The 63rd annual Tony Awards for stage and musical productions were broadcast Sunday night on CBS with more than half of the Tony’s given to plays and productions of British origin.

Scooping the pool of awards was the musical Billy Elliot which won 10 Tony Awards, including best musical.

The tale of the north-east England coalminer’s son who dreams of becoming a dancer has charmed New York theatergoers, and the show has become one of the biggest hits of the season.

The three young stars who take turns to play Billy — David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish — jointly won the award for best leading actor in a musical. Stephen Daldry took home a Tony for his direction of the show.

Culminating the British dominance of the awards was British actor Angela Lansbury, won the award for best performance by a featured actress in a play for her portrayal of the dotty medium Madame Arcati in a revival of Noël Coward’s Blithe Spiri, becoming only the second actress in history to win five Tonys.

The 83-year-old was drowned out by a standing ovation as she accepted the award. “Who would have thought, who knew at this time in my life, that I should be presented with this lovely, lovely award. I feel deeply grateful,” she said.

The Tony awards 2009 winners were:

Best Play- God of Carnage
Best Musical- Billy Elliot, The Musical
Best Revival of a Play- The Norman Conquests
Best Revival of a Musical- Hair
Best Actor in a Play- Geoffrey Rush, Exit the King
Best Actress in a Play- Marcia Gay Harden, God of Carnage
Best Actor in a Musical- David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish (Three actors all playing the same character) Billy Elliot, The Musical
Best Actress in a Musical- Alice Ripley, Next to Normal
Best Featured Actor in a Play- Roger Robinson, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Best Featured Actress in a Play- Angela Lansbury, Blithe Spirit
Best Featured Actor in a Musical- Gregory Jbara, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Best Featured Actress in a Musical- Karen Olivo, West Side Story
Best Director of a Play- Matthew Marchus, God of Carnage
Best Director of a Musical- Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Best Choreography- Peter Darling, Billy Elliot The Musical
Best Book of a Musical- Billy Elliot, The Musical
Best Original Score- Next to Normal
Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the theatre: Jerry Herman.
Regional Theatre Tony Award: Signature Theatre, Arlington, Va.
Isabelle Stevenson Award: Phyllis Newman.
Tony Honor for excellence in the theatre: Shirley Herz.

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