Harry Potter play wins six Tony awards

A goat stole the show at the 2018 Tony Awards

It was a triumphant night for British theatre at the Tony Awards on Sunday night, with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child picking up six awards.

The West End transfer collected 6 gongs, including best play and best direction, at the New York ceremony.

Veteran actress Glenda Jackson won best actress in a play for her performance in Three Tall Women.

British-American star Andrew Garfield won best actor in a play for his turn in a revival of Angels in America.

Reuters Robert De NiroReuters
Robert De Niro - fighting talk

The original production ran at the National Theatre in London last year.

The biggest winner of the night was a musical about an Egyptian band visiting an Israeli desert town - The Band's Visit picked up an impressive 10 prizes, including best musical, best actress (Katrina Lenk) and best actor (Tony Shalhoub).

Beyond the prizes, Oscar-winning actor Robert de Niro pulled no punches when he delivered an expletive-laden denunciation of US President Donald Trump during the live television broadcast.

The expletive was bleeped by the CBS network for millions of television viewers.

Survivors of the Florida school shooting sang on stage
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Top Tony moments 2018

  • Robert De Niro dropped the F-bomb in reference to President Trump - and got a standing ovation lasting over a minute
  • Andrew Garfield made a powerful speech which he dedicated to the LGBTQ community as he accepted his award. He ended his speech with a reference to the recent Supreme Court ruling, which found that a Colorado bakery was legally permitted to deny service to a gay couple who tried to order a wedding cake for their same-sex wedding. "We are all sacred, and we all belong," said Garfield. "So let's just bake a cake for everyone who wants a cake to be baked." Cue loud applause.
  • There wasn't a dry eye in the house when students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Florida, took to the stage to perform Seasons of Love from the musical Rent. A gunman killed 17 students at the school in February.
  • Glenda Jackson was rewarded for her return to Broadway after a three-decade gap. And one boy sitting behind the British actress was obviously delighted.
  • Sparky the goat, one of the stars of musical Once on this Island, was on the red carpet - and inside Radio City Music Hall. But Nathan Lane was not amused.

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De Niro then introduced Bruce Springsteen, who performed and was presented with a special award.

The actor said: "Bruce, you can rock the house like nobody else. And even more important in these perilous times, you rock the vote, always fighting for, in your own words, truth, transparency, and integrity in government. Boy, do we need that now."

Getty Images Tony Shalhoub and Katrina LenkGetty Images
The Band's Visit was the night's biggest winner

Andrew Lloyd Webber was honoured with a lifetime achievement award.

Other winners included Carousel (best choreography and best featured actress in a musical - Lindsay Mendez).

Angels in America also won best revival of a play, with Broadway stalwart Nathan Lane winning best featured actor in a play.

But musical Mean Girls, based on the 2004 film, went away empty-handed after receiving 12 nominations.

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