It's been a few days since the Tony Awards. From where I sit, it was a generally impressive show with a historic slate of winners. Before we turn over to the new Broadway seasons I wanted to discuss some of the most interesting developments from Sunday's show, taking a look at who came out winners and who came out losers - and I'm not just talking about who left the evening holding statues.

WINNER: Ruthie Ann Miles of The King & I for being the second Asian woman to win a Tony . A startling statistic but it’s a win that’s great just for a historical note. The Featured Actress in a Musical category was a real nail biter with veterans Judy Kuhn and Victoria Clark facing off three ladies making their debuts. I was rooting for Judy Kuhn just for an ardent love of Judy Kuhn (and Judy Kuhn in Chess and Judy Kuhn in Rags and so on) but Miles historic win with an equally impressive speech was delightful. Reading prepared speeches often threatens not to work but Miles humorous, self-deprecating speech on her iPhone (recycle!) was a highlight of the evening.

WINNER: Ruthie Ann Miles again, in the montage for The King and I.

Even before her name was called I said to myself after the somewhat disjointed musical montage for The King & I: “I wish the extract was just Lady Thiang singing.” Not just because I’m partial to the beautiful “Something Wonderful” but the image of her and the other wives advancing as she mournfully sang was a wonderfully orchestrated moment. The production team tried for a good montage, but in recent memory only Porgy & Bess and Cinderella have managed to effectively make a medley of more than 2 songs work for a Tony Broadcast.

LOSER: Musical medleys

Stop them. I understand WHY they happen but this year they weren’t working. If only On the Twentieth Century had done the marvelous “Sextet” (or “Babbette”) instead of the frenetic medley. I wish The Visit had just given us Chita’s gorgeous “Love & Love Alone” and even if it would have robbed us of glorious Ruthie Ann, The King & I may have done better by doing the full build up to the “Shall We Dance Number”.

WINNER: Kelli O’Hara and The King & I

But, I’m sure the team behind the show is hardly worrying about whether their medley was effective when they walked away with a heap of Tonys including Best Revival and Best Actress for Ms O’Hara. O'Hara also closed her speech doing a bit of the worm, so she also wins for just for being Kelli O'Hara.

LOSER: Kristin Chenoweth and Chita Rivera

The hotly contested Lead Actress in a Musical Award eventually went to Kelli O’Hara on her sixth nomination. Indeed I was rooting heartily for Ms Chenoweth as Lily Garland both for a general love for her and a great love for the underrated show and score of On the Twentieth Century. Chita Rivera courting her tenth nomination was also unsuccessful. The four time nominated On the Twentieth Century and the five time nominated The Visit both earned zero Tonys, in fact The Visit announced its closing reminding us of the sadness which comes after the Tonys as shows unable to recoup begin to close.

WINNER: Kristin Chenoweth

But even without a Lead Actress Tony the night was still a win for Kristin. Awards hosting can be a chore, and I’ll admit the highly personable pairing of Alan Cumming and Kristin Chenoweth was not always the most immaculate but they gave it more than just the old college try and Kristin in particular gave the hosting gig marvellous gusto. The best thing about Kristin Chenoweth continues to be her sincere earnestness and it worked to good effect at the Tonys, although, I suppose it's not for everyone.

WINNER: Chita Rivera

She is perfection, and wins just by being.

WINNER: Tony Yazbek

The On the Town performance is my easy pick for most successful performance of the evening. Much of that is owed to Yazbek who’s just thrilling to watch and turned in an excellent performance. He wins even more for pulling Chita up for a spin, who continues to be game as always.

LOSER: Bryan Cranston

Who seemed unable to read his teleprompter and a bit uninterested in the entire affair, actually.

LOSER: Plays. It seems the Tonys have gotten even worse at showcasing non-musicals.

WINNER: Non-Nominated Shows

I understand why Tony Award purists hate the idea of non-nominated shows performing on the telecast but I think it’s imperative to remember that the Tony Awards are not just about dispensing awards. And I think in the criticism of the telecast over the past few days, that point has been a bit forgotten. More on that below, but for the most part, even without nominations Gigi, Finding Neverland and It Shoulda Been You managed to get audiences seeing their work despite no nominations. Sure, they had to pay for those slots, but I don’t see how letting audiences see more of what’s on stage on Broadway is a bad thing. Well, in theory….

LOSER: Finding Neverland

Yeah, I haven’t listened to the score as yet but I’m terrified for the show if the featured number “Stronger” is the best thing in the score. Matt Morrison ambled through it as best he could but that number was probably the night’s least impressive one. The sets weren’t too bad, though.

WINNER: Matt Morrison’s shirt rip.Silver lining much?

WINNER: Christian Bole was the solitary winner for Something Rotten!, the new musical with a particularly effusive fan base.

WINNER: Andy Karl wins best reaction to his name being called with his expressive eyebrows. A gif-able moment if there ever was one

WINNER: Bernadette Peters who continues to exude perfection.

WINNER: Michael Cerveris for being Fun Home’s lone acting winner, winning a second Tony, and receiving it from Bernadette Peters. But, especially a pretty excellent speech. Cerveris would join Miles, Annaleigh Ashford, Tesori and Kron as having some of the best speeches of the evening.

WINNER (AND LOSER): The Audience at home.

Despite what seems like a general appreciation for the actual winners, the Tony telecast seemed to come in for a great deal of hatred this years. Odd from my perspective, since it seemed generally on par with previous years. Less funny, but with less fluff and fairly efficient, but for the Jersey Boys closer which I could have done without, but did give us a shot of the Eunuchs from The Visit dancing to “Oh What A Night”, so not a complete loss.

Theatre lovers tend to be terribly protective of the theatre. Understandably so. The Tony Awards function as the celebration of the finest performances on the Great White Way, in theory, but isn’t it just as much – even more – a representation of the ephemeral world of theatre for folks who didn’t catch all the 37 new shows this season? It’s a constant battle of the Tony Awards their half way celebration of the past season and a simultaneous send-up and advertisement for that very same season. The persons who are seeing the shows all year long aren’t tuning in to see the advertising aspect and in some cases those tuning in to see what it’s all about aren’t as cognisant or appreciative of the celebratory aspect. What to do? What to do….

In the recent years the Tonys have taken to handing out some of the non acting awards during the ad-breaks and showing snippets of them in the live show. Theatre lovers all can agree this is not an ideal situation. It’s prevented us seeing Bernadette Peters receive her Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, Larry Kramer his in 2011 and this year the legendary duo of Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori winning a historic Tony for Best Score. The Dramatists Guild of American President penned a beautiful letter ( HERE: DG Statement_CBS_06.09) explaining just why this is such an unfortunate thing. I hate to pit parts of a show against each other, but I’d wager always that musical theatre is the one craft where even more than the director and librettist – it’s the score writer who is paramount. What is Company without Sondheim? Chicago without Ebb and Kander? Chess may have a tortured book, but people remember its score first? And it’s a shame they cannot be seen live. It’s the same stance the Emmy’s maintain where the creative and technical awards are relegated to an entirely different untelevised ceremony. Like the Tonys the speeches of the recipients are available online for those who care but are not available for those who may not have known they’d want to see them to see. Theatre is a collaborative art and it’s just as wrong that the costume designers, lighting designers and set designers don’t get to say their speeches live.

But is this really a solvable problem? Short of making the telecast 30 minutes longer (which many might balk at), I’m not so sure. In recent memory I can’t think of a more economically produced Tony award show. Chenoweth and Cumming kept their bits short. Now you may wonder how can a telecast with un-nominated performances being featured could be economical but let’s get back to the Tony’s advertising role. If we take away the questionable Finding Neverland performance we also miss the Lisa Howard one. And though the song itself is lacking, I’m sure glad a million people got to see her belting. A Tony Awards that puts performance first is a good Tony Awards for me. Even ones that get so little right like the Finding Neverland one. How Les Moonves responds to the League's letter is another thing.

Did Nick Jonas and Jennifer Lopez halt the show in any way? They were presenters. Would a theatre person presenting have made the time shorter? Not likely. It’s a bit of false equivalency where the celebrity presenters are somehow bizarrely tied to Kron and Tesori unfortunately not getting to say their speech live. (By now awards watchers will know Jennifer Lopez is an ubiquitous presenter appearing at the Oscars and Golden Globes too even when she has no film for that year, musicians with no film history frequently turn up at the Oscars for no reason, it’s an award staple.)

I think the theatre lovers living in New York forget that more than half the people watching the Tonys may not have seen any of the shows being featured. And a quarter never might. CBS is airing from South America to the South Pacific to Africa to Beijing. And it’s unfortunate but CBS probably think they’re tuning in more for the show aspect than speechifying aspect. That doesn’t justify preventing all collaborators of theatre to have their moment to shine, but it’s a perspective worth considering in remembering why the Tonys are the way the Tonys are. The frequent theatre goers of New York aren't the only audiences for the Tony Awards telecast.

As someone miles away from New York, I’ll admit Tesori’s win was my favourite of the evening so when the telecast didn’t show her speech, it was only a mild bother to pull it up on YouTube. I wish young theatre goers, especially girls, all around the world could have heard her speak so beautifully on being a female writer. For some reason it’s the creative persons, not always actors, who make such wonderful award observations. Like everyone else I’d love for the Tonys to fix that but a knee-jerk removal of things like non-nominated shows being featured should give way to a more logical resolution.

I won’t lie, though, I’d be down with a 12 hour spot just for the Tonys. America’s rich theatre roots deserve half a day of celebration.