BROADWAY Here are 3 reasons to watch the Tony Awards presentation

Many big-screen stars are acting on Broadway stages this season.
By CHRISTOPHER BLANK
SCRIPPS HOWARD
The top three reasons theater lovers and producers outside New York City watch the Tony Awards are:
UTo decide what to do on the next vacation to New York.
UTo figure out which shows are bankable on the local level a few years down the road.
UTo be the first person on the block to know who's climbing the stardom ladder.
Beyond that, the Tonys are a local theater awards ceremony with a Broadway ego. Were it not for the location, they'd be as illuminating as awards shows in, say, Chicago or Los Angeles, much more important to the players who make up the theater community.
Still, the song-and-dance fest tonight at Radio City Music Hall, with its requisite thank yous to producers, agents and moms, is good for three hours of broadcast cheese. Given the reasons we watch, however, what magic insights will the Tonys give us this year?
Let's say, you're planning a trip to New York and scratching your head over what show is worth spending a hundred bucks per ticket to see? The musical "Hairspray" leads the Tony pack with 13 nominations (although all you'd need do is walk around the theater district until someone shouts, "You haven't seen ''Hairspray'? What are you, poor?").
Based on the 1988 cult film by John Waters, the exuberant musical is about a fat teenage girl in early 1960s Baltimore whose thirst for sock hops and social justice helps her win a cute boyfriend as well as unite the races.
Publicity isn't lacking for the feel-good show. Just as Mel Brooks became a ubiquitous cheerleader for the 2001 Broadway treatment of "The Producers," cult movie director John Waters has temporarily cast off his "pope of trash" frocks and become the musical's lovable, family-friendly icon.
Billy Joel's songs
Not quite so available for mass consumption was pop singer Billy Joel, whose songs comprise the score of what will most likely be this year's big runner-up, "Movin' Out," which got 10 nominations.
Coming to terms with "Movin' Out" in the best musical category requires a liberal mind, because the entire show consists of classically trained dancers performing modern choreography to live music.
Most folks call this "ballet," though it's ballet with a bite.
As the band flies overhead on a moving platform, the performers take on Twyla Tharp's Tony-nominated choreography and direction.
The "story" is about a group of buddies who grew up in all-white 1960s America, got divided by the Vietnam War and had to reconcile their emotions in the aftermath.
If you can't get tickets to "Hairspray" and have an aversion to Billy Joel's greatest hits, you can always give in to a musical revival.
Who wouldn't want to see Antonio Banderas in the revival of "Nine"? The musical, based on Federico Fellini's 1963 classic film "81/2," received eight nominations. Fans of traditional musical theater will want to see Bernadette Peters in her performance as Mama Rose in "Gypsy," for which she received a nomination.
Only seven new plays opened on Broadway this season. Far and away, the most critically acclaimed was "Take Me Out," a play about a gay baseball player by playwright Richard Greenberg. It's the best new drama happening in New York.
Movie celebs
So many big-screen celebrities (most of whom are old hands at live theater) are nominated for Tony Awards, this year's ceremony will look a lot more like the Academy Awards.
Topping the list are Banderas ("Nine"), Peters ("Gypsy"), Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Dennehy, Philip Seymour Hoff man and Robert Sean Leonard (all in "Long Day's Journey Into Night"), Paul Newman ("Our Town"), Stanley Tucci ("Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune"), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio ("Man of La Mancha"), Mary Stuart Masterson ("Nine") and cult favorites Harvey Fierstein ("Hairspray") and Eddie Izzard ("A Day in the Death of Joe Egg").
If the big guns sweep the proceedings, there remains one sure thing for the fans of underdogs: All 10 lead performers in Baz Luhrmann's "La Boheme" will receive a special Tony for ensemble.
At least the Tonys leave us with a tiny mystery. Since "Boheme's" actors rotate through the leading roles in this opera-turned-Broadway spectacle, does that mean the trophy will rotate as well? I'd like to see that fight.