Schmigadoon!, a parody of golden age musicals, took residence the Tony Award for finest musical Sunday, in a ceremony that acknowledged a lot of longtime Broadway actors for the primary time and well-known gamers like John Lithgow and Laurie Metcalf.
“Sometimes singing, dancing, a lot of jokes, and a happy ending is really all you need,” mentioned Saturday Night time Reside’s Lorne Michaels, as he took the stage as lead producer of Schmigadoon!
The musical, which is tailored from the Apple TV present, gained 4 awards at the ceremony, which was hosted by Pink, in an lively awards present that included wins for Alden Ehrenreich, for his sharp-tongued role in the dead of night comedy Becky Shaw, Joshua Henry and Caissie Levy of Ragtime and extra.
Pulitzer Prize winner Liberation won the Tony for finest play, beating out Big and Little Bear Ridge Highway, making playwright Bess Wohl solely the second American lady to win within the class and the primary in near 40 years.
Whereas Cats: The Jellicle Ball, which reimagines the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical as a queer ballroom competitors, had early momentum within the telecast, with wins for course, costumes and choreography, Ragtime, a revival about racial and sophistication tensions within the early 1900s, took residence the Tony Award for finest revival, in what was extensively seen because the closest race on the Tonys. The musical, directed by Lear DeBessonet, took residence 4 Tonys Sunday, together with nods for 2 of its lead actors.
Loss of life of a Salesman won the Tony Award for finest revival of a play and was the most important winner on the ceremony with six Tonys, although lead producer Scott Rudin was not on stage, after leaving the trade for a number of years as a result of claims of dangerous habits. Laurie Metcalf additionally gained her third Tony Award for her position as Linda Loman within the play, and Joe Mantello gained for finest course of a play.
John Lithgow gained a Tony Award for his efficiency as Roald Dahl within the play Big, after taking residence the 2025 Olivier Award for the position. The controversial play delves into Dahl’s reported antisemitism, and sees Lithgow alternating between moments of cruelty and softness.
That is Lithgow’s third Tony win, and he beforehand told The Hollywood Reporter that this can be his final Broadway position, and onstage, mirrored on his profession, recalling his first Tony Award 53 years in the past, saying “I’m such a lucky actor.”
“I’ve had dozens and dozens of ecstatic moments on stage, but I have to tell you right now, this moment has got to be one of the best,” Lithgow mentioned.
The present additionally awarded some longtime Broadway performers. Joshua Henry gained his first Tony Award for his position in Ragtime (for which he continues to obtain a standing ovation mid-show), Caissie Levy gained her first Tony Award for her position as Mom in Ragtime and Shoshana Bean gained her first Tony Award for her position as Lucy Emerson, the mom within the vampire musical The Misplaced Boys, after an extended profession in theater.
“It is an honor to play this role, Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Black musician whose art led him to his love and to his dream, and even in the face of tragedy he found a way to be heard. Every artist in this room, every artist at home: Fight. Fight to be heard,” Henry mentioned.
“This is for every woman who ever felt like she was too much or not enough. I beg you not to wait for permission to be all of who you are,” Bean mentioned.
With Pink internet hosting, the present featured an opening number, written by Expensive Evan Hansen’s Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and Mark Sonnenblick, that included performers from virtually all reveals this season, introduced in former host Neil Patrick Harris and Megan Thee Stallion, and was stuffed with insidery theater jokes. The present featured performances all through the evening from all of the nominated musicals and revivals, in addition to reunion performances for Chicago and The Book of Mormon and superstar presenters together with Sting, Paul Rudd, Ben Platt, Bowen Yang, Billy Crystal and Rachel Zegler, who carried out a tribute to A Refrain Line.
Whereas many presenters championed girls’s rights, queer and trans rights and extra, Ali Luis Bourzgui, who gained his first Tony for his position because the lead vampire in The Misplaced Boys, was the one winner to speak up for Palestine.
“For Arab theatermakers and artists, may we continue to tell our stories and show our faces, so our humanity becomes undeniable, and our families can no longer be written off as merely collateral damage. May they know the beauty of our kisses upon each cheek and the romance of a language rooted in passion for love and life itself,” Bourzgui mentioned.
Pink largely stayed away from politics, although gestured at a lack of free speech in a bit with well-known viewers members that included many jokes but additionally appeared to talk to the present second and probably gesturing on the airing of the Tony Award on CBS, which is owned by Paramount.
“The powers that be are closing in on the First Amendment, as the strongholds of free speech fall. I think it’s important that Broadway stands strong and sticks to its values,” Pink mentioned, as she led into the section.
Zhailon Levingston and Invoice Rauch gained the Tony Award for finest course of a musical for Cats: The Jellicle Ball, wherein the two first-time Tony winners reenvisioned the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical as a queer ballroom competitors. The 2 honored the roots of ballroom, thanking the Black and brown trans girls and ballroom pioneers, as a sea of followers clacked within the viewers.
“To the 12-year-old kid who doesn’t fit in, who may be watching this on the television in their bedroom with the volume turned down low,” Rauch mentioned. “Come find your home at the Jellicle Ball,” Levingston added.
In successful a Tony Award for finest costume design of a musical for her work on Cats, Qween Jean turned the primary overtly trans winner in that class. After accepting the award, Jean, who was additionally nominated for designing costumes for the play Liberation, famous the significance of the milestone.
“We are here for the legacy of queer people. Trans people, we have to take up space. We have to shift the paradigm … the world right now is deeply, deeply combating so many ailments, and we know as a society that when we come together we can make real, permanent change,” Jean mentioned.
Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons, co-choreographers of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, who made their Broadway debut took residence the Tony for his or her mixture of ballroom, ballet and extra for the musical revival.
In an indication of what was to come back, Schmigadoon! gained finest ebook of a musical and finest rating early on the evening, through the Tonys preshow hosted by Laura Benanti and Tituss Burgess, with Cinco Paul taking the trophies for each. Two different new musical contenders, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Throughout New York) and Titanique, didn’t take residence any trophies Sunday, in what was a blended yr for brand new musicals.
The Misplaced Boys additionally took residence 4 trophies, together with for set design (Dan Laffrey) for its three-story set that additionally sees solid members falling into pits, driving elevators and flying by way of the air and for lighting design, with designers Jen Schriever and Michael Arden, who additionally directed the present, taking residence that trophy, along with Bourzgui and Bean.
