Ragtime and Cats: The Jellicle Ball battled it out on the 2026 Tonys, resulting in some sudden wins and snubs.
The musical revivals went into Sunday night time’s awards ceremony with 11 and nine nominations respectively, and so they ended the night time with Ragtime in a slight lead with 4 Tonys to Cats: The Jellicle Ball‘s three awards.
Ragtime triumphed in the best musical revival category, arguably the closest race of the night time. Nonetheless, Zhailon Levingston and Invoice Rauch, who directed Cats: The Jellicle Ball, gained finest route of a musical over Ragtime director Lear deBessonet, triumphing in an in depth race.
One other Cats snub and shock win got here within the featured actor in a musical race. Theater legend André De Shields was seen as having an edge within the class for his position as Outdated Deuteronomy, a actually show-stopping efficiency, however as a substitute Ali Louis Bourzgui was the surprise winner for his position as The Misplaced Boys‘ charismatic vampire chief.
Bourzgui delivered a strong speech, by which he spoke out towards fascists and billionaires and in help of Arab artists and Palestinians.
One other notable shock and snub got here within the featured actor in a play class as Becky Shaw‘s Alden Ehrenreich beat out Loss of life of a Salesman‘s Christopher Abbott in what was one other shut race. Loss of life of a Salesman additionally suffered a uncommon defeat within the lead actor in a play class, when star Nathan Lane misplaced to Big‘s John Lithgow, although Lithgow had been broadly seen because the winner, significantly after he gained the Olivier Award for a similar position final yr. Nonetheless, Lane led a powerful marketing campaign and was praised for his efficiency.
Various reveals that went into the night time with a number of Tony Awards nominations have been fully shut out: 9-time nominee Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show, eight-time nominee Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Throughout New York) and four-time nominee Titaníque.
