Seattle Pulls Some Tonys Out of the Hat

For the first time ever, we paid attention to the Tony Awards, where artists with ties to the Puget Sound region were winning all over the place. Bartlett Sher, artistic director down at the Intiman, didn't win for Joe Turner's Come and Gone, but Bellevue native Roger Robinson (profiled by Seattlest last week) won best actor in a play for his role. Also, the musical Next to Normal, which started as a project at the Issaquah-based Village Theatre won three awards. The musical, which started out with a reading in 2002 as Feeling Electric, and was developed for the stage as part of the "Village Originals workshop" in 2005, is a fine reminder that Seattle isn't just a stop for big musicals on their way to Broadway, but a place where talented artists actually generate the work that becomes the toast of New York. Congrats all!