Bette Midler took home the best leading actress in a musical prize at the Tony awards last night, joining a clutch of other Jewish winners on the night.

In her acceptance speech, the Hello, Dolly! actress, 71, reeled off a long list of people to thank, shouting “Shut that crap off!” when the orchestra began to play “walk-out” music while she was still on stage.

It was the Broadway legend’s first Tony award.

Ben Platt won the best leading actor in a musical prize, for his role as the title character in Dear Evan Hansen, a musical about teenage depression, which picked up six awards last night at the ceremony in New York.

In his acceptance speech, Mr Platt said: “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.”

The 23-year-old is best known for his role as Elder Arnold Cunningham in The Book of Mormon, and for playing Benji Applebaum in Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2.

Jewish composer Benj Pasek and his songwriting partner Justin Paul also took home the best original score award for their work on Dear Evan Hansen

Oslo, which centres on back-channel negotiations in the lead-up to the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel and Palestine, won the best play award, with its star, Michael Aronov, winning the best featured actor in a play award, for his role as Uri Savir.

Rebecca Taichman was a rare female winner of the best director prize, for her work on Indecent, which was written by Paula Vogel.