Angelina Jolie and Daniel Radcliffe win first Tony Awards

 

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe win first Tony Awards

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has picked up his first-ever Tony Award at Sunday’s ceremony in New York.

Radcliffe won the award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role in the revival of Stephan Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along.

The play picked up a further three awards at the event which celebrates the best of theatre on Broadway.

In his acceptance speech, the 34-year-old wished his father a happy Father’s Day and thanked his girlfriend Erin Darke.

“My love Erin, you and our son are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love you so much, thank you so much,” he said.

He also thanked his parents for playing Sondheim in the car and said the play was “one of the best experiences of my life”.

Jonathan Groff also won his first Tony for his performance in the musical.

He praised his co-stars, Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez and called them “more than old friends”.

“You are soulmates, and I’m looking forward to watching each other change for the rest of our lives,” he said.

Meanwhile, Angelina Jolie won her first Tony Award for producing The Outsiders, which was named Best Musical and picked up three other awards after receiving a total of 12 nominations.

The 49-year-old actress was joined on stage by her daughter Vivienne, 15.

Director Danya Taymor named actress Jolie among the “great women who have lifted me up” in her acceptance speech.

The production later won the coveted best musical gong, which saw Jolie appear on stage.

The play is based on SE Hinton’s book and follows the conflict between two rival gangs of white Americans divided by their socioeconomic status.

It beat musical rival Hell’s Kitchen, a semi-autobiographical account of Alicia Keys which received 13 nominations and won two.

One of those wins was for theatre veteran Kecia Lewis for a featured actress.

In an emotional on-stage speech, Lewis said: “40 years ago yesterday I walked into the Imperial Theatre to begin my Broadway career at 18 years old.

“I have had so many amazing experiences and some heartbreaking ones, too. I took a short break from show business and raised a son as a single parent while trying to build a career.

“This moment is the one I dreamed for most of those 40 years, so I say to everyone who can hear my voice – don’t give up.”

Keys and Jay-Z joined the cast of the musical for a performance of their 2009 hit song Empire State Of Mind in tribute to New York.

The most nominated play in Tony history with 13 nods, Stereophonic won five awards including best play.

In his acceptance speech, playwright David Adjmi spoke about how hard it was to make a career in the arts and said more funding for the arts was necessary.

The play follows a fictional rock band in the 1970s as they embark on producing an album.

Elsewhere, Hollywood star Jeremy Strong won his first Tony for lead actor in a play for An Enemy of the People.

The 45-year-old is best known for playing Kendall in Succession.

He called Henrik Ibsen’s cautionary environmental play “a cry from the heart” with “difficult truths that are staring us down right now”.

Strong plays a doctor who refuses to be silenced when he discovers public baths to be contaminated.

Another first-time winner was Sarah Paulson who won Best Actress in a lead role and beat Rachel McAdams and Jessica Lange.

Paulson won an award for the revival of darkly comic drama Appropriate which follows a dysfunctional family battling over their recently deceased father’s inheritance.

The 49-year-old Ratched actress is now halfway to EGOT status – she won an Emmy in 2016 for her role in The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story.

US star Nicole Scherzinger, who recently triumphed at the Olivier awards for her role in Sunset Boulevard, performed during the in-memoriam to theatre stars who have died.

Among those remembered were British stars Sir Michael Gambon, Glenda Jackson and theatre impresario Bill Kenwright, alongside US actors Louis Gossett Jr and Ron Cephas Jones.

BY BBC  NEWS