Tony Awards deliver a theme of acceptance, while De Niro drops an f-bomb on Trump

The American, grown-up musical The Band’s Visit outmuscled the acclaimed and sprawling British import Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for the most Tony Awards on Sunday, capturing 10 statuettes, including best musical, on a night where the theme of acceptance flowed through the telecast.

Deemed less acceptable by TV censors, however, were Robert De Niro’s comments onstage, when he twice exhorted “f*** Trump”. The expletives were bleeped out of the telecast, but were plain to see for lip-reading viewers.

The Band’s Visit is based on a 2007 Israeli film of the same name and centres on members of an Egyptian police orchestra booked to play a concert at an Israeli city who accidentally end up in the wrong town. Its embrace of foreign cultures working together found a sweet spot with Tony voters.

“In The Band’s Visit, music gives people hope and makes borders disappear,” producer Orin Wolf said upon accepting the best new musical crown, saying it offers a message of unity in a world that “more and more seems bent on amplifying our differences.”

Tony Shalhoub, the Monk star who won as best leading man in a musical for his work on The Band’s Visit, connected the win to his father’s 1920 immigration from Lebanon to New York’s Ellis Island at age 8. “Tonight, I celebrate him and all of those in his family who journeyed before him and with him and after him,” he said.

The show’s Katrina Lenk, who won best actress in a musical, said the production “filled her stupid little heart with so much joy.” She dedicated her award in part to the iconic Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum.