The celebration of the Tony Awards are always one of my favorite nights of the year. However, this year's fell on an extremely tragic day–in the early hours of the morning, there was a senseless mass shooting in Orlando, FL. While, thankfully, my family and myself were all perfectly safe from this tragedy, it certainly hung over all of us.

The 70th Tony Awards, hosted by the (brilliant) James Corden, will forever be one of my favorite Tony Award Shows. Beyond the fact that we all got to see material from "Hamilton," as well as other shows we can't see unless in New York City, it turned out to be an extremely classy evening filled with speeches dedicated to the victims and survivors of the Orlando shooting, as well as a celebration of the theatre community, a community that embraces individuality, diversity and love of all kinds. To all involved, congratulations for such a wonderful evening.

So, to put in my two cents, here are my ten favorite moments of the 2016 Tony Awards:

1. The Opening:

As someone who has never hosted anything, I cannot imagine creating an opening for such an event. How to create an opening number for people who are being celebrated for the opening numbers and beyond they perform every night? James Corden (winner of the 2012 Best Leading Actor in a Play Tony Award for his performance in "One Man, Two Guvnors") rocked this. There was a pre-show speech dedicated to the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, a beautiful opening to the evening and then a glorious musical number about how anyone can make it to Broadway, featuring musical moments from "The Phantom of the Opera," "Evita," "Fiddler on the Roof," "42nd Street"and more, as well as celebrating diversity, youthful hope and the magic of theatre. Bravo, Corden, bravo.

2. Cynthia freakin' Erivo:

In the months leading up to theatre awards season, I and many other Broadway babies became fans of the gorgeous and incredibly talented Ms. Erivo. The London transfer making her (now Tony Award-winning) Broadway debut as Celie in the revival "The Color Purple" has been stunning audiences with extreme skill, beautiful voice and incredible performance. Flawless in speech, looks and performance this evening in particular, Ms. Erivo's name definitely stuck with me and everyone watching.

3. Frank Langella:

Early on, Timothy Pigott-Smith's turn as Charles Windsor in "King Charles III" seemed a sealed deal for this award. I was surprised by Langella's win because of this belief in Smith, however, Langella more than deserves this for his incredible turn in "The Father." However, it was his beautiful speech that made me love his win even more. I've attached the video because it was just so good.

4. "She Loves Me":

I adore this show. Like, really, I do. I own the libretto, several cast recordings (I will definitely buy the 2016 Cast Recording), and Amalia's songs are a constant presence in my repertoire book. I could not wait for this performance and (aside from the brief moment where the spotlight couldn't find Zachary Levi) I was not disappointed. I say it a lot, but I love a good medley. Also, Meg Ryan (freakin' Anastasia) introduced the performance (because she was in "You've Got Mail," another adaptation of the Miklos Lazslo play "Parfumerie," which became the Jimmy Stewart film "The Shop Around the Corner" and later "She Loves Me"), which I loved.

5. "The Color Purple":

Once again Cynthia Erivo, but also the (awesome) Danielle Brooks, and the (incredible) Heather Headley. This show is such a celebration of women and female power, and this performance was such a great one. This was just stellar. My younger sister, Kate, even said she loved this just because it was such a charming surprise outside of the "Hamilton" performances.

6. The #Ham4Ham Outside the Theater:

The creator and star of "Hamilton," Lin Manuel Miranda, created a pre-performance showcase with #Ham4Ham where performers from the show would come out and sing songs from other shows, do special performances from "Hamilton," and more. The Tony Awards mimicked this with outside performances from the casts of the Tony-nominated shows singing songs from Tony-winning scores, such as the cast of "The Color Purple" singing "The Circle of Life," "Spring Awakening" singing from "Hair," and more. It was such a fun tie-in to an event that has become (and I hope will remain) a staple on Broadway.

7. Lin Manuel-Miranda's Sonnet:

It was quite a night for this amazing creator and his show, but it was elevated by the beauty of the sonnet he wrote for his acceptance speech for Best Score. He dedicated the win to his wife, history and the victims of Orlando Shooting. In his words: "Love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love!"

8. Shuffle Along:

If it had not been the year of "Hamilton," I personally feel that "Shuffle Along" or "The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed" would not only win the longest title of 2016, but also would've gotten just as many Tony Awards as was received by "Hamilton." Audra McDonald (the queen), Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter, Brandon Victor Dixon and Adrienne Warren star, George C. Wolfe directs and the choreography is by Savion Glover. What a winner, right? While the show took home no awards, it's amazing performance dazzled. I loved this.

9. "The Battle of Yorktown":

A performance with an introduction by President and First Lady Obama, a symbolic lack of muskets in a song about a battle, and moving performances by all involved, "Hamilton" did not disappoint. This was, frankly, stunning. No more to be said.

10. "The Schuyler Sisters":

While their Tony performance didn't feature its incredible female stars, "Hamilton" closed the evening (after winning the Best Musical Tony Award) with an incredible performance of the female anthem (JAM) "The Schuyler Sisters," with the showstoppers Renee Elise Goldsberry (now Tony winner), Phillipa Soo and Jasmine Cephas Jones, as well as the incredible ensemble. No one is in costume, it is just a jam session. Everyone in the audience is singing and dancing along and we see Broadway for what is truly is: A community of people who love theatre, support each others' accomplishments and love to celebrate talent, diversity and acceptance. "Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now."

Runners Up to this List:

"Fiddler on the Roof"

Pre-performance, James Corden showed a surprise video of Josh Groban as a 17-year-old Tevye. Their actual performance was beautiful and showed one of the most moving scenes in the show. L'Chaim!

"Bright Star"

I am not a bluegrass/country music fan, but Carmen Cusack blew this out of the water.

"Spring Awakening"

I am not a big fan of this show, but Deaf West's production was absolutely gorgeous and this KickStarter-funded Tony performance showed off my favorite song from the musical, "The Bitch of Living." Also, Marlee Matlin's intro was lovely.

What were your favorite Tony Awards' performances? I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did! In my opinion, this was one of the better ones in the past few years. Next year's season is shaping up to be just as incredible–I cannot wait!