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Jason Robert Brown and Georgia Stitt
JRB: The most exciting thing about tonight is that my mom is here, and she was at the last Tony Awards that I won [at] in 1999. To me, it's always really cool that I can send my mom to Radio City Music Hall. She's sitting upstairs — I wasn't going to pay for the good seats. [Laughs.] She said, "Have a great time."
GS: She said, "You look fabulous," and she said, "I'm proud of you… Don't forget to eat."
JRB: She's a Jewish mom. She said all nice things. She said, "Did you bring a Power Bar?"
His next project? Honeymoon in Vegas. What I hear is that we're coming in!
Courtney Reed
I am the princess of the world tonight, are you kidding me? I’m in this gorgeous blue Carmen Marc Valvo dress. It screams, "Hello. I'm the Genie, and I'm at the Tony Awards." I'm coming out of a magic lamp in this dress.
It's been four amazing years, and now this is kind of "The Moment." To get nominated, it's just validation that all of our hard work has paid off.
Her next dream princess? Almost everything else has been done except "Tangled." I'm the opposite of Rapunzel, but "Tangled" is the best.
Her advice? Talent aside — because everyone in this business is very talented — always be a good person and be the type of person you want to work with for months on end. Be that person, and you will go far in life.
The fact that this is happening at all is just a miracle. [Violet] was supposed to be this one-night-only concert, and that was it, and it has just literally turned into this spectacular Broadway run with all these Tony nominations. Just being here with my beautiful collaborators — being able to sit next to Jeanine Tesori, to watch a number from our show on the Tonys… It's just a dream come true.
I'm very excited [that] we're going to bring Kung Fu back — David [Henry] Hwang's play that I directed earlier this year at the Signature [Theatre Company], so I'm very excited about that. And, Sonya Tayeh and I are cooking up another project together, which I’m excited about. I'm directing Lisa Kron's new play.
This is amazing. Between my wife and I, this is our eighth time being nominated. It's my fifth time, and my wife has been nominated three. It never gets old. It’s just great, great fun.
I thought that I was too young for the role, but Sam Mendes sat me down and said, "Listen, I want you for the role. Yes, I'm going younger with this show, and I want you to do it." I saw this show about ten years ago, and Tom Bosley was playing the role, and I thought, "Well, I'm not going to do that role for another 20-30 years at least." I'm so glad that Sam and Rob [Ashford] decided to go younger with it.
I'd love to do Death of a Salesman someday. But most of the shows that I want to do usually haven't been written yet. I love doing new works more than anything else.
(Playbill.com staff writer Michael Gioia's work appears in the news, feature and video sections of Playbill.com as well as in the pages of Playbill magazine. Follow him on Twitter at @PlaybillMichael.)
