NEW YORK – The Tony Awards, renowned for their exuberant celebration of theater, often resemble a reunion of a theater camp, albeit with attendees swapping casual attire for elegant tuxedos and glamorous gowns.
This lively atmosphere was palpable on Sunday evening as the audience relished in seeing their beloved Broadway stars finally receive their well-deserved accolades. The evening’s top honor went to a musical that pays homage to the magic of Broadway itself: “Schmigadoon!”
The event also featured some nostalgic reunions. Notably, members of the original cast from “The Book of Mormon,” including Josh Gad, Nikki M. James, and Andrew Rannells, returned to the stage to perform in celebration of the show’s 15th anniversary. Watching Gad energetically perform “Man Up” was undoubtedly one of the evening’s standout moments.
During the acceptance speeches, as expected, many winners expressed gratitude towards their families. However, one winner brought a fresh twist, offering thanks to the babysitters who supported their career journey.
Here are some of the night’s memorable highlights:
Pink sure got that party started
In the show’s first bit, new host Pink, who has not performed on Broadway, pretended she didn’t know what she was doing, and dangled uncomfortably from a wire, trying to be Peter Pan. Then Neil Patrick Harris, who’s hosted multiple times, came out and told her she just needed to be herself: “You’re Pink! You can do anything,”
Of course he was right. The consensus was that Pink killed it, starting with the opening number, where she led an enormous ensemble of some 170 Broadway performers in a version of “Lady Marmalade” that was a love letter to this season’s shows, with current casts performing onstage and lots of actors name-checked in the audience, too. As in: “Gitchie Gitchie Lesley Manville, Gitchie Gitchie Carrie Coon.”
The number was written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (the duo behind “Dear Evan Hansen” and “The Greatest Showman”) and Mark Sonnenblick (who co-wrote “Golden” in “Kpop Demon Hunters”), and the reaction in the theater was ecstatic.
Thank you for … canceling us?
This was a new kind of thank-you. When “Schmigadoon!” won best musical, producer (and “Saturday Night Live” creator) Lorne Michaels spoke first, saying “Sometimes singing, dancing, jokes and a happy ending are all you need.”
Then producer Christine Schwarzman spoke and thanked Apple TV for canceling the third season of the TV show it was adapted from.
“Without them dropping it, we couldn’t have picked it up and ran with it. So, thanks Apple TV,” she said, to laughs.
A voice teacher gets a deserved thank-you
There was no award that had the audience cheering louder and longer than when Joshua Henry finally won a Tony, after four nominations during a stellar Broadway career.
Henry won best actor in a musical for his career-topping turn as Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Black pianist who suffers the horrors of racism in the current revival of “Ragtime,” an adaptation of E.L. Doctorow’s novel.
In addition to his wife and kids, Henry thanked his first voice teacher, which got huge applause from the crowd. He also thanked Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell, legendary Broadway actors who preceded him in the 1998 run of “Ragtime.”
Babysitters deserve gratitude, too
Henry’s “Ragtime” co-star, Caissie Levy, was waiting for him for a long hug backstage. Levy, who was the original Elsa in the Broadway version of “Frozen,” had just won her own first Tony, for leading actress in a musical. In her own speech, Levy thanked a lot of people, but one unusual shoutout was to her family’s babysitters: “Thank you to … every babysitter who’s made it possible for me to be both a Broadway actor and a mother.”
Levy, a mother of two, plays the character called Mother.
A play about history makes some of its own
The winner for best play, “Liberation” by Bess Wohl, toggles between the present time and the ’70s, exploring the roots of second-wave feminism through a consciousness-raising group that meets in an Ohio gym.
But it was a different kind of history that playwright Wohl addressed in her acceptance speech — the fact that she was the first American woman to win the category since Wendy Wasserstein won for “The Heidi Chronicles” in 1989.
She told women and girls who were listening; “May you speak your truth and may the world be wise enough to listen.”
“Liberation” also won the Pulitzer Prize this year.
If anyone can make ‘Oedipus’ funny, it’s Cole Escola
There is literally not one single thing that is funny about the story of Oedipus, the Sophocles classic tragedy with a shocking ending.
But Cole Escola, the mastermind behind the hit comedy “Oh Mary,” found a way. Presenting along with Maya Rudolph, who is now playing Mary Todd Lincoln in Escola’s play, the writer-actor noted of Oedipus:
“(It’s) a play that asks the question: Can women really have it all?”
If you don’t get the reference, ask Manville. The veteran British actor won for leading actress in a play for her devastating turn as Jocasta in Robert Icke’s modern retelling of the tragedy — her Broadway debut. As she noted in her own speech, she plays Oedipus’ wife and, also, it turns out, his mother.
To which someone in the audience called out: “Spoiler!”
This is New York. They support the Knicks
When actor John Leguizamo introduced a segment on the show, he couldn’t resist ending his remarks with “Knicks in four!”
The crowd at Radio City Music Hall gave a huge cheer. You thought they were going to root for the other guys?
The Knicks lead the San Antonio Spurs by 2-0 in the NBA Finals.
Learning some moves during commercial breaks
The audience at Radio City Music Hall doesn’t just sit there in silence when the Tony telecast goes to commercials. There’s usually something happening, and this time, there were opportunities to learn some moves.
During one break, the audience was instructed on how to use the paper fans that many found under their seats, meant for the number featuring “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” which reimagines the 1980s feline musical as a celebration of queer ballroom culture.
And during another break, the crowd was shown how to dance to the upcoming “Time Warp” number from “The Rocky Horror Show.”
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