rock of Ages" musical montage, which includes “I Want to Rock” / “Paradise” / “Don’t Stop Believing” and features Constantine Maroulis (of sixth place fame from the fourth season of "American Idol").
The audience was ready with pre-distributed glow-in-the-dark lighters (really, Tonys?), but I'm not feeling it. It's an adequate rock concert performance, but it can't really hold a candle to many of the stunning vocals and captivating dances of traditional B'way musicals. It's kind of insulting. At least a performance from the cast of "Guys and Dolls" is next. I just might survive.
9:13pm - They announce the nominees for Best Special Theatrical Event and "You're Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush" is on the list. Now I remember why Will Ferrell is here.
9:14pm - Liza's drunk ... classic. But she's a funny drunk. Gotta love her. She wins for the category for "Liza's at The Palace".
9:18pm - Ooooh, more audio woes for the Tonys. A tuxedo-ed tech runs onstage and hands the actor a hand-held mic. Ouch.
9:21pm - The cast of "Guys and Dolls" does a nice rendition of "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat", but I wonder why they chose that song and not one that featured either Oliver Platt or Lauren Graham. Hmmmm ...
9:27pm - 2 presenters, 2 frightening dresses. Hellooooo ugly bow!
9:31pm - Best Featured Actor in a Musical goes to Gregoray Jbara for playing Mr. Elliot in "Billy Elliot". He drags his wife up on stage with him to thank her for being a single parent for the last year so he could perform on Broadway. How sweet!
9:37pm - My live blogging is rudely interrupted by a bad internet connection. Curse you internet fairy! (But at least I'm back!)
Karen Olivo takes home the award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for WSS. Kudos to her. She's practically speechless. A very genuine and touching moment.
9:40pm - The performance of "You Don’t Know" from "Next to Normal" rocked harder than "Rock of Ages". I have to see this musical — it looks great! It's also up for Best Musical tonight.
9:42pm - Why are they reusing a 1990s Riverdance Folgers commercial? Anyone else find that weird ...?
9:46pm - Geoffrey Rush (a.k.a. Captain Barbossa) nabs the Tony for Best Leading Actor in a Play and makes a pretty amusing speech (nothing says hilarity like poking fun at the French).
9:50pm - The traditional moment where we pause to remember those in the theatre community who have passed on in the past year. A lovely rendition of "What I Did For Love" from a huge chorus. Bea Arthur, Ertha Kitt, and Paul Newman get the biggest rounds of applause and the lights of Broadway are dimmed in their memory. I always thought that was a classy and appropriate way to remember those in the theatre we've lost.
9:58pm - Frank Langella, who I loved in "Frost/Nixon" (if you haven't seen it yet, go see it, now!), comes out to present the Tony for Best Leading Actress in a Play, but not before shamelessly joking about how he wasn't nominated despite being on Broadway in "A Man for All Seasons" this year. Genius.
The award goes to ... Marcia Gay Harden for "God of Carnage". Gab, gab, gab, gab, gab — cut her off! And they do.
10:04pm - Hey, it's what's her face from "Coyote Ugly". Apparently she's making her debut on B'way this year. Who knew?
10:05pm - YAY! Here comes "Billy Elliot"! It looks like they're going to do the "Angry Dance" number. Slightly modified for the Tonys, and slightly less powerful than the normally staged version, I think. The lighting and sound effects during that scene are normally spectacular on stage; it kind of fizzled in tonight's televised translation. Bummer. Still a wonderful musical — go see it if you get the chance — which is probably why it's also up for Best Musical tonight.
10:15pm - Here comes the cast of "Legally Blonde: The Musical". And here I go to get an Advil.
10:17pm - Harvey Fierstein (in his signature raspy voice) announces that "The Norman Conquests" will take home the Tony for Best Revival of a Play tonight.
10:21pm - "God of Carnage" takes home the award for Best Play and playwright Yasmina Reza thanks many people, including her mother, who overcame her fear of flying to be in the audience tonight.
10:34pm - Invasion of the hippies, part 2. A performance of "Hair" by the cast of the musical, gets the audience clapping and involved (this is probably the most audience groping there's been since 'Cats'). At least they managed to keep their clothes on.
10:39pm - Kristin Chenoweth is the next presenter. I forgot how grating her voice was until now. Can someone pass her a throat lozenge or something?
The award for Best Revival of a Musical goes to ... the hippies! "Hair" wins the Tony, and holy crap is the cast HUGE!
10:50pm - The three young Billys win for Best Lead Actors in "Billy Elliot" (the first time three actors have shared this award). David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish don't really know what to do, and it's adorable and endearing. They pick things up and begin thanking a lot of people, including their families and stage managers (huzzah for a third time!)
10:59pm - And "Billy Elliot" takes home the big prize: Best Musical. Congrats to them, it's a fantastic show, which definitely deserved to beat out "Shrek" and "Rock of Ages" — I can't believe those shows were even nominated ... was there really nothing else good on B'way this year?
11:03pm - N.P.H. is singing. He's actually not bad, and the material is pretty amusing. Here's a sample of some of the lyrics (set to the tune of "Tonight"):

Elton’s Billy was all the rage
What class, what drive,
now Angela won five
and she hooked up with Poison backstage.

and

This show could not be gayer
if Liza was named mayor
and Elton John took flight.

He was a pretty unnoticeable host for the most part, but kudos to him for trying. Adorable and competent, but nothing spectacular. Much better than the Whoopi fiasco of last year though.

There weren't too many surprises this year. I could have done without the expendable performances from the touring casts, but I think there were plenty of solid performances to make up for it — my favorite of the night is definitely "Next to Normal", with "Hair" and "Billy Elliot" in a close tie for second. Overall, a fun show.

Thanks for enduring — er, embarking on this Live Blog adventure with me. I hope you had as much fun as I did!

Unlike the B'way stars and producers who are off to the fabulous Tony Awards After Parties, I've got to crash (I have work in the morning).

G'night for now!

PHOTOS: All taken from the NY Times website (I'll add captions when I have a chance later)