Tonight was the 78th Annual Tony Awards, and all the stars came out to help celebrate Broadway’s big night.
This year’s awards were hosted by Cynthia Erivo, best known to younger fans for her role as Elphaba in the Wicked movie, though seasoned theater goers know she is a Tony winner herself thanks to her memorable work in The Color Purple. Speaking of which, Oprah Winfrey showed up tonight as a presenter, along with other luminaries including Charli D’Amelio, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, Adam Lambert, and Keanu Reeves. Additionally, the broadcast featured performances from 11 of this season’s Broadway musicals, including Buena Vista Social Club, Gypsy, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical, Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Sunset Boulevard, and Real Women Have Curves. Not to mention a very special reunion of the original cast of Hamilton, including the show’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, to mark its 10th anniversary.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]This was a packed season on the Great White Way, with 21 plays and 21 musicals eligible for awards in 26 competitive categories. The most-nominated shows were the musicals Buena Vista Social Club, based on the lives of the Cuban musicians who recorded the popular 1997 album, Death Becomes Her based on the 1992 Robert Zemeckis film, and an original creation, Maybe Happy Ending. They each have 10 nominations. Maybe Happy Ending had a happy ending indeed, going home with the final prize of the night for Best Musical.
While the competition was fierce this year—two of the shows up for Play of the Year had already won the Pulitzer Prize: Purpose by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and English by Sanaz Toossi—some awards were announced in the run-up to the ceremony. The on-stage band from Buena Vista Social Club earned an award and Stranger Things: The First Shadow took home a special effects prize. Four-time Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein received a special award for lifetime achievement in the theater and Celia Keenan-Bolger won the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award, which honors a member of the theater community who has “made a substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian, social service or charitable organizations,” according to the Tony Awards.
Another performer theater fans were keeping an eye on was Audra McDonald, who was up for her record-breaking 11th nomination for playing Mama Rose in the revival of Gypsy, though the award ultimately went to Nicole Scherzinger for Sunset Blvd. Sarah Snook, who won an Emmy playing Shiv Roy on HBO’s Succession, started off the evening by taking home her first Tony for playing 26 characters in a high-tech adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Plus, Cole Escola, the creator and star of the comedy Oh, Mary!, ended up taking a best lead actor win over George Clooney.
Read more: Audra McDonald Is Our Greatest Living Stage Actor
Best Reminder
Cynthia Erivo opened the show with a serious history lesson for anyone who forgot that way before she was starring in Wicked she was earning her stripes on stage. The night’s host is an incredible performer who just happens to be one Oscar short of an EGOT. Her performance of “Sometimes All You Need Is a Song” was a stunning reminder for anyone who’s only familiar with her work in green face paint. In her opening speech Erivo pointed out that Broadway had its most profitable season ever, thanks in part to a small Hollywood invasion of the boards. She gave a nod to “up and comer” George Clooney, nominated for his work in Good Night, and Good Luck, and joked that “Broadway is officially back so long as we don’t run out of members of Succession.” Sarah Snook, who played Shiv Roy on that HBO drama, was nominated (and went on to win!), following in the footsteps of her costars Jeremy Strong and Keiran Culkin.
Best Reunion
Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, better known to many as Bill and Ted, came together to present the first award of the evening—and tease their on-stage reunion later this year in a new stage production of Waiting for Godot.
Most Undercompensated Winner
Unsurprisingly, Sarah Snook won her first Tony. The surprise was that she didn’t win 26 of them for playing 26 different characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Most Impressive Costume Change(s)
Megan Hilty is nominated for her work in Death Becomes Her and truly showed off her talent by simultaneously belting out the show’s “For the Gaze” while conducting a mind-blowing number of costume changes (including The Wizard of Oz‘s Dorothy and the daughter of the actor who played her, Liza Minnelli). They should give a Tony for Best Multitasking.
Best Memento
When Francis Jue picked up the top prize for his performance as a featured actor in Yellow Face, he was wearing a tuxedo that had been handed down to him by the late actor Alvin Ing. “He had it made for himself for the opening of Pacific Overtures on Broadway in 1976, and when he gave it to me 20 years ago, he told me he wanted me to wear it when I accepted my Tony Award,” Jue said. “I’m only here because of the encouragement and inspiration of generations of wonderful, deserving Asian artists who came before me and never got the opportunities that I’ve had.”
Most Wanderlust-Inducing Performance
The cast of Buena Vista Social Club took Tony viewers straight to Cuba, no airfare required, with a brilliant, buzzy performance of “Candela.” The show has 11 nominations, including wins for Best Choreography, and the musicians received a Special Tony Award in recognition of their musical excellence.
Best Potential Crossover
During his performance of Bobby Darin songs from the musical Just in Time, nominee Jonathan Groff jumped onto Keanu Reeves’ chair, straddled the soon-to-be Broadway star, and sang with the actor’s head between his legs. This could be just the update that Waiting for Godot needs to get the kids into their seats.
Best Souvenir
In his acceptance speech for starring as Hester in Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical, Jak Malone told audience members that they might have accidentally taken a little souvenir away from the show. Specifically, that if you enjoyed his performance as Hester, “You might have just bid farewell to cynicism, to outdated ideas, to that rotten old binary, and opened yourself up to a world that is already out there in glorious technicolor, and isn’t going away anytime soon.” Not every Broadway show comes with souvenirs!
First Play-Off of the Night
Not only did Kara Young pick up the win for Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for her turn in Purpose, which went on to win Best Play, but the now-two time Tony winner also took the title of first person to get played off the stage for letting her acceptance speech go on too long. To be fair, she had a lot of people to thank, first and foremost her mother.
Best Reinvention
While Nicole Scherzinger was once best known as a former member of the Pussycat Dolls, it’s clear she has found a new home on Broadway. After her performance of “As If We Never Said Goodbye” from Sunset Boulevard she got a standing ovation—the surest sign of acceptance.
Most Musical Musical Moment
If anyone happens to say they hate musicals, there is a very good chance they are thinking of something like the performance delivered by the cast of Pirates: The Penzance Musical. A few dozen folks dressed as sea captains and their general ilk strapped on washboards to sing from the Gilbert and Sullivan songbook. While musical lovers undoubtedly found a lot to love, it probably didn’t win over any haters.
Biggest Shot-Taking
Sure Hamilton is having a reunion on the stage, but Natalie Venetia Belcon wasn’t going to throw away her shot, either. When the performer won for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in Buena Vista Social Club, she shouted out the show’s band, “my obsession. Well, my second obsession. The first is Jason Momoa. Hi Jason, how you doing?”
Best History Joke
Cynthia Erivo left the stage to head to the cheap seats. “I’m up in the balcony because I adore a bit of balcony. I’m 5-foot-1, and it’s the best chance for me to get a clear view of the stage,” she said. “Everyone loves a balcony seat, except, as we learned this season, Abraham Lincoln.” Definitely not too soon for that joke!
Best Battle of the Pulitzer Bigwigs
Two plays had Pulitzer Prizes, but only one can add the Tony for Best Play to their resume. Tonight’s winner was Purpose, which was written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and directed by Phylicia Rashad. (The other one was Sanaz Toossi’s English, which still has a Pulitzer!)
Best Date Night
Broadway vets Samuel L. Jackson, and his wife, LaTonya Richardson Jackson, one of whom was nominated tonight (the latter, for Purpose), teamed up to present the award for best revival of a play to Eureka Day.
Best Revival
There’s no denying that Hamilton is one of Broadway’s biggest hits, so naturally Broadway’s biggest night was the place to mark the show’s ten-year anniversary. Along with show’s creator, Lin-Manual Miranda, original cast members including Daveed Diggs, Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, Jonathan Groff and more brought the crowd (including Oprah) to their feet as they performed a medley of the crossover musical’s biggest hits. It was a reminder of the power of song, performance, and theater as a whole.
Best Inside Broadway Joke
In his acceptance speech for Best Direction of a Musical for Maybe Happy Ending, Michael Arden paused and asked, “If there are any queer people watching tonight…” and the audience died laughing, as he ended, “Happy Pride.”
Most Moving Moment
Erivo was joined by Sara Bareilles to pay tribute to the members of the Broadway community who passed away over the past year. They chose to perform a somber duet of “Tomorrow” from Annie and it is hard to imagine there was a single dry eye in Radio City Music Hall. Even Bareilles appeared to be in tears. Also, now we know why it looked like Erivo had raided Annie’s wardrobe during the opening number.
Least Surprising Surprise Win
Cole Escola did it. The star and creator of Oh Mary! took the top acting prize for their performance as Mary Todd Lincoln. Escola became the first nonbinary actor to earn a Tony in this particular category—and beat George Clooney too. The crowd was thrilled, roaring their appreciation as Escola sprinted to the stage and announced: “Julie Harris has a Tony for playing Mary Todd Lincoln!” and launching into a madcap speech that kept the crowd cheering. Amy Sedaris, naturally, was thanked.
Most Broadway Moment
If any Broadway fans are watching this show (heh) they undoubtedly adored watching six-time Tony Award winner and Broadway legend Audra McDonald step into the mother of all roles playing Mama Rose in Gypsy. Her performance was chill-inducing catnip for Broadway lovers.
Second Best Shot-Taking
Erivo earned a Tony for her performance as Celie in The Color Purple and while she held the mic, she had to nudge Oprah about a revival of the show (and take the opportunity to tell the one-time talk show host, “And you get a car!” while gifting her a little toy one).
Best Real-Life TV Crossover
Darren Criss took the top musical actor prize for his work in Maybe Happy Ending, which we know would thrill his fellow Warblers on Glee. The win was extra special, not only because it was his first Tony nomination, but because his Glee co-star Lea Michele was there, too, promoting her upcoming show, Chess.
Best Mention of Something Not To Mention
There has been a lot of drama in Broadway lately, and it wasn’t on stage, but rather on the page, after Patti Lupone made some controversial comments in a New Yorker interview for which she later apologized. While it has been all the buzz of Broadway, only Oprah was bold enough to mention the hubbub, making sly reference to it while presenting an award.
The Truly Best Reinvention
Just up there we mentioned that Nicole Scherzinger had won over Broadway as shown by the standing ovation for her performance earlier in the evening. That acceptance was cemented when she took the top prize for best performance for her work in Sunset Boulevard, which also won Best Revival of a Musical. “Growing up, I always felt like I didn’t belong, but you all have made me feel like I belong and I have come home at last,” she said in her tear-filled acceptance speech.
Grandest Grand Finale
To close the show, Erivo took the mic once again, this time to deliver a rousing and brilliant rendition of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” from Dreamgirls, a fitting and tongue-in-cheek ending to the evening. (She did, after all, go, as the broadcast cut away to the evening news.)
source https://time.com/7291396/tonys-2025-recap/
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