Tony nominees toot their own horns

At Wednesday's annual Tony Awards press reception, traditionally held the day after nominations are announced, stars and producers gathered at the Millennium Broadway hotel in Times Square to promote both their shows and Broadway theater in general.

"New York theater is always New York theater," said Kelsey Grammer, nominated for leading actor in a musical for "La Cage aux Folles."

"The business model may be changing a little bit, but the community is still the same. I still know half the people here," he said.

While "La Cage" tied with "Fela!" with 11 nominations, "A Behanding in Spokane," by much-honored playwright Martin McDonagh, scored a single nod, for star ChristopherWalken. "Who knows how these things go?" Walken says. "You know, the other actors" he begins, trying to find words to describe how a strong ensemble cast got ignored.

Of his own character, the creepy Carmichael, whose off-kilter cadences are mesmerizing onstage, Walken says, "It's a lot of fun. It's fun to play. My mother's Scotch and I grew up listening to that [cadence], and [I knew] I could do that."Broadway trouper Sherie Rene Scott, whose nominations for best book and for leading lady in a musical "Everyday Rapture" have made the 43-year-old an overnight star, takes that new appellation in stride."I love that," she says with a laugh. "After traveling long distances and many years, I'm an overnight success. Yes, and it was a long night!"At the opposite end, longtime legend Twyla Tharp, 68, who was nominated for choreography for the Sinatra production "Come Fly Away" that she directed, says she's not looking to burnish her legacy. "I've done what I've done," she said, "and I'm grateful for all the opportunities, and the fact those opportunities make others possible for me, and which I can extend to others, like the phenomenal dancers in the cast."