'The Band's Visit' and 'Harry Potter' winning big at Tonys

The acclaimed and sprawling British import "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" and the shimmering, American, grown-up musical "The Band's Visit" were the big winners at the Tony Awards on Sunday.

Laurie Metcalf, left, kisses presenter Carey Mulligan as she accepts the award for best featured actress in a play for "Edward Albee's Three Tall Women" at the 72nd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 10, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Michael Zorn/Invision/AP)

"The Band's Visit," based on a 2007 Israeli film of the same name about an Egyptian band that goes to the wrong Israeli town, won seven — best direction, orchestration, sound design, best book of a musical, lighting and featured actor Ari'el Stachel, who gave a heartfelt speech about his past.

The cast of "My Fair Lady" performs at the 72nd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 10, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Michael Zorn/Invision/AP)

"For so many years of my life I pretended I was not a Middle Eastern person," he said, addressing his parents in the audience. He thanked the creators of the show "for being courageous for telling a small story about Arabs and Israelis getting along at a time that we need that more than ever."

Lindsay Mendez accepts the award for best performance by an actress in a featured role in a musical for "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel" at the 72nd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 10, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Michael Zorn/Invision/AP)

He added: "I am part of a cast of actors who never believed that they'd be able to portray their own races, and we're doing that."

The show's director, David Cromer, said the musical is also about loneliness and despair, and asked everyone to reach out to anyone for whom "despair is overwhelming."

Co-hosts Josh Groban, left, and Sara Bareilles appear on stage at the 72nd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 10, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Michael Zorn/Invision/AP)

The two-part spectacle "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" had captured six, including best play, book, lighting, sound design, orchestrations and director John Tiffany, who asked the crowd to sing "Happy Birthday" to his boyfriend. They obliged.

Andrew Garfield won his first Tony, for best leading actor in a play, for playing a young gay man living with AIDS in the sprawling, seven-hour revival "Angels in America" opposite Lane. He won his third, for best-featured actor in a play.

Bruce Springsteen accept the Special Tony award at the 72nd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 10, 2018, in New York. Looking on at left is Billy Joel. (Photo by Michael Zorn/Invision/AP)

Garfield dedicated the win to the LGBTQ community, who he said fought and died for the right to love. He said the play is a rejection of bigotry, shame and oppression.

"We are all sacred and we all belong," Garfield said. He then referenced last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision which ruled in favor of a baker's right to deny a gay couple a wedding cake based on his beliefs.

Students from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School drama department react after performing "Seasons of Love" at the 72nd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 10, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Michael Zorn/Invision/AP)

"(Let's) just bake a cake for everyone who wants a cake to be baked," he said, to rousing applause. Lane said the play still speaks to society in the midst of "political insanity."

In a mesmerizing moment, Melody Herzfeld, the heroic drama teacher who nurtured many of the young people demanding change following the February school shooting in Parkland, Florida, was honored from the Tony Award stage.

Andrew Garfield accepts the award for best leading actor in a play for "Angels in America" at the 72nd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 10, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Michael Zorn/Invision/AP)

Herzfeld, the one-woman drama department at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was cheered by the crowd at Radio City Music Hall. Herzfeld saved 65 lives by barricading students into a small classroom closet on Valentine's Day when police say a former student went on a school rampage, killing 17 people.

The cast of "My Fair Lady" performs at the 72nd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 10, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Michael Zorn/Invision/AP)

She then later encouraged many of her pupils to lead the nationwide movement for gun reform, including organizing the March For Our Lives demonstration and the charity single "Shine." Members of Herzfeld's drama department took the Tony stage to serenade her with "Seasons of Love" from "Rent."

Bruce Springsteen accepts the Special Tony award at the 72nd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 10, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Michael Zorn/Invision/AP)

In other wins, Glenda Jackson added to her impressive resume with a Tony Award for best actress in a play for her work in a revival of Edward Albee's "Three Tall Women." That show also yielded the featured actress win to "Rosanne" star Laurie Metcalf.

Billy Joel gave his friend Bruce Springsteen a special Tony Award. "This is deeply appreciated, and thanks for making me feel so welcome on your block," The Boss said. Later, Springsteen will perform "My Hometown" on the piano from his sold-out one-man show.

Ethan Slater, left, of "SpongeBob SquarePants:The Musical" performs at the 72nd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 10, 2018, in New York. Looking on from right are co-hosts Josh Groban, and Sara Bareilles. (Photo by Michael Zorn/Invision/AP)

Co-hosts Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles kicked the show off with a self-parodying duet on piano for all the losers out there — including them.

Neither Bareilles nor Groban have won a Grammy or a Tony despite selling millions of albums and appearing on Broadway. They turned that into a playful song.

"Let's not forget that 90 percent of us leave empty-handed tonight. So this is for the people who lose/Most of us have been in your shoes," they sang in the upbeat opening number. "This one's for the loser inside of you."

Two new musicals led the nominations for the top Tony Award crown, with Tina Fey's "Mean Girls" and "SpongeBob SquarePants" receiving 12 nods each. The revival of "Angels in America" had 11 and the two-part play "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" had 10. Many critics have tapped "The Band's Visit" as their odds-on favorite to be crowned best new musical.

The revival of "Carousel" won two awards — choreography and for Lindsay Mendez, who won best featured actress in a musical. She accepted in tears, recounting that when she moved to New York, she was told to change her last name to Matthews or she wouldn't work. She said she was happy to be in a production that "celebrates diversity and individuality." To all artists out there, she said: "Just be your true self and the world will take note."

One of the show highlights was the lively performance by the cast of "Once on This Island" that included a sand-filled beach, real water and a goat. Onstage guests were volunteers and staffers from three organizations that bring relief to areas impacted by natural disasters.

Getting buzz from appearing on the telecast can dictate a show's future, both on Broadway and on tour. Broadway producers will be thankful this year that the telecast won't have to compete with any NBA Finals or Stanley Cup playoff games.

For most of the previous awards season, shows like the Oscars and Golden Globes have acknowledged the issue of sexual misconduct and abuse of power. Bareilles and Groban will try to do that while also eviscerating any memory of last year's Tony host, Kevin Spacey, who since then has been accused by at least 24 men of sexual misconduct or assault.

The pair will also hope to end a ratings slide following the 2016 edition that was led by "Hamilton," which drew 8.73 million viewers. Spacey's ceremony last year drew 6 million viewers, which represented a drop of approximately 31 percent in total viewers from the previous year.

The show is a sort of victory lap for a Broadway season that saw grosses hit another record high by pulling in $1.7 billion — up 17.1 percent over last season's $1.45 billion. Attendance was also up, coming in a 13.79 million, an increase of 3.9 percent at last season's 13.27 million.

The Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell romantic comedy “Anyone But You” hitting Netflix and an album by Brazil superstar Anitta are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Everyone’s favorite dancing demon doll “M3GAN” comes back to Peacock, a beautiful woman battles hideous beasts in Sony's video game Stellar Blade, and a documentary detailing Bon Jovi's early days, rise to fame and breakups and breakdowns.

— The Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell romantic comedy “Anyone But You” is finally on Netflix starting Tuesday. The movie is about two young singles whose magical one-night stand ends in miscommunication and hurt feelings, and then find themselves both in a small family wedding party and staying in the same house. It’s loosely based on Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” Reviews were mixed and the box office started out tame, but it became a slow burn sleeper hit in theaters, earning more than $218 million worldwide. If you’ve been holding out to see what the fuss was about, now is your low stakes chance (it’s also not a bad plane option, which is where this film critic finally watched it). And afterwards, if you need a rom-com palate cleanser, “You’ve Got Mail” is also currently on Netflix.

— Another stealth box office hit, everyone’s favorite dancing demon doll “M3GAN” is coming back to Peacock starting Wednesday. Is it great cinema? Probably not, but everyone who watches it seems to have a fun time (in spite of themselves). Entertainment Weekly’s Leah Greenblatt wrote in her review that, “This is not the morose, carnage-soaked horror of dank basements and clammy night terrors; most of the movie happens in bright daylight, every maniacal head tilt, ungodly hip swivel, and murder-by-gardening-tool calibrated for screams that end not with a gasp but a giggle. M3GAN came to play, and possibly reboot her motherboard for a sequel. Are you not entertained?”

— Finally, if you’ve exhausted all your “Tortured Poets” analysis, you can pivot to watching a Joe Alwyn movie instead. He stars in Claire Denis’ 2022 romantic thriller “Stars at Noon,” which comes to Hulu on Sunday, April 28. Based on the 1986 Denis Johnson novel, Margaret Qualley plans an American journalist in Nicaragua during COVID-19 who starts an affair with a mysterious British guy, played by Alwyn.

— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

— Shot through the heart, and they’re to blame: Forty years after a bunch of kids from New Jersey got together and formed a great American rock band, a documentary detailing their early days, rise to fame, and best of all — breakups and breakdowns — has arrived. The only Bon Jovi documentary series to feature all members past and present, “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story” premieres on Hulu Friday, April 26 in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ in all other territories. Binge all four-parts one after the other or dole them out slowly. However you do it, expect to have “Livin’ On A Prayer” stuck in your head for the next week.

— Anitta, arguably Brazil’s most recognizable global pop singer since Astrud Gilberto sang “The Girl From Ipanema” nearly 60 years ago, is preparing to release a new album Friday, April 26. It’s titled “Funk Generation,” her first since the 2022’s “Versions of Me,” and its viral hits “Envolver” and “Girl From Rio” (with its interpolation of the Gilberto classic) made her an international star. She’s long aimed to bring Brazilian sounds to the worldwide music market, and focusing on Brazilian funk is an extension of that desire. “’Funk Generation’ is an album where I celebrate my roots. It’s where I express the power of Rio’s funk in every track its unique, danceable, and sensual beats,” she said in a statement. “It’s a rhythm born in the favelas, where I grew up, and it exudes resistance and art in every community.”

— It is time to give Midwest MCs their flowers: Fresh off a tour opening for Migos rapper Offset, Detroit’s Skilla Baby is preparing to drop a new project on Friday, April 26, “The Coldest.” If his trap earworm “Bae,” with its celebratory, ladies-first lyrics (“Bae, you know you’re fine, don’t you?” in the chorus) and the community-focused “Plate” are a taste of what’s to come, the release is going to be delicious.

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

— “The Big Door Prize,” a sweet, silly dramedy about the residents of a small town turned upside down by the arrival of a machine that reveals a person’s true calling, returns for a second season on Apple TV+. Starring Chris O’Dowd as a local high school teacher, “The Big Door Prize” is based on a book by M.O. Walsh and was one of The Associated Press’ TV shows worth watching in 2023. Season two of “The Big Door Prize” debuts Wednesday. Season one is also still available on the streamer.

— Two teen ghost detectives who appear in DC comic books star in their own series called “Dead Boy Detectives.” The story follows Edwin and Charles, two long-dead teens who spend their afterlife still on Earth and investigating paranormal cases. They’re assisted by a living teen named Crystal Palace who is a clairvoyant. “Dead Boy Detectives” also features Lukas Gage in an over-the-top, comedic role of the Cat King. “The Summer I Turned Pretty” actor David Iacono plays a demon. The ghostly investigations begin Thursday on Netflix.

— Idris Elba and Adam Pally reprise their “Sonic the Hedgehog” characters for the new animated series “Knuckles” on Paramount+. Elba plays Knuckles, an Echidna with super strength, who is adjusting after moving to Earth at the end of “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.” Pally is Wade Whipple, a not-so-bright deputy sheriff. “Knuckles” is part of Paramount’s efforts to expand the popular “Sonic” brand. Ben Schwartz and Tika Sumpter also reprise roles from the films. All six-episodes of “Knuckles” stream Friday, April 26.

— Alicia Rancilio

— Sony’s Stellar Blade takes place on an Earth that’s been mostly abandoned after an invasion by hordes of mysterious monsters called the Naytiba. Enter Eve, a sword- and gun-wielding warrior who has returned to her home planet to help out the few people left, including a scavenger named Adam. The Biblical references pile up — for example, the last city standing is Xion — but the real influence is the popular hack-and-slash epic Bayonetta. If you’ve been craving another flamboyant adventure with a beautiful woman battling hideous beasts, Korean studio Shift Up hopes it’s got you covered. Start swinging Friday, April 26, on PlayStation 5.

— Electronic Arts’ Tales of Kenzera: Zau is less campy and more down to earth. Its protagonist, Zau, aims to become a healer and, maybe, bring his father back from the Land of the Dead. The aspiring shaman has some nifty parkour skills as well as sun and moon masks, which allow him to, respectively, launch spears and manipulate time as he fights evil spirits. Tales of Kenzera is the debut title from Surgent Studios, which was founded by voice actor Abubakar Salim, and he says it was inspired by Bantu folklore as well as his own experience with grief. The journey begins Tuesday on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.

— Lou Kesten

Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/entertainment.

This combination of images shows album cover art for "Funk Generation" by Anitta, and promotional art for the Hulu series "Thank You, Goodnight" (Republic Records/Hulu via AP)

This combination of images shows promotional art for the Paramount+ series "Knuckles," the Apple TV+ series "The Big Door Prize," and the Netflix series "Dead Boy Detectives. (Paramount+/Apple TV+/Netflix via AP)