Tony Awards 2014: Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, NPH win big

The murderous romp A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder has gotten a lot of love at the Tony Awards — it nabbed the best new musical trophy on a night that saw Audra McDonald, Bryan Cranston and Neil Patrick Harris all take home big awards.

• Tony Award race led by A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

The musical A Gentlemen's Guide, in which a poor man comically eliminates the eight heirs ahead of him for a title, opened rather quietly and has had a steady increase in interest, peaking with its huge win over Disney's Aladdin and the built-in love of Carole King songs from Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

"The little engine that could, did," said an ecstatic lead producer Joey Parnes. The show nabbed a total of four wins,

including best book of a musical. It was tied for the most decorated show of the night with Hedwig and the Angry Inch, an unlikely Broadway hit about obsession, glam rock and a botched sex-change operation.

Hedwig was led by Neil Patrick Harris, and the former Tony host got his first award — best actor in a musical — after performing a song from the show, looking unrecognizable in a miniskirt and blond feathered wig. He gave audience member Sting a lap dance and took Samuel L. Jackson's glasses away and licked them.

"A year ago I was hosting the Tonys. This is crazy pants," he said after donning pants. His co-star Lena Hall won best featured actress in a musical and the show won for best musical revival and lighting.

History is made

McDonald won her sixth Tony for portraying Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, putting her ahead of five-time winners Angela Lansbury and the late Julie Harris for the most competitive wins by an actress. Among those she thanked were her parents for not medicating their hyperactive child.

The latest win — for best lead actress in a play — also makes McDonald the first grand-slam performance winner. She

previously won as best featured actress in a play (A Raisin in the Sun and Master Class), best lead actress in a musical (The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess) and best featured actress in a musical (Ragtime and Carousel).

Cranston — in a role far from TV's chemistry teacher-turned-meth kingpin Walter White in Breaking Bad — won the best lead actor in a play Tony for playing former President Lyndon B. Johnson in Robert Schenkkan's All the Way, which also was crowned best play.

Jessie Mueller beat some strong Broadway veterans in Sutton Foster, Idina Menzel and Kelli O'Hara to take home the best actress in a musical Tony for playing the title character in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. She thanked the iconic singer-songwriter and all her competitors. One of the show's highlights was King singing with the cast of the show.

Jackman returns as host

Hugh Jackman kicked off the show with a bounce, hopping up and down like a kangaroo during his opening number Sunday. Big, high-kicking musical numbers from After Midnight, Aladdin, Rocky and Hedwig and the Angry Inch kept the energy level up but no clear overall winning show had yet emerged.

The bearded Australian, back as host Sunday after a nine-year absence, greeted many of the night's featured performers

as he bounded past them backstage. He then joined the cast of the musical After Midnight for a rousing rendition of It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got that Swing).

The first award of the night was for best featured actor in a play and it went to Mark Rylance, who won his third Tony for playing the countess Olivia in Twelfth Night. Rylance, who previously won for Jerusalem and Boeing-Boeing, kept the drag theme going this season by winning for playing a woman.

Darko Tresnjak won for directing the musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder and thanked his mother, who was too frail to be there. The musical also won for best book of a musical and costumes for a musical. Away from the cameras, the now-closed musical The Bridges of Madison County won for best score and best orchestration, both by Jason Robert Brown.

Record year

Kenny Leon won his first Tony for directing the revival of A Raisin in the Sun. He thanked, among other, his star Denzel Washington, and the women in his life. He even managed to plug his next work, Holler If Ya Hear Me.

One of his Raisin stars, Sophie Okonedo, won for best featured actress in a play.

"I am loving it on Broadway," she said. She thanked producer Scott Rudin for believing that a "Jewish, Nigerian Brit" could play the iconic role of Ruth Younger. The show also won best play revival.

The evening's disappointments included just one win for Disney's Aladdin, which had gone in with five nominations, and only one each for After Midnight and Rocky. Bullets Over Broadway won nothing, nor did the revival of The Cripple of Inishmaan, If/Then, or the Les Miz revival.

Some 870 Tony voters — members of professional groups such as the Wing, the League, Actors' Equity Association, the Dramatists Guild and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society — decided the final 26 competitive awards.

This year, Broadway producers have a reason to party. The season's box offices hit a record total gross of $1.27 billion — up from $1.13 billion the previous season — and attendance was up 5.6 percent to 12.2 million.