The Local ‘Pippin,’ Huntington Theatre Awarded Tonys

Two of the Boston area’s top theater companies took home honors at Sunday night’s Tony Awards ceremony in New York City.

The production of "Pippin" that opened at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge before moving to Broadway brought home four Tony Awards, including best revival of a musical.

Diane Paulus, the ART’s artistic director, won best direction of a musical for it. She was one of two female theater artists to take home both directing prizes (the other went to Pam MacKinnon for the searing revival of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?").

Paulus had previously been nominated for best direction in 2009′s production of "Hair" and again last year for "The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess."  She lost both times.

The effervescent Patina Miller won best actress in a musical for "Pippin," in a role – the Leading Player – that also won Ben Vereen a Tony in 1973. Like Vereen, Miller sings and dances expertly in the role, but unlike Vereen, she also soars on a trapeze and sings while hula-hooping.

Sixty-six-year-old Andrea Martin won best featured actress in a musical for her role in the show. As Pippin’s grandmother, Berthe, she also performs high-flying stunts that thrilled audiences in both Boston and New York.

Her co-star, Matthew James Thomas, who plays Pippin, said at an afterparty that he was backstage watching Martin's emotional speech, and found it so moving that he burst into tears. "She's usually so together, so it was amazing to see her like that," he said. "I'm so happy for her, and Diane, and the whole company."

Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company was in New York to accept the best regional theater award.

With reporting by The Associated Press and the WBUR Newsroom