The 2011 Tony Awards

So a gay friend of mine said to me "Gosh, you are soooo gay!" when I mentioned that I was going to watch the Tony Awards tonight.  My response to him was, "Um... duh."

But as tonight's opening number proudly proclaimed, the Tonys aren't just for gays anymore!  Neil Patrick Harris hosted the ceremony and he did a phenomenal job!  The entire night was full of show-stopping musical numbers, hilarious comedic bits, and plenty of memorable acceptance speeches.  After the abysmally dull Oscars earlier this year, I was very grateful for some entertainment!

Here are some of my favorite moments:

• Neil Patrick Harris' opening number was phenomenal.  But even better was his number with Hugh Jackman about midway through, where the two spoofed "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)" along with several other Broadway tunes arguing over who was the better awards show host.
• Nikki M. James' acceptance speech brought me to tears.  Her sheer happiness and gratitude were so overwhelming!  And the part about the bumblebees??  Priceless.
• I was so proud of my boy Daniel Radcliffe!!  He performed so well in the number "Brotherhood of Man" from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying!
• The numbers that The Scottsboro Boys and Sister Act performed were both very good and featured some fantastic vocalists like Joshua Henry and Patina Miller.  Unfortunately neither show was a big winner.
• John Leguizamo's standup bit from his show Ghetto Klown was highly amusing!
• "I Believe" performed by Andrew Rannells from The Book of Mormon was very very good.  I was quite happy that the show walked away with nine awards (out of 14 nominations) including Best Musical.  Congrats to Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez!
• Neil Patrick Harris riding in on the giant puppet horse from the play War Horse.  That thing was so cool!
• Whoopi Goldberg's hat.  What was that thing?
• The acceptance speech by Frances McDormand was so crazy and random!  Ha ha!  She didn't even dress up!  And Mark Rylance's speech was even stranger than hers... he just went on and on about how to walk through walls.  It was so odd but so funny!
• Neil Patrick Harris closed the night with a rap that mentioned so many specific details from the night that it had to have been written moments before he hit the stage.  Impressive!