New York - Actress Helen Mirren won her first Tony on Sunday for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience, and her co-star Richard McCabe picked up the best featured actor prize at the 2015 Tony Awards, Broadway's top honours.
Edgy new productions were up against more classic shows, pitting newcomers with veteran stars for the 69th Annual Tony Awards.
“This is an unbelievable honour. I am so thrilled,” said Mirren as she accepted the prize.
Mirren was a favourite to win the best actress prize. With a Tony, Emmy and an Oscar she said she would love to win a Grammy, which are for recorded material.
“I have to do an audio book,” Mirren joked.
Fun Home, the lesbian coming-of-age musical which led the nominations with 12 nods along with the breezy, beautiful romance An American In Paris, won best musical score, best book and best director for Sam Gold.
Best director for a play went to Marianne Elliott for The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.
“We've had quite an adventure with this play,” she said about the play that tells the story of as a teenage math whiz with Asperger's syndrome who goes on an incredible journey.
Tony winners Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming, co-hosts of the three-hour show broadcast live from Manhattan's Radio City Music Hall on CBS television, opened the show with a song medley.
The awards cap a record-breaking season on Broadway in which audience numbers topped 13.1 million and ticket grosses rose to $1.36 billion.
Broadway legend Tommy Tune received his 10th Tony, a special lifetime achievement award, during the show, which began with a musical number from Something Rotten!
A tearful, flustered Annaleigh Ashford was named best featured actress in a play for her role as the zany ballet-dancing daughter in an eccentric American family in You Can't Take it With You, while Christian Borle won his second Tony for best featured actor in a musical, for Something Rotten!
“This feels like an embarrassment of riches,” said Borle about his portrayal of William Shakespeare as a rock star in the bawdy parody of Broadway musicals set in 1590s Tudor England.
Something Rotten!, which had 10 nominations, is also a contender for the top musical award, along with frontrunners Fun Home and An American In Paris.
Actor Michael Cerveris, up for his second Tony as the closeted homosexual father in Fun Home, and newcomer Robert Fairchild, a ballet dancer making his Broadway debut in An American In Paris, are favoured for best actor in a musical.
The best musical actress category appears to be a three-way race between Chenoweth, up for her second Tony as a Hollywood star in On the Twentieth Century; Kelli O'Hara, a six-time nominee as the governess in The King and I; and Broadway veteran and two-time Tony winner Chita Rivera as a revenge-seeking woman in The Visit.
Alex Sharp, a recent Juilliard School graduate who made his Broadway debut in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, could dash the hopes of Hollywood star Cooper and veteran actor Bill Nighy in Skylight for the best actor accolade.
Skylight and The Elephant Man are vying with This Is Our Youth and You Can't Take It With You for best revival of a play.
The King And I seemed to have the edge for best musical revival, and won Ruthie Ann Miles the best featured actress prize. The actress consulted her cellphone on stage as she accepted the honour.
The Tony Awards are presented by theatre industry association The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, a not-for-profit organisation.
Reuters