Congratulations to all the Southerners who made a big splash at the Tonys
Yes, technically these are "Southerners on Broadway," but they're definitely Southerners in entertainment, and we're celebrating you full tilt!
Among the winners Sunday night, June 10:
Billy Crudup with his Tony for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play ("The Coast of Utopia"). Crudup grew up in Texas and Florida and was graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
William Ivey Long, winner of the Best Costume Design of a Musical ("Grey Gardens") hails from Rock Hill, South Carolina. (Just ask my mom.) (Where do you think I get my information, anyway? My family keep me filled in!) (Okay, good friends and publicists help, as well!)
Jennifer Ehle with her Tony for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play ("The Coast of Utopia"). Jennifer was born in North Carolina and is the daughter of North Carolina novelist John Ehle and actress Rosemary Harris, who has become a North Carolinian.
Atlanta's Alliance Theatre received the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award.
"This is a recognition of more than one institution," said Artistic Director Susan V. Booth. "The Alliance is situated in the midst of a thriving cultural community and could not do our work otherwise. The award is an incredibly honor not just for the members of the Alliance staff, but also for the patrons who attend the theatre, the donors who support the theatre, and the city of Atlanta as a whole."
I was especially pleased with this award, since
years ago I started out as PR director for Atlanta's Academy Theatre, at that time not too many miles up the road from the Alliance.
Among the performers were the following Southerners:
Tennessean John Cullum, nominee for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical, sang "Raunchy" from "110 in the Shade" with co-star Audra McDonald.
Fantasia Barrino, "American Idol" winner, Billboard chart-topper, and now Broadway actress, performed "I'm Here" from "The Color Purple." She's from High Point, North Carolina.
Debra Monk, nominee for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, sang "Show People" with co-star David Hyde Pierce and other cast members from "Curtains." She went to high school in Silver Spring, Maryland, and a lot of us first knew her as Prudie Cupp in "Pump Boys and Dinettes," a Southern musical if ever there was one.
There were Southerners aplenty among the presenters:
New Orleans native Harry Connick, Jr.
Virginia-born Patrick Wilson
North Carolina born Ben Vereen (L) and his godson Usher, raised in Tennessee and Georgia
Special mention:
Texas playwright Doug Wright won the 2004 Tony for "I Am My Own Wife." This time he was nominated for Best Book of a Musical for "Grey Gardens."
Of course he's more usually thought of as British and Czechoslovakia born, but playwright Tom Stoppard, winner of 2007's Best Play Tony for "The Coast of Utopia" does have a Southern connection. He's a chapter in my book "Conversations with Screenwriters."
