Bryan Cranston — a Broadway newbie at age 58 — was the inspiration for a good laugh at Monday’s Theatre World Awards.
“I’m always amazed at [the award committee’s] ability to spot budding new talent,” poker-faced actor John McMartin said while presenting a trophy to the “Breaking Bad” actor, whose TV credits date back to 1980. The two co-star in the LBJ bio “All the Way.”
The Post’s Barbara Hoffman reports that McMartin called Cranston’s Tony-nominated turn as LBJ “like Rudolf Nureyev and Leonard Bernstein rolled into one.”
“I said to myself, ‘Oh, the potential here!’ ” McMartin joked of Cranston, who also starred in the recent “Godzilla” remake. “I just hope we don’t lose him to Hollywood.”
Award winner Chris O’Dowd — co-starring with James Franco in “Of Mice and Men” — joked of the young women screaming “James! James!” at the stage door, “They’ve learned my middle name!”
Other winners included Sophie Okonedo (“A Raisin in the Sun”), Nick Cordero (“Bullets Over Broadway”) and Mary Bridget Davies (“One Night with Janis Joplin”).