Book of Mormon Sweeps Tonys

War Horse, Normal Heart, Anything Goes also grab honors
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 13, 2011 3:45 AM CDT
Book of Mormon Sweeps Tonys
Winner of Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical Nikki M. James whoops it up.   (Getty Images)

Broadway's gaspingly irreverent Book of Mormon took home nine Tony Awards last night, winning everything from Best Musical to Best Score to Best Direction to Best Actress in a musical (Nikki M. James). "You did it, Joseph! You got the Tony!" joked the co-creator of the musical, Trey Parker, referring to Mormon founder Joseph Smith. It was one more dig linked to an over-the-top musical that jokes about Mormon missionaries, misery, gun-toting African war-lords, and sex with babies. Asked backstage if he and fellow South Park writer Matt Stone will jinx their chances in heaven for spoofing spiritual matters, Parker quipped that he'll tell God to "look at the box office."

Puppeteering anti-war masterpiece War Horse won five awards, while the revival of Larry Kramer's play about AIDS The Normal Heart, and Anything Goes won three top spots each, AP reports. Frances McDormand won Best Actress in a play for Good People and Mark Rylance won top actor honors for Jerusalem. The top directing award for a play went to Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris for the tear-jerker War Horse. "We quite like it when people cry," Morris quipped. (More South Park stories.)

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