Tony awards 2011 - in pictures

The cast of Sister Act, recently transplanted to New York, perform on stage at the Beacon theatre, the new venue for the spruced-up 65th Tony awards ceremony, which aims to celebrate the best of Broadway Photograph: Kevin Kane/WireImage for Tony Awards Produc

Vanessa Redgrave arrives on the red carpet Photograph: Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic

Also in attendance was Andrew Lloyd Webber – this year simply as a guest rather than because of any nominations (though The Phantom of the Opera remains Broadway's longest-running show, so that's probably fair enough) Photograph: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

And the awards go to ... South African playwright Athol Fugard, best-known for his political work, accepts a special Tony for lifetime achievement Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Reuters

One of the night's big winners was The Book of Mormon, the controversial new musical from Trey Parker and Matt Stone – better known as the creators of South Park Photograph: Kevin Kane/WireImage for Tony Awards Produc

Andrew Rannells and the cast of The Book of Mormon perform on stage Photograph: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

Another Book of Mormon winner, Nikki M James, accepts the best musical actress award Photograph: Kevin Kane/WireImage for Tony Awards Produc

Cole Porter's classic Anything Goes shimmied away with the best musical revival gong. Sutton Foster and members of the cast performed during the ceremony Photograph: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

More surprising, perhaps, was the turn by Reeve Carney and Jennifer Damiano of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark – easily the year's most controversial Broadway show, which is finally set to have an official opening, six months after it first invited in the paying public Photograph: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

Frances McDormand scooped the best actress in a play award, for what the New York Times called her 'feisty defeatism' in David Lindsay-Abaire's play Good People
Photograph: Andrew H Walker/Getty Images

Mark Rylance, as expected, waltzed away with the best actor award for his showstopping turn in Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem – and produced another acceptance speech that baffled the American press, quoting a prose poem by avant-garde writer Louis Jenkins Photograph: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

But in every way the night belonged to War Horse, which triumphed in five major categories after arriving on Broadway earlier this year. It even provided host Neil Patrick Harris's transport on stage Photograph: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

War Horse co-directors Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris accept their joint Tony Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Reuters

The show took awards in every category in which it was nominated – for best play, best direction, best design and best lighting, plus a special award for Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, founders of the Handspring Puppet Company in South Africa, who created the show's life-size mannequins Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Reuters