‘Kinky Boots’ and ‘Vanya’ Win Top Tonys

The unusually fierce head-to-head competition in 11 categories between the sunny “Kinky Boots,” about a drag queen who helps save a struggling shoe factory, and the darker “Matilda,” about a young girl battling against cruel adults, dominated the night — though the musical revival of “Pippin” also proved to be a major force. That show earned four Tonys — including best revival of a musical and two prizes for its actresses — as did the critically acclaimed “Matilda.” “Kinky Boots” ended up with six.

The Tonys for plays were spread relatively widely among six comedies and dramas, with the bittersweet family satire “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” winning for best play — the first Tony in the playwright Christopher Durang’s decades-long career. The Tom Hanks vehicle “Lucky Guy,” however, one of the season’s biggest hits, was denied the biggest prizes.

It was a history-making night for female artists, and a huge one for African-American actors. Ms. Lauper became the first woman to win the Tony for music and lyrics solo; in the past other women have shared the award with male writing partners. And it was only the second time that two women won in both best-director categories: Diane Paulus for “Pippin” and Pam MacKinnon for the revival of Edward Albee’s drama “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” which also won for best play revival.

Meanwhile, at a time when only 15 to 20 percent of actors on Broadway are black, half of the major acting awards went to African-Americans. Cicely Tyson, at age 88, won her first Tony for best actress in a play as a neglected mother in “The Trip to Bountiful”; Patina Miller, best actress in a musical as the Leading Player in “Pippin;” Mr. Porter, best actor in a musical as the drag queen Lola in “Kinky Boots”; and Courtney B. Vance, best featured actor in a play as a newspaper editor in “Lucky Guy.”

In Ms. Miller’s case, it was also the first time that a woman and a man have won a Tony for playing the same role, according to a spokesman for “Pippin.” Ben Vereen won the Tony in 1973 as the Leading Player in Bob Fosse’s original production of the musical.

The longest standing ovation of the night went to Ms. Tyson, the oldest person to ever win a Tony, as she stepped gingerly to the Radio City Music Hall stage in a striking, shoulder-to-foot ruffled purple dress.

“It’s been 30 years since I stood onstage, and I really didn’t think it would happen again in my lifetime,” Ms. Tyson said of her role in “Bountiful,” a mixed-race production in which she plays a character conceived for white actresses. “Except I had this burning desire to do just one more — one more great role. I didn’t want to be greedy. I just wanted one more.”

Mr. Porter, whose two-decade career in New York theater has sputtered at times, credited the “Kinky Boots” director, Jerry Mitchell, for “reaching back and lifting up an old friend.” And Mr. Vance thanked his wife, the actress Angela Bassett, for urging him to return to the stage in “Lucky Guy” to appear opposite Mr. Hanks’s tabloid columnist character.

The biggest surprise of the night was the loss by Mr. Hanks, a two-time Academy Award winner making his Broadway debut in “Lucky Guy,” for best actor in the play. That honor went to Tracy Letts for his acclaimed performance as George in “Virginia Woolf” — a win that seemed to surprise even Mr. Letts, who looked stunned at first.

“It’s overwhelming,” said Mr. Letts, who is also the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of “August: Osage County.” He went on to thank his confederates in his hometown — “all the actors in Chicago and in storefront theaters.”

Steven McElroy contributed reporting.

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