BOOK OF MORMON, HOST NEIL PATRICK HARRIS BIG WINNERS AT TONY AWARDS

Last night’s Tonys were all about Mormons and Spiders, not to mention Horses and a drama about AIDS.

On a night when the hilariously profane The Book of Mormon dominated Broadway's annual award show, the troubled musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which wasn't eligible because it hadn't even officially opened yet, seemed to be on everybody’s minds.

Host Neil Patrick Harris, whose opening song about the theatre not being just for gays got the lively awards show off to a running start, earned his biggest laugh with a quip about the show's ousted original director: "Julie Taymor knew it was over when she woke and found the head of War Horse in her bed."

Even Bono was making jokes, saying he and The Edge "used to be famous for being in U2” before the pair introduced a new ballad in the show performed by Reeve Carney and Jennifer Damiano, who play Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson.

Mormon captured nine awards, including best musical, for its offensive, yet good-natured , look at two missionaries who arrive in Uganda only to face gun-toting warlords, villages infected with HIV and a running gag about maggots in a man's scrotum.

South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone collaborated with Robert Lopez, who co-wrote the Tony-winning Avenue Q, on the show. Collecting the best musical prize, Parker said he'd be remiss if he didn't thank his late book co-writer, Mormon church founder Joseph Smith, looking heavenward to do so.

War Horse, a WW I tale about horses told through puppetry, won five Tonys, including best play. The revival of Larry Kramer's groundbreaking AIDS play The Normal Heart won three, as did the revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes, with Sutton Foster winning best actress in a musical.

Among the many performers was Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert, who performed in a number from Stephen Sondheim’s Company, which also starred Harris and Patti LuPone, among others.

Mark Rylance won best actor in a play for his portrayal of Johnny "Rooster" Byron in Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem. Just as he did three years ago when he won for Boeing-Boeing, Rylance quoted Louis Jenkins, an obscure poet from Minnesota., about walking through walls.

Norbert Leo Butz won for best actor in a musical for playing a frumpy FBI agent hot on the heels of a con man in Catch Me If You Can, his second Tony. He movingly paid tribute to his sister, who was killed while he was working on the show. Unfortunately, the wrap-it-up music was playing him off.

Frances McDormand earned best actress for her portrayal of a South Boston, blue-collar woman in the David Lindsay-Abaire play Good People.

The directing prize for a play went to Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris for War Horse, the story of a boy and the horse he loves.

Shows left empty-handed included The Scottsboro Boys, which had 12 nominations, Sister Act, The Merchant of Venice and The Motherf---- With the Hat, which stars Chris Rock in his first Broadway role

Nikki M. James won for best featured actress in a musical in The Book of Mormon, while The Normal Heart won the best revival prize. Stars Ellen Barkin and John Benjamin Hickey won for best actress and best actor in a featured role, respectively, for the AIDS drama.

Veteran TV star John Larroquette, in his Broadway debut, won the award for best actor in a featured role in a musical for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, thanking his co-star, Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe, who performed the show’s set piece “Brotherhood of Man” on the telecast.