Neil Patrick who?
Sean Hayes was a great, impish, multi-talented host of Sunday night's Tony Awards telecast.
He began by showing his considerable piano chops before joining in with a jam with the guys from "Million Dollar Quartet" -- including later-Tony Award winner Levi Kreis.
Watch Tony Award winners on Video (Full Version) HERE>>>
But if you were worried that Hayes was going to be in a please-take-me-as-a-serious-artist mode, that concern was erased as soon as he started his opening remarks and his "Promises, Promises" co-star Kristen Chenoweth joined him in some hot lip-locks, hilariously addressing the 'can-gay-men-be-taken-seriously-in-straight-roles?' broughaha that began with that very dumb Newsweek blog.
Hayes also made reference to his hosting the shopw while being nominated, saying it allows him the rare chance of losing and bombing in the same show.
Watch Tony Award winners on Video (Full Version) HERE>>>
Then some funny jokes and tweaks: "The Tonys are 64 years old this year or as Angela Lansbury would say, 'a whippersnapper.' "
The obligatory Carol Channing joke. (But a good one.)
He also welcomed "closeted right wing politicians watching the show in secret. Hi, guys!"
Watch Tony Award winners on Video (Full Version) HERE>>>
He remarked that Nathan Lane in "The Addams Family" plays Gomez with a Spanish accent "which in New York gets you overlooked (a sly reference to Lane's Tony snub) and in Arizona gets you in jail."
This was followed throughout the show by a series of funny Broadway dress-ups as Billy Elliot, Annie and Spider-Man.
Watch Tony Award winners on Video (Full Version) HERE>>>
Overall, a terrific job. Now get this man more Broadway work. (Imagine a "Bye Bye Birdie" with Hayes in the Dick Van Dyke role.
Thoughts?
