Sean Hayes On The Late Late Show

On Monday night Sean Hayes open his guest-hosting gig on the Late Late Show with a two-minute dance number.

The 2010 Tony Awards

The 2010 Tony Awards kicked off last night with host Sean Hayes taking aim at that infamous Newsweek article by laying a long, presumably convincing, French kiss on his Promises, Promises co-star Kristin Chenoweth. Hayes followed that up by welcoming all the "closeted Republicans watching the show in secret."

Below are the major awards. The complete list is here.

Best Play: Red
Best Musical: Memphis
Best Revival (Play): Fences
Best Revival (Musical): La Cage Aux Folles
Best Actor (Play): Denzel Washington, Fences
Best Actress (Play): Viola Davis, Fences
Best Actor (Musical): Douglas Hodge, La Cage Aux Folles
Best Actress (Musical): Catherine Zeta-Jones, A Little Night Music

The show was troubled by sound issues here and there, especially during the opening number and later when Glee's Lea Michele pffft'ed her way through Don't Rain On My Parade from Funny Girl. And things got a little ridiculous when the 300 or so producers of Memphis crowded the stage to accept Best Musical. But that's all standard Tonys stuff, really.

Sean Hayes Addresses Newsweek Article Claiming He Can't Play Straight

Sean Hayes To Host Tony Awards

Sean Hayes has been named as the host of this year's Tony Awards. Via press release:

Emmy and SAG Award winner and 2010 Tony Award nominee Sean Hayes, will host the 64th Annual Antoinette Perry “Tony” Awards® on Sunday, June 13th, live from Radio City Music Hall. The Tony Awards will air live on CBS from 8:00-11:00PM (ET/PT time delay). The Tonys are presented by The Broadway League and The American Theatre Wing. Hayes has received critical acclaim for his roles in theatre, television and film and quickly grabbed America’s heart as the hilarious Jack McFarland on “Will & Grace,” a role for which he received an Emmy Award (and six nominations), four Screen Actors Guild Awards, two TV Guide Awards, an American Comedy Award and seven Golden Globe nominations.

Hayes is currently starring in Promises, Promises with Kristen Chenoweth. Maybe that nasty Newsweek piece about him actually helped?

GLAAD Demands Apology From Newsweek Over "Gay Actors Can't Play Straight" Flap

GLAAD is asking the editors of Newsweek for an apology after running a column by openly gay writer Ramin Setoodeh in which he claimed that gay actors cannot convincingly play straight characters. The creator of the hit Fox show Glee has also called for a boycott of Newsweek.

"An actor's personal life should not be a factor in their believability in a role," said Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "That would be tantamount to audiences not buying Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl as lovers in their upcoming film 'Killers' because the two are happily married to different people in real life." GLAAD spokesman Rich Ferraro said the magazine has not offered the apology sought by the group, but that the topic was discussed with Barrios and Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "Milk," during a Q&A with Newsweek on Wednesday. He said he believed that discussion would be published in the next issue.

Some Hollywood stars blasted the magazine and writer Ramin Setoodeh for an April 26 story that said it was OK for straight actors to play gay roles, but "it's rare for someone to pull off the trick in reverse." In the story, Setoodeh criticized Sean Hayes' latest leading-man performance on Broadway, writing that the openly gay actor "comes off as wooden and insincere, like he's trying to hide something, which of course he is." Ryan Murphy, creator of the hit Fox series "Glee," called for a boycott of the magazine until it apologizes to its gay readers, Hayes and "and other brave out actors who were cruelly singled out in this damaging, needlessly cruel and mind-blowingly bigoted piece."

Numerous openly gay actors and their supporters have publicly blasted Newsweek and Setoodeh since the story was published.

Friendly Voices - Kristin Chenoweth

"As someone who’s been proudly advocating for equal rights and supporting GLBT causes for as long as I can remember, I know how much it means to young people struggling with their sexuality to see out & proud actors like Sean Hayes, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris and Cynthia Nixon succeeding in their work without having to keep their sexuality a secret.

"No one needs to see a bigoted, factually inaccurate article that tells people who deviate from heterosexual norms that they can’t be open about who they are and still achieve their dreams. I am told on good authority that Mr. Setoodeh is a gay man himself and I would hope, as the author of this article, he would at least understand that. I encourage Newsweek to embrace stories which promote acceptance, love, unity and singing and dancing for all!" - Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth, responding to Ramin Setoodah's Newsweek article titled Straight Jacket, in which he claims that gay actors cannot convincingly play straight roles.

Chenoweth is currently starring in Broadway's Promises, Promises opposite Sean Hayes, whom Setoodah describes as "the pink elephant in the room."

2010 Tony Award Nominations

La Cage Aux Folles and Fela! lead the list of the 2010 Tony Award nominees, which were announced this morning. Both shows received eleven nominations each, the Fences getting ten. Self-proclaimed gay rights hero Sean Hayes earned a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Promises, Promises. JMG reader Kevin Chamberlin (left) got a Best Featured Actor in a Musical nomination for his great turn as Uncle Fester in The Addams Family. This is his third Tony nomination (Dirty Blonde, Seussical.)

The 2010 nominations lacked a clear standout like last year’s “Billy Elliot,” which received 15 nominations. But the roster was noticeably rich with screen stars who had bravely left the security of movie sets for the lights of Broadway. Nominees who were making their Broadway debuts included Jude Law (“Hamlet”), Scarlett Johansson (“A View From the Bridge”), Catherine Zeta-Jones (“A Little Night Music”) and Sean Hayes (“Promises, Promises”). The nominees also included Christopher Walken (“A Behanding in Spokane”), Laura Linney (“Time Stands Still”), Kelsey Grammer (“La Cage aux Folles”) and Liev Schreiber (“A View From the Bridge”). Among the acting nominees were three grandes dames of the stage – Rosemary Harris (“The Royal Family”), Barbara Cook (“Sondheim on Sondheim”) and Angela Lansbury (“A Little Night Music”). A number of blockbuster productions came up noticeably short on Tuesday. “American Idiot” – the rock musical featuring songs by the band Green Day – was nominated for best new musical but received only two other nods. “The Addams Family,” which has been a box-office success so far despite mostly bad reviews, received only two nominations.

The complete list of nominations is here.

Broadway Friday

-Brandon Victor Dixon, currently earning rave reviews in The Scottsboro Boys, will take the title role in the upcoming Unchain My Heart: The Ray Charles Musical. The show begins previews on October 8th.

-The 2010 Tony Awards nominations will be revealed on Tuesday at 8:30am. Watch live on the official site.

-Try to remember: Tomorrow The Fantasticks celebrates its 50th anniversary with a special event that includes over 50 alumnae of the show appearing for the curtain call and a group song.

-Cheyenne Jackson, Jesse Martin, and Rosie Perez are among the presenters at this year's Drama Desk Awards at Lincoln Center on May 22nd. Patti LuPone will host. "No fucking cameras!"

-Testa-fy! Tony nominee Mary Testa will star in the Off Broadway run of I'll Be Damned beginning July 1st at the Vineyard. She was fantastic in Xanadu.

-All that scam: Composer John Kander and the estate of Bob Fosse are suing Disney over royalties from the Oscar-winning film version of Chicago. The parties claim Disney has cheated them out of $12M.

-We don't need no jukebox-ucation. Pink Floyd's The Wall: The Musical. SRSLY.

-She's the top: Tony winner Sutton Foster will star in a revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes, set to open next season. Patti LuPone starred in the most recent Broadway production in the 80s.

VIDEO: Here's a new montage clip from Promises, Promises staring Kristen Chenoweth and self-proclaimed gay rights hero Sean Hayes. The show opened yesterday with two Burt Bacharach classics added to the original score: I Say A Little Prayer and A House Is Not A Home.

HomoQuotable - Sean Hayes

"I am who I am. I was never in, as they say. Never. I believe that nobody owes anything to anybody. Nobody owes anything to anybody. You are your authentic self to whom and when you choose to be, and if you don’t know somebody, then why would you explain to them how you live your life?

"I feel like I’ve contributed monumentally to the success of the gay movement in America, and if anyone wants to argue that, I’m open to it. You’re welcome, Advocate. Why would you go down that path with somebody who’s done so much to contribute to the gay community? That was my beef about it. What more do you want me to do? Do you want me to stand on a float? And then what? It’s never enough." - Sean Hayes, simultaneously coming out to and criticizing the Advocate for its past roastings of him for not doing it sooner.