At this year's Tony Award nominees reception, TimeSquare.com asked 20 of the hopefuls -- including Patrick Stewart (Macbeth) and Laurence Fishburne (Thurgood), pictured above – to name the best thing about performing in a Broadway show. “The great thing is the audience,” says Stewart. “New York audiences come to the theater to enjoy themselves. You don't feel, as you can in some places, that you have to prove yourself. The Broadway audience comes more than halfway to meet you.” Stewart's sentiments are echoed by Fishburne: “The best thing is the audience -- because they're alive!”

  

Patti LuPone, Gypsy: “The audience is why I'm on the stage. Period.”

 

Boyd Gaines, Gypsy: “I think the tradition of Broadway is what makes it really special. If you're an actor, it's an honor to go to work in the theater district, to see all the marquees with all these fantastic shows and performers, and to think, 'I'm a part of that.'”

 

Kelli O'Hara, South Pacific: “The level of production on Broadway, and at Lincoln Center especially, is amazing. We have a 30-piece orchestra, sets by Michael Yeargan, lights by Donald Holder, costumes by Cathy Zuber, direction by Bartlett Sher. You can't get that anywhere else. I'm working with the best of the best.”

 

Paulo Szot, South Pacific: “For me, as a Brazilian, it's an honor just to be on Broadway. This whole experience with the nominations is something I cannot believe. It's a wonderful thing.”

 

Loretta Ables Sayre, South Pacific: “The best thing about being on Broadway is getting a chance to do what I love the most in the place that's most respected for theater.”