party lines

Zach Braff Skips ‘Sopranos’ for Tonys, Doesn’t Care

20070611braff.jpg

Braff at the Tonys last night.Photo: Getty Images

Zach Braff introduced the show-stopping Spring Awakening performance near the end of the Tony Awards last night — apparently the guy from My Name Is Earl was unavailable — but as he told us in the gift lounge backstage at Radio City Musical Hall last night, he wasn’t too upset to be missing the big Sopranos finale. “I haven’t seen any of the last four episodes,” he said, “and my buddy last night at a bar decided to tell me what I’d missed and ruined everything for me.” Jane Krakowski — TV star and actual Broadway actress! — was less sanguine.

I think the ratings are gonna be very low this year, especially between nine and ten,” she told us. “I’m presenting between nine and ten, so no one will ever know I was here.” Presenters Neil Patrick Harris, Cynthia Nixon, and Christina Applegate were some of the gift-suite early birds, picking out freebies from Chantelle lingerie, Invicta watches, Nivea, and Nespresso coffee. Ben Vereen entered, stumbled over the steps, and elicited a sympathetic remark from Anne Heche about how dark the room was. “See, I was making an entrance,” he later explained to us. “You don’t just come into a room. You make an entrance. You noticed me, didn’t you? It worked.” It did work. He’s got magic to do. —Mina Hochberg

What did Liev Schreiber, Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Julie White, Brian Dennehy, and Felicity Huffman have to say backstage at the Tonys? Find out in our Interactive Party Lines.

Zach Braff Skips ‘Sopranos’ for Tonys, Doesn’t Care