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New York - The Tony Awards with hopping host Hugh Jackman couldn't leapfrog last year's show in the ratings.
According to preliminary Nielsen figures released on Monday, Sunday's CBS telecast crowning A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder as Broadway's best musical had an average viewership of 7.02 million viewers, a dip from last year's 7.24 million.
It was still the second-largest audience in the last five years.
Neil Patrick Harris, the show's longtime host, ceded control to Jackman this year. Harris, in his drag costume from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, gave Sting a lap dance and took Samuel L Jackson's glasses away and licked them.
The broadcast was up against Game 2 of the NBA finals between San Antonio and Miami, and there was no clear popular juggernaut being featured.
