Conversation: Terry Teachout Recaps the Tony Awards

It was a big night for "Billy Elliot" as the theater world celebrated Broadway at the "Tony Awards":http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/index.html. In a first, the three teenage boys who rotate in the role of Billy Elliot shared the Tony for best performance by a leading actor in a musical. In all, the play took home 10 honors, including best musical. However, the show's composer, Elton John, lost out to a musical looking at mental illness, "Next to Normal," for best score. Among the other highlights, "God of Carnage" took home best play, "Hair" won best revival of a musical and "Geoffrey Rush won best performance":http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2009/05/conversation-geoffrey-rush.html by a lead actor in a play for his portrayal of a dying monarch in "Exit the King." To walk us through Sunday night's honors and recap the year as it was on Broadway, I was joined by phone by Terry Teachout, theater critic for the "Wall Street Journal":http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-lifestyle-arts-entertainment.html. He also writes his own blog, "'About Last Night,' on ArtsJournal.com.":http://www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight/ _Listen to Jeffrey Brown's_ "conversation with actor Geoffrey Rush here":http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2009/05/conversation-geoffrey-rush.html.