The musical "Once," which tells the story of the love between a musician and an immigrant singer and pianist, was the big winner at this year's Tony awards ceremony, scooping eight prizes.

Neil Patrick Harris and Patti LuPone perform onstage at the 66th Annual Tony Awards at The Beacon Theatre on June 10, 2012 in New York City.

"Once", which went into the contest with eleven nominations, gained some of the most important awards: best musical, best director of a musical for John Tiffany, and best actor for Steve Kazee.

In addition, it gained the prizes for best screenplay, sound, instrumentation, lighting and scenery.

"Once" is based on an Irish musical film, which in 2007 won the Oscar for best original song for "Falling Slowly".

The controversial musical "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess," which features a shorter version of the legendary opera by George Gershwin, won the awards for best musical revival and best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical. The leading role of Bess in this production was played by Audra McDonald.

Other winners included "Peter and the Starcatcher," which took home five awards. The play, which recounts the early adventures of Peter Pan, is based on a children's novel by the same name published in 2006 by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.

It won the Tonys for best supporting actor for Christian Borle, best costume, best sound, best scenery and best lighting.

Nina Arianda, who has spent most of her career in theater, won the award for best performance by an actress in a leading role in a play. She starred in "Venus in Fur", an adaptation of a novel by 19th century Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, who gave birth to the term masochism.

Michael McGrath and Judy Kaye won the awards for best performance by an actor/actress in a featured role in the musical "Nice Work If You Can Get It", music and lyrics of which were written by brothers George and Ira Gershwin.

Last year, the big winner was the musical "The Book of Mormon", a religious satire that took home nine awards.