2010 Tony Awards: Catherine Zeta Jones, “Glee,” and Green Day

The 2010 Tony Awards broadcasted live Sunday night from Radio City Music Hall, promises exciting performances, star power, and snappy quips from host, Sean Hayes.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is on the playbill to perform "A Little Night Music" from "La Cage aux Folles," which is nominated for Best Musical revival. 

"Glee" castmates, Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison are also set to perform.  Michele is expected to sing, "Don't Rain on My Parade" from "Funny Girl,"and Morrison will belt out "All I need is the Girl" from "Gypsy."  Before her "Glee" stardom, Michele played the original Wendla in Broadway's Tony award winning musical "Spring Awakening."

Also on hand during the night: Katie Holmes and Daniel Radcliffe; Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith; and the punk-rock band Green Day, whose 2004 best-selling album "American Idiot" was adapted into one of this year's Tony-nominated musicals.

Host Hayes, who is best known for his role as Jack McFarland from "Will and Grace," is up for leading actor in a musical for his portrayal of Chuck Baxter, the insecure company man who lends out his bachelor apartment for extramarital, romantic dalliances by its executives, in a revival of "Promises, Promises."

Historically, Tony-nominated hosts have fared well. Hugh Jackman brought won a trophy in 2004 for his portrayal of Peter Allen in "The Boy From Oz." Nathan Lane won twice while at the helm: in 1996, when he won lead actor in a musical for "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"; and in 2001, when he shared duties with Matthew Broderick and won a Tony for "The Producers."

As far as the big winners of Broadway, two strikingly different musicals, "Fela!" and "La Cage aux Folles," are the dominant nominees.

"Fela!" — the innovative Afro-beat biography of Nigerian superstar Fela Anikulapo-Kuti — and "La Cage aux Folles" — a revival of the classic Jerry Herman-Harvey Fierstein musical — had 11 nominations.

They were followed by the revival of August Wilson's "Fences," with 10 nominations and the musical "Memphis," with eight.

Special Tony Awards for lifetime achievement will be given to playwright Alan Ayckbourn ("The Norman Conquests," a trilogy that won the play-revival Tony last year), and actress Marian Seldes ("A Delicate Balance," "Equus," "Deathtrap," "Three Tall Women").

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Conn., will receive the regional theater award.

The ceremony, telecasted on CBS, begins at 8 p.m. EDT.

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Copyright AP - Associated Press
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