Bette Midler, who won for leading Jerry Zaks’ new revival of Hello, Dolly!, stole the TONYS last night after the music to play her off , yelling ‘Shut that crap off!’ much to the delight of the audience.
At 71-year-old, the showbiz veteran showed no signs of slowing down, keeping the crowd enthralled with her 4 minute victory speech, offering her thanks to ‘all of the Tony voters, many of whom I have actually dated,’ and calling the show ‘one of the greatest professional experiences of my life,’ wrapping up with : ‘I can’t remember the last time I had so much smoke up my ass, but there is no more room, so thank you.’