I sat down to watch the Tony Awards Sunday night, June 16, with trepidation. It had been a particularly stuffed season, especially with musicals, which is my favorite genre. I expected to be disappointed by some of the decisions.
But I walked away happier with the awards as a whole than in most previous years. I wouldn’t have made all of the same choices as Tony voters, but I agreed with a lot of them. A dozen shows took home at least one Tony.
First of all, I was thrilled that The Outsiders won the Best Musical award. In a season with a number of terrific musicals, I still strongly feel that this is the best one. It won the most awards for a new musical with four Tonys. You get a small taste of the show’s epic fight choreography and wonderful score here.
I wanted The Outsiders to also win for Best Score, but I wasn’t mad to see Shaina Taub on stage to receive that award for her wonderful score for Suffs, the musical about the real suffragists who won women the right to vote. In also winning the Tony for Best Book, she became the first woman to win both by herself (without a writing partner). She took home the only two Tonys won by Suffs.
I saw an interview with her in which she said she suffered a lot of doubt during the process of writing the show. It just goes to show that self-doubt happens to the best of us, no matter how talented and accomplished we are!
Dede Ayite was also the first Black woman to win for Best Costume Design of a Play. She had three Tony nominations for her costume designs for three shows this year!
Hell’s Kitchen, the jukebox musical using Alicia Keys music, had the most nominations of the night but only won two – both for the show’s lead actresses. I was especially happy to see veteran actress Kecia Lewis walk home with her first Tony. I have followed her career for years.
I wasn’t happy with the performance of Hell’s Kitchen during the Tony Awards, however. I thought it misrepresented the show since Alicia Keys and Jay Z joined the cast on television, but that never happens during the show at the theater. The Who’s Tommy, which received a nomination but no awards, did something similar by having Pete Townsend join them on stage.
The revival of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along won big with four Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical and for its two lead actors – Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe. Both actors have been on Broadway numerous times, and Jonathan has been nominated before. But it was a first win for both of them, and it was a first nomination for Daniel for any acting award despite the fact that he’s been an actor since a very young age. It was lovely to see them both get the recognition they deserve.
While the other lead in Merrily, Lindsay Mendez, didn’t win this year, she has a Tony for her work in Carousel in the past. So now, all three leads in the show have a Tony. Nice!
I expected Maria Friedman to win Best Director for Merrily, but I’m still excited it went to the director of The Outsiders, Danya Taymor, the niece of famed director Julie Taymor.
Nevertheless, the wins for Merrily are particularly sweet since the original production of the show was a well-known flop. I have long loved Sondheim’s score for that show, so I’m pleased to see it finally work and get the accolades it has been due for decades (even though bittersweet since Sondheim didn’t live to see it.)
It was also wonderful to see Jonathan Tunick win for Best Orchestrations for Merrily We Roll Along. A longtime collaborator with Stephen Sondheim, orchestration wasn’t a category during most of their years of working together. So it was his first win for a Sondheim musical.
There were some categories that were almost done deals. We knew Merrily We Roll Along would win Best Revival of a Musical and that Appropriate would win Best Revival of a Play. We knew Kara Young would win Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for Purlie Victorious and that Sarah Paulson would win Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for Appropriate.
We also knew Stereophonic would win Best Play. It walked away with the most wins of the night with five Tonys. No surprise since it had the most nominations of any play in Tony history. But I considered all of the other categories to be more or less a crap shoot, which is rare.
Stereophonic wasn’t a musical, but it was nominated for Best Score because there are songs in the show. I would have been furious if it had won for score, however, in a season filled with full, brilliant scores in actual musicals! Thank God it didn’t win in that category.
Meanwhile, it’s sad that most of the design awards are given out during a pre-show that few people see because it isn’t on the major network. They did give the Best Book of a Musical award at that presentation, but I’m glad they moved Best Score to the regular broadcast this year where it belongs.
In a season so stuffed with shows, it isn’t enough to be good. You have to be better than your competition. For this reason, a lot of excellent shows were locked out of either awards or any nominations at all. Like The Who’s Tommy, The Notebook and Water For Elephants both got nominations but won nothing. In a less competitive season, The Notebook might very well have won big, for example.
The Heart of Rock and Roll got excellent reviews but no nominations. Even though it’s a wonderful show, jukebox musicals often struggle to get a lot of recognition (and rightly so in most cases since the score isn’t new). Hell’s Kitchen is an exception to the rule.
The biggest puzzler for me was The Great Gatsby, which is one of my favorite shows of the season. It did win for Best Costumes, but it absolutely should have at least been nominated for set design, lead actor for Jeremy Jordan, lead actress for Eva Noblezada, and featured actor for Noah J. Ricketts. The Great Gatsby did win big in awards chosen by the fans.
As for the Tony show itself, I think Ariana DeBose does a fine job as host, but I still miss Neil Patrick Harris, who remains for me the best Tony host ever. The opening number last night was a bit underwhelming, but only because Neil and the writers when he was part of the show set such a high bar.
That said, Ariana DeBose is the epitome of a triple threat. She could make it as an actress alone, as a singer alone, or as a dancer alone. But she does them all equally well.
My personal award for favorite acceptance speech of the night goes to David Adjmi, the playwright of Stereophonic, who said: “It’s really hard to make a career in the arts. We need to fund the arts in America. It’s the hallmark of a civilized society.” Hear, hear.
Besides the aforementioned numbers of Tonys won by particular shows, Appropriate won three, and the following each took home one award: The Great Gatsby, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, An Enemy of the People, Illinoise, Purlie Victorious, and Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. Below is a full list of winners in each category:
Best Musical: The Outsiders
Best Revival of a Musical: Merrily We Roll Along
Best Direction of a Musical: Danya Taymor, The Outsiders
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical: Jonathan Groff, Merrily We Roll Along
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical: Maleah Joi Moon, Hell’s Kitchen
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical: Daniel Radcliffe, Merrily We Roll Along
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical: Kecia Lewis, Hell’s Kitchen
Best Book of a Musical: Shaina Taub, Suffs
Best Original Score: Shaina Taub, Suffs
Best Orchestrations: Jonathan Tunick, Merrily We Roll Along
Best Choreography: Justin Peck, Illinoise
Best Scenic Design in a Musical: Tom Scutt, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Best Costume Design in a Musical: Linda Cho, The Great Gatsby
Best Lighting Design in a Musical: Brian MacDevitt and Hana S. Kim, The Outsiders
Best Sound Design of a Musical: Cody Spencer, The Outsiders
Best Play: Stereophonic
Best Revival of a Play: Appropriate
Best Direction of a Play: Daniel Aukin, Stereophonic
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play: Jeremy Strong, An Enemy of the People
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play: Sarah Paulson, Appropriate
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play: Will Brill, Stereophonic
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play: Kara Young, Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
Best Scenic Design in a Play: David Zinn, Stereophonic
Best Costume Design in a Play: Dede Ayite, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Best Lighting Design in a Play: Jane Cox, Appropriate
Best Sound Design of a Play: Ryan Rumery, Stereophonic
Melanie Votaw is the Publisher and Executive Travel Writer of LuxuryWeb Magazine. She has visited more than 50 countries on 6 continents and written for such magazines as Executive Travel, Just Luxe, Business Insider, South China Morning Post, Travel Mindset, and more. She is a member of the International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association and the International Travel Writers Alliance. Melanie's photography has won awards, and she has also written 39 nonfiction books as either the author or ghostwriter.
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