I simply can't resist saying I told you so right at the top!

Christine Ebersole. Photo by PatrickMcMullan.com

I'm referring to Sunday's Tony Awards honoring Broadway's best and brightest at which the amazing Christine Ebersole deservedly picked up the last possible award she could win, The Tony, for her tour de force turn as both East Hampton grande dame Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter the irrepressible and slightly askew daughter Edie Beale in Broadway's smash musical Grey Gardens. In a not often seen in these circles display of talent being recognized not only did Ebersole get the nod but her co-star the estimable Mary Louise Wilson also won for best featured actress! All of which I predicted last year. What I didn't call was how damn sexy Christine would look in that fire engine red, curve hugging gown! You go girl!!

And the tsunami sweep of Duncan Sheik and Michael Sater's daringly erotic musical Spring Awakening was no surprise to me as I told you after catching their rehearsal last fall. Those boys in the cast were just too, too hot!

The record breaking 7 awards that went to Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia (which featured East Hampton's very own junior thespian August Gladstone) were hoped for but never seemed possible. I mean a three part, nine plus hour epic about pre- revolutionary Russian intellectuals didn't seem like the kind of work that would cast such a spell but once again artistry trumped commercialism.

Though East End producers Stewart Lane and Bonnie Comley Lane were shut out of the best musical category for their moneymaker Legally Blond, they did scoop a Tony for Best Theatrical Event, a recently added category, for Jay Johnson: The Two and Only. Southampton's Darren Bagert on a winning streak picked up his third Tony Award in as many years for the acclaimed revival of Company with the absolutely splendid Raul Esparza in the lead. Bagert also scored for the imaginatively staged revival of Sweeney Todd and the powerful Long Days Journey into Night with Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Dennehey assaying the roles made famous by Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards. With all that behind him, Bagert is now prepping a new production of A Man for All Seasons with Doug Hughes at the helm. Hughes you may recall took home the Tony last season for the compelling drama Doubt.

So now that the official "season" has come to a close, let me tell you some other news I picked up at the awards after party about our beloved East Hampton playwright Terrence McNally who is having a banner year that just keeps getting better and better. Solid word is that former Sag Harbor resident (before she split with childhood sweetheart and husband screenwriter and director Seth Rosenfeld) Rosie Perez is set for the revival of McNally's hilarious bath house comedy The Ritz. Rosie takes on the role of down and out cabaret singer Googie Gomez, originated by Rita Moreno, who sings for her supper in a gay bathhouse. Rosie is even taking vocal lessons for the part.

There'll be another Gomez coming to Broadway soon. Gomez, as in husband of Morticia Addams. That's right the macabre characters created by illustrator the late Charles Addams will sing on Broadway in a new musical, The Addams Family, to be penned by songwriter Andrew Lippa and Jersey Boys writers Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice.

Stuart Oken, Michael Leavitt and Five Cent Productions, announced the plan for a Broadway production to bow in the 2009-2010 season after an out-of-town tryout. Rights were granted by the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation. This marks the first time the late Addams' darkly comic work will serve as the basis for a stage production. The Addams clan is widely known for populating a TV sitcom and two feature films. They're "creepy" and "kooky," according to the original TV theme song.

Addams' career as a cartoonist spanned six decades and encompassed thousands of cartoons, sketches and drawings, many of which were famously published in The New Yorker. He's best known for creating the unforgettable characters comprising The Addams Family. Addams' drawings of Gomez, Morticia, Fester, Wednesday, Pugsley, Grandmama, Lurch and Thing have entertained millions worldwide and served as the inspiration for a television series and motion pictures.

The Charles & Tee Addams Foundation was founded in 2000 by the late Tee Addams, widow of Charles Addams. The Foundation's purpose is to interpret and share the artistic achievement of Charles Addams' life through programs developed from the artist's work and archives. A big Broadway musical should do just that!

Don't expect to see too much of Kelsey Grammer this summer. The actor has signed on for a new TV series with Patricia Heaton titled Back to You. Kelsey plays a national TV anchor who gets demoted after making some on air gaffes. It looks like he'll have to put his planned run for Congress on hold for awhile.

Taking a page from Elizabeth Taylor's play book, actress Lauren Bacall with a career that spans five decades has partnered with the venerable jewelry firm of Weinman & Brothers to create her own signature jewelry. A true style icon, the sultry voiced star who never stops, recently completed work on yet another film and continues to project all the glamour and allure she did in her classic films with the love of her life Humphrey Bogart. You can be sure she'll bring her cool elegance to the looks and put her inimitable stamp on the designs. The new collection will simply be named Bacall.

Tina Brown's take on Princess Diana, The Diana Chronicles reminds that that the public's fascination with the tragic life of the young royal is unending. Sadly, the circumstances that led to her deadly car crash were repeated just recently on the streets of London with Sarah Jessica Parker the prey fleeing a wild pack of paparazzi who pursued the Sex in the City star so relentlessly that one of them rear ended the car she was traveling in. Unhurt but clearly shaken, SJP composed herself and continued with an in-store appearance for her new perfume, Covet that is selling out all over the UK.
Can't wait to see what powerhouse fashion retailer Mickey Drexler has up his well tailored sleeve with the soon to open J. Crew at The Beach in Southampton next month.

Drexler, who recently put out big bucks to purchase the fabulous Montauk estate Eothen
has promised something different for this latest outpost of the fashion empire. Word is the collection will be a highly edited, more beachy range from the national chain

Leave to it Ralph Lauren to launch his new fragrance Polo Explorer, on the anniversary of the invasion of Normandy. Even though Ralph was only six in 1944, his own D-Day took place in the Hamptons, complete with a squadron of Land Rovers slicing through the sands of Napeague.

He helicoptered in 18 editors and other guests from Manhattan for a three and a half hour whirlwind getaway that included a gourmet lobster bake courtesy of Exquisite Food, cases of champagne and beach rides on Land Rovers. The only glitch came up when the Town of East Hampton's Marine Patrol pulled up to warn the revelers about disturbing the piping plover nests. The guests offered the patrollers a glass of champagne no one is telling whether they took a sip or not.

I always knew that our dune swept beaches were the best in the entire world and now it's been confirmed. A recently release survey ranked Cooper's Beach in Southampton and Main Beach in East Hampton #3 and #7 respectively in a ranking of the World's Top Ten Beaches. We beat out Kauai, Maui and Florida and California's favored playgrounds. So there!

Russian heiress Anna Anisimova played the part of a spy while house hunting in the Hamptons recently. Worried she would be taken advantage of by commission-hungry real-estate agents, the beautiful 22-year-old gave agents false names and dressed in disguise. On the arm of her pal, PR man Jonathan Cheban, Annna amused onlookers with her large, dark sunglasses and attempts to go unnoticed. Whether the scheme worked is questionable. Anisimova purchased an 11-acre estate in Water Mill for $5 million.

Bad behavior seems to know no bounds and I can't help asking:

Which wife of a theater mogul shamelessly squeezing her way into red carpet shots told
a child actor to "get the F--- outta my way" as she angled to position herself next to a Tony Award winner?

Which father of a highly publicized and troubled tabloid front pager shocked Sunday strollers on a village street with his 20 minute obscenity laced diatribe to some poor soul on the receiving end of his cell phone?

Which well known local celebrity packed restaurant turned into a boxing ring when a waiter and waitress got into a major brawl in front of astonished customers?

Which gallery owner obviously a little over-served loudly told his staff "throw this bums out of here" referring to the crowd of some twenty art scenesters?

Just asking…