UPDATE: TWO FILIPINO TONY WINNERS

Turns out there were two Tony Award winners with Hawaii roots in Sunday’s telecast from Radio City Music Hall in New York.

We knew and applauded one, Nicole Scherzinger, who picked up the trophy for Leading Actress in a Musical, for her powerful  portrayal of Norma Desmond in “Sunset Blvd.,” which also was the coveted winner of the Best Revival of a Musical.

Scherzinger, of Hawaiian, Ukrainian and Filipino ancestry, also earned the unofficial Tony for being the first bare-footed  singer  to perform her featured tune, “As If We’ve Never Said Goodbye.”

What we didn’t know, until this morning, that Hawaii can claim another Tony winner in Darren Criss, who earned Tony as  Leading Male in a Musical, for his role of Oliver in “Maybe  Happy Ending.”  He claims Filipino roots, since his family lived here when he was young.

The media in the Philippine have been pouring out the hurrahs for Schwerzinger and Criss.

Call this response Pinoy Pride.

Schwerzinger has long mentioned her multi-racial roots while  being the leader of the Pussycat Dolls. She mentioned her mixed- blood extractions when excepting her Tony, revealing that the win made “a little girl from Hawaiian, Ukrainian and Filipino roots see her dream come true.”

She added, “Growing up, I always felt like I didn’t belong, but you all have made me feel like I belong, and I have come home, at last.”

Criss credits his Filipino heritage in shaping his foundation. Criss is Filipino on his mother’s side; his mom, Cerina Bru, was born in Cebu, in the Philippines, and is of Filipino, Chinese, and Spanish descent. Although Criss was born and raised in the U.S., he has embraced his multicultural background and is proud of his connection to his Filipino roots, especially through family and food. His family resided in Honolulu from 1988 to 1992, and colleagues recall he attended St. Clement’s School for pre-school/kindergarten, but his primary education was in schools in the San Francisco area.

Criss also is the first islander to pick up two trophies the same night – one  for Leading Actor and a second for being a producer of “Maybe Happy Ending,”  voted Best Musical. which was judged 2025’s Best New Musical. No ifs or maybes here, since the show was the evening’s big winner of six awards, including best director (Michael  Arden), Best  Score (Will Aronson and Hue Park), Best Book (Aronson and Park) and  Best Scenic Design (Dane Laffrey and George Reeve)…

The scoop on Clooney play

George Clooney’s’ “Good Night, and Good Luck” closed Sunday, with two performances – a matinee and evening show – prior to the Tony Awards June 8. The finale was that taped performance

Some factoids:

• Clooney was paid $1 each for writing, directing, and acting in ‘”Good Night, and Good Luck.”
• He took a pay cut; originally, his fee was $3 each for writing, directing and acting.
• It cost $7.5 million to make.

•  Due to a spinal injury he received on the set of  his film “Syriana” a few months earlier, Clooney could not pass the tests to be insured. So he mortgaged his own house in Los Angeles to make the film.
• The play recouped its $9.5 million capitalization in just over seven  weeks.
• The play broke Broadway gross records, posting $4 million-plus figures each week.
• It played to 100 per cent capacity, at the Winter Garden Theatre, which has a capacity of 1,508 seats—  1,001 orchestra seats and 507 mezzanine seats.. .
• Average ticket price was $339.
• A CNN telecast of the play had viewership of 7.34 million – and setting a record in the process, of being the first live performance of a play on TV.
• Clooney was nominated in the Best Actor category, but did not win…

The Top 10, for the week ending June 8:

1—”Good Night, And Good Luck,” $4.331 million

2—“Othello,” $3.807million

3—“Wicked,” $2.413 million

4—“Glengarry Glen Ross,” $2.358 million

5—”The Lion King,” $2.002 million

6—“Hamilton,” $$1.983 million

 7—”The Picture of Dorian Gray,” $1.367 million

8—“Death Becomes Her”, $1.347 million

9—“Aladdin,” $1.286 million

10—“Sunset Blvd.,” $1.261 million

The complete list of the grosses, for the week ending June 8:

And that’s Show Biz…