The musical born in La Jolla takes home the Tony. "Memphis" earned four Tony Awards Sunday night including Best Musical.
The musical, which was launched at the La Jolla Playhouse, was nominated for eight Tonys and won awards for Original Score, Orchestrations and Book of a Musical.
The win was surreal for producers Randy Adams and Sue Frost, according to Playbill's blogger.
Memphis originated during the 2008/09 Playhouse season before moving to New York. As with many award-winning productions at the popular venue, San Diegans saw the musical in its first performances as cast and crew finished fine-tuning Memphis for its Broadway debut.
Joe DiPietro took the award for Best Book of a Musical. DiPietro along with David Bryan earned the Tony for Best Original Score.
The theatre’s artistic director, Christopher Ashley, was nominated for Best Direction of a Musical but the Tony was awarded to Terry Johnson for "La Cage aux Folles." Ashley directed Memphis both at La Jolla Playhouse and on Broadway.
“It has been an incredible journey to bring Memphis to audiences at La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre, and on Broadway,” Ashley said when the list of nominations were released. “We are humbled by the response from Broadway audiences and deeply honored to be recognized with so many Tony Award nominations. It has been a rare privilege to work with this cast and creative team."
Local
Chad Kimball is nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical and his co-star Montego Glover is nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical. The honors Sunday went to Douglas Hodge for "La Cage Aux Folles" and Catherine Zeta-Jones for "A Little Night Music."
