Tony voters picked a contemporary brief encounter romance set in Dublin and a time-leaping tale about changing racial attitudes in Chicago as big winners in Sunday night’s annual celebration of Broadway excellence.

The Best Musical “Once,” made eight trips to the winner’s circle, the most of the night. Best Play was the only honor for Bruce Norris’ “Clybourne Park,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning satire set in 1959 and 2009 that ingeniously uses “A Raisin in the Sun,” as inspiration.

Those awards came late in the CBS telecast from the Beacon Theatre on the upper West Side that got off to a familiar start: Singing Mormons (again), host Neil Patrick Harris (again) and a gay joke about Broadway (again).

Despite the been-there, seen-that opening, the 66th annual Tonys flowed with big surprises and emotions.

The evening’s first acting award went to Judith Light (below) for her featured performance in Jon Robin Baitz’s “Other Desert Cities,” about a family with secrets.

Light, a nominee last year for the play, “Lombardi,” who is famous for her TV roles on “Who’s the Boss?” and “Ugly Betty,” made no secret of her delight.

“I feel like I’m the luckiest girl in New York tonight,” she said. Holding her Tony aloft, she dedicated her Tony to her late father.

Judy Kaye, a Featured Actress in a Musical winner for the frothy 1920’s-style musical “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” also dedicated her prize to her father who, she said, passed away last week.

In a lighter moment, Kaye, a previous winner for “The Phantom of the Opera,” quipped that shows “with chandeliers have been very lucky for me.”

“Nice Work” proved lucky as well for Michael McGrath for featured actor in a musical for his role as a rumrunner.

Nina Arianda was named Best Actress for her role as a mystery woman in “Venus In Fur” in one of the this season’s close races. Arianda made the night’s most charming moment when she accepted her award from the venerable Christopher Plummer and said, “You were my first crush.”

In another tight race, British actor James Corden scored the Best Actor in Play prize for his comic tour de force in “One Man, Two Guvnors,” besting close competitor Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Death of a Salesman.”

The Arthur Miller classic didn’t go home empty-handed. It won for best play revival. Director Mike Nichols also won.

“The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” was an unexpected champ for Best Musical Revival, a race forecasters thought belonged to “Follies,” which ended up with a Tony for costumes.

Audra McDonald won for Best Actress for “Porgy and Bess,” marking a historic fifth win. “I was a little girl with a pot belly and afro puffs, hyperactive and overdramatic,” McDonald said through tears, “and I found the theater and I found my home.”

“Once” Best Actor in Musical winner Steve Kazee, who plays a musician who has given up on music and life, was just as overcome. He spoke of his mother, who died on Easter, and sent shout-outs to the cast that has since then “carried me and made me feel alive.”

“Once” also won for its book, director, orchestrations, sound, lighting and, in another unforseen twist, set design.

The evening had shaped up to be a showdown between two movies-turned-musicals: the small-scale “Once,” and “Newsies,” the big Disney musical based on an actual newsboy strike in 1899 New York.

“Newsies” won for its original score — a first-time for Alan Menken, who already has eight Oscars, and Jack Feldman. Christopher Gattelli danced away with the Tony for his exhilarating choreography, which has paper boys whirling and leaping nearly nonstop.

“Peter and the Starcatcher,” a family-friendly prequel to the popular Neverland story, had a very strong showing. Christian Borle was a surprise winner for featured actor in a play. The play also cleaned up in for its design team, winning for sound, costume, lighting and sets.

For the second consecutive year, the three-hour telecast aired live from the historic Beacon Theatre on the upper West Side.

Emcee Harris, who has hosted the Tonys twice before — and won an Emmy for his efforts — kept the charm and the talent flowing. Besides belting original songs he dangled upside down on a wire a la Spider-Man in an inspired bit on fun.