It has been a heady week for Garry Hynes and the Broadway cast of The Beauty Queen Of Leenane - four prestigious Tony Awards, banks of paparazzi at every turn, plaudits from the New York theatre aristocracy and radio interviews in pub bathrooms. Yup that's right, the only quiet spot to be found during the extended celebrations in O'Lunney's bar was the Ladies, so six members of the production, including Garry herself and award-winners Marie Mullen, Anna Manahan and Tom Murphy crammed in to a cubicle to say their piece. The bar staff promptly re-christened it The Radio Studio. All a far cry from the glamour of the Tony award ceremony itself and the Tony ball afterwards.
All the nominees had been supplied with their own stretch limo for the night and arrived at Radio City Music Hall to huge crowds and dozens of photographers. The Beauty Queen gang are well known in New York, partly because of the high-profile fans of the show. Actress Meryl Streep and Friends star Jennifer Anniston both went back stage to offer their congratulations while Rosie O'Donnell, whose daily television show is hugely popular in the US, announced in the New York Times that she couldn't even talk about the Druid show for several days because she was so overcome by it. Plaudits were flying on the Tony night itself, too. At the rather lavish Tony Ball at the Marquis Mariott hotel, there was lots of professional schmoozing as producers queued up to offer their congratulations to Garry Hynes. The grande dame of the theatre, Angela Lansbury, sailed over to say how much she enjoyed the show. Liam Neeson also arrived to give Garry and the cast a big hug - he is appearing in Judas Kiss on Broadway and was accompanied by his wife, Natasha Richardson, who won a Tony herself for her role in Cabaret.
Other actors spotted at the glittering ball included Stockard Channing; Sean Connery; Oscar-winner, Helen Hunt; Tony award-winner Nathan Lane; John Leguizamo; Emmy-winner John Litgow; actor and dancer Gregory Hines and Alec Baldwin.