It Only Takes a Moment! The Top Three Tony Award Acceptance Speeches Fans Loved

This year's crop of Tony winners made us cry, laugh and GIF our little hearts out. We asked you which winners' words wowed you the most. Here are your top three choices!


3. Gavin Creel, Best Featured Actor In A Musical for Hello, Dolly!—4%
Our hearts were already warmed by Sutton Foster presenting her Thoroughly Modern Millie co-star with his first Tony Award. Longtime Broadway fave Gavin Creel hit a high note (literally) when he approached the podium and went on to be his velvety-voiced, absolutely adorable self. He dedicated his award to the musical-theater department at the University of Michigan, his alma mater. "My education there as a young person changed my life forever," Creel said. "My professors, my classmates—they instilled in me an appreciation for what it is to be an artist and what it is to be lucky to be part of this incredible community." Congrats to Creel, who is always full of shine and full of sparkle.


2. Bette Midler, Leading Actress in a Musical for Hello, Dolly!—15%
Some things take a little more than a moment, but we don't hate that Hello, Dolly! headliner Bette Midler's Tony acceptance speech was one of those things. (View a condensed version riiight HERE.) "I'd like to thank all of the Tony voters—many of whom I have actually dated," Midler joked. "This has been one of the greatest professional experiences of my entire life. I'm so grateful for the outpouring of love and affection that have greeted me and this production. That saying, I can't remember the last time I had so much smoke blown up my ass, but there is no more room." Midler blessed Broadway with being back where she belongs and the GIF of the century.


1. Ben Platt, Leading Actor in a Musical for Dear Evan Hansen—67%
Ben Platt may play a teen plagued by anxiety, but he had no problem wowing us with words at the podium. He spoke quickly and from the heart, mentioning his musical-theater geekdom, his love for his family and his "edible, edible nephews" and offered the most quotable tidbit of advice from the evening: "To all young people watching at home, don't waste any time trying to be like anybody but yourself because the things that make you strange are the things that make you powerful." Now excuse us, we need twelve boxes of tissues. Bravo!