Lin-Manuel Miranda might have grown up In the Heights, but his current address is on top of the world.
Last night, the theatrical love song that Miranda penned to his childhood stomping grounds of Washington Heights won the 2008 Tony Award for best new musical.
Miranda first began to work on his tale of the close-knit Manhattan neighborhood in 1999, when he was a sophomore at Wesleyan University. When the top Tony was announced, he was hoisted atop the shoulders of the members of the cast. Earlier in the evening, he delivered a witty acceptance speech for best original score in the same hip-hop rhymes he uses in his show:
"I've dreamed about this moment, and now I'm in it / Tell the conductor to hold the baton for a minute ..."
Though Cry-Baby, which is based on John Waters' 1990 cult film, was nominated for four Tony Awards, it was shut out. Even the award for best choreography, which had been thought likely to go to Rob Ashford, went instead to Andy Blankenbuehler of In the Heights.
Baltimore's venerable Pope of Trash himself introduced the show's quintessential jailbreak number, "A Little Upset." As usual, Waters had a unique perspective on the event:
"I wonder if there are any actual prisoners watching the Tony show tonight," he said. "Talk about a new minority."
But Baltimore didn't go entirely unrepresented. Catherine Zuber, a Center Stage associate artist, won for best costume design - for an astounding fourth year in a row.
Alas, she didn't win for the poodle skirts and leather jackets that she put together for Cry-Baby, but for the '50s-era beachwear she designed for South Pacific. Though both shows hail from the same era, their sensibilities couldn't be more different.
It was some enchanted evening for South Pacific, which picked up seven Tonys, the most of any show, including best revival of a musical.
Bartlett Sher, South Pacific's director, thanked the creators of the original musical, including the composing team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, saying they taught him "that our country was really a pretty great place, and that perhaps it could be a little better, and perhaps, in fact, we could change."
As expected, August: Osage County won best play, snapping up a total of five Tonys, the second greatest number. In the Heights captured four Tonys, and Gypsy snagged three.
