Laura Osnes

Anna Kendrick Carolyn Murphy

Allison Janney Courtney Reed

Uma Thurman Jenn Colella Sally Field Stephanie Block Rebecca Taichman

Mic

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Wils

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Chrissy Teigen Sara Bareilles Sutton Foster Olivia Wilde

Laura Linney Kate Baldwin Tina Fey Thalia Bette Midler

FASHION tony awards

Lively performances

Celebrities comeout at Tony AwardsNEW YORK, June 12, (Agencies): The Tony Awards always seem to attract stars from TV, fi lms and music — and, of course, plenty of stage stars. This year, the lineup featured Josh Groban, Scar-lett Johansson, Kevin Kline, Bette Midler, Orlando Bloom, Glenn Close, Cynthia Nixon, Sara Bareilles, Tommy Tune, Whoopi Gold-berg and Anna Kendrick, among others.

The big winner was a show about outsiders — “Dear Evan Hans-en,” which featured a lonely 17-year-old who gets caught in a web of lies. But the ultimate insider was fi rst-time host Kevin Spacey, who danced, joked and sang his way through the telecast with ease.

Some Tony Award nominees are wearing politics on their lapels tonight as they walk the red carpet outside of Radio City Music Hall.

The ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and other organizations reached out to many nominees in advance asking them to demon-strate support by wearing ribbons.

Mark Hamill was spotted wearing a blue ribbon for the ACLU as he pointed off into the distance a la “Star Wars.”

Writer Steven Levenson, nominated for the book of “Dear Evan Hansen,” also sported a royal blue ACLU ribbon as he made the rounds. When the org contacted the “Hansen” publicity team about wearing the ribbon, Levenson was happy to do his part as he has been a supporter of the ACLU “in own modest way” for many years.

“I found it exciting that they would come to us,” he told Variety. “I’m happy to support them at a time when their work is needed more than ever. They’re kind of like our lawyer right now.”

IncredibleMaybe it was inevitable that in the year after “Hamilton’s” tri-

umph, the Tony Awards would seem to be lacking in pizzazz.The 71st annual Tony Awards was, as always, a well-produced

affair, stocked with incredible displays of talent and passionate winners. A highlight was actress Rachel Bay Jones, a winner for “Dear Evan Hansen,” saying that she fi nally forgave her parents for “cursing me with a love of the theater.”

The musical numbers were lively and engaging and the fl ow of the show was well-paced.

The biggest shortcoming was host Kevin Spacey, who just didn’t deliver the same kind of engaging effort as his recent predecessors. The contrast was especially sharp against last year’s emcee, “Late Late Show” host James Corden, who so memorably rose to the oc-casion when faced with the daunting task of pulling it off less than 24 hours after the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla.

It takes real bravado to even attempt to shoo off Midler when she’s winning her fi rst competitive Tony. Producers tried on Sun-day — and failed miserably. The Divine Miss M, who won best actress for “Hello, Dolly!” was not going to be denied and signaled she was in a feisty mood early: “I’d like to thank all the Tony vot-ers — many of whom I’ve actually dated,” she joked. When the or-chestra tried to goose her along with swelling instruments, Midler was not having it. The orchestra went wisely silent.

Spacey managed to portray two US leaders in one telecast — former president Bill Clinton and Frank Underwood, the fi ctional president he plays on Netfl ix’s political thriller “House of Cards.” His Clinton joked about food and his wife’s email problems, while his fi ctional one — accompanied by fi ctional wife Claire Under-wood (Robin Wright) — admitted he wanted to leave before Midler started to thank anyone else.

There were none of the technical or human accidents during the telecast — at least any non-Midler-related — that have marred previous awards shows, including the wrong winner announced at this year’s Oscars and sound issues at the Grammys. Spacey talked about the show’s accountants and said: “You guys do not have to worry about them tonight, at all.”

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ARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2017 20