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Last night Father Tony and I attended the 21st annual edition of Broadway Bares, the bawdy and deliciously raunchy fundraiser by Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS in which dozens of buff chorus boys and girls writhe and expose it all to the delight of several thousand gay men. See Tony's possibly NSFW slideshow here. Among last night performers were Tony winner and the evening's emcee, Beth Leavel, as well as David Hyde Pierce and Judith Light. It really is one of the most spectacular events on Broadway.

Watch this now, it'll get yanked from YouTube.

Despite host Neil Patrick Harris' fantastic opening number which promised that "Broadway isn't just for gays anymore," tonight's Tony Awards were extra super gay with lots of gay on the side. Not only did Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart win three awards, the show featured Martha Wash performing It's Raining Men, and there was a lot of thanking of same-sex partners from the stage. Here's the list of winners:

Best Play: "War Horse."
Best Musical: "The Book of Mormon."
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play: Mark Rylance, "Jerusalem."
Best Performance by an Actress in Leading Role in a Play: Frances McDormand, "Good People."
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play: Ellen Barkin, "The Normal Heart."
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play: John Benjamin Hickey, "The Normal Heart."
Best Direction of a Musical: Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker, "The Book of Mormon."
Best Direction of a Play: Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, "War Horse."
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical: Norbert Leo Butz "Catch Me If You Can."
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical: Sutton Foster, "Anything Goes."
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical: John Larroquette, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical: Nikki M. James, "The Book of Mormon."
Best Book of a Musical: "The Book of Mormon."
Best Revival of a Play: "The Normal Heart."
Best Revival of a Musical: "Anything Goes."

JMG reader Evan tips us that NPR is streaming the cast recording of The Book Of Mormon, which garnered 14 Tony nominations last week. Today only, folks.

Openly gay Broadway legend Arthur Laurents has died at the age of 93. Theater Mania reports:

Laurents was best known for his collaborations with Stephen Sondheim, including writing the books for West Side Story and Gypsy (earning Tony nominations for both), Anyone Can Whistle, and Do I Hear a Waltz. Early in his career, Laurents wrote such plays as Home of the Brave and The Time of the Cuckoo. In later years, he wrote and directed the musicals The Madwoman of Central Park West and Nick & Nora. Laurents directed the 1975, 1989, and 2008 revivals of Gypsy, each of which earned Tony Awards for its respective leading ladies, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, and Patti LuPone. He also directed the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story.

Laurents was temporarily blacklisted during the McCarthy era after a review of one of his plays was published in the Communist Party USA newspaper.

NOTE: Laurents asked that his obituaries include this line: "He was predeceased by his partner, Tom Hatcher, with whom he had lived in happiness for more than 50 years."