Ladies and gentlemen, I got off a plane from London just over two short months ago, and I'm astonished to be standing here before so many of you here tonight. It gives me a chance to pay tribute to my distinguished acting colleagues, Ralph Fiennes and Cherry Jones -- great artists both. And to my very good friend, the director Jonathan Kent. He enabled us to give life to one of the most emotionally intricate and musically perfect pieces of writing for the stage in the English language, written unsurprisingly by an Irishman, Brian Friel.

Brian Friel's Faith Healer had its debut on Broadway over 20 years ago and it was not a success. I am really proud to be associated with its triumphant return and restoration. These are two words that occur in the play regularly, and there's one other word that my character uses, that perhaps I should mention. He is a London show business manager and therefore totally unreliable and prone to wild exaggeration, but it fits the occasion and it's the way I feel tonight -- fantastic!

Thank you.