The year’s top Broadway hits are celebrated at the Tony Awards
Whatever challenges might come its way, the New York theatre community manages to meet them and put on really big shows, as the continuation of the Tony Awards affirms. The 78th edition of Broadway’s annual event, presented by The Broadway League and The American Theatre Wing, will be staged at New York’s iconic Radio City Music Hall. Again this year, CBS and Paramount+ carry the ceremony, to be marked as usual by performances of numbers from nominated musicals, and appearances by many stars of screen and theatre as presenters. Three shows lead with 10 nominations each: Buena Vista Social Club, Death Becomes Her and Maybe Happy Ending.
This time, the Tonys get a first-time host who’s no stranger to the ceremony: Cynthia Erivo, who won her own Tony Award in 2016 for the musical version of The Color Purple, and she was nominated again in 2023 for the play Fat Ham. Erivo also has a Grammy Award and a Daytime Emmy Award from her participation in The Color Purple, and she was recently back on the award trail in a major way, with many nominations — including one for an Oscar — for her portrayal of Elphaba in the first movie to come from the musical Wicked (the second film will be released this coming holiday season).
Among the nominees are performers well known for their work in television and film, such as George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck), Mia Farrow (The Roommate), Audra McDonald (Gypsy, with this year’s nomination making her the most-nominated performer in Tony history with 11 bids, six of which she has won), Sarah Snook (The Picture of Dorian Gray), Daniel Dae Kim (Yellow Face), Nicole Scherzinger (Sunset Blvd.), Sadie Sink (John Proctor is the Villain), Megan Hilty (Death Becomes Her), Darren Criss (Maybe Happy Ending), Harry Lennix (Purpose), Jeremy Jordan (Floyd Collins), Bob Odenkirk (Glengarry Glen Ross) and Justina Machado (Real Women Have Curves: The Musical).
A special Tony for lifetime achievement will go to Harvey Fierstein, the Broadway veteran who has made enduring marks as both a performer and a writer. He won competitive Tonys for Torch Song Trilogy in 1983, later earning two more of the honours for La Cage aux Folles (1984, for writing) and Hairspray (2003, for acting). Kinky Boots, Newsies and A Catered Affair are also among his stage writing credits, and he revised the book of Funny Girl for productions of that musical in recent years.
Special Tony honours will also be given to the performing arts-centric PBS series Great Performances, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, former Goodspeed Musicals executive director Michael Price, and the nonprofit New York theatre-transforming organization New 42 (named for the city’s 42nd Street, where the effort is centred). Actor-singer Celia Keenan-Bolger (The Visit) will receive the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award for her arts-related advocacy work.
Here are the nominees in the top categories for this year’s Tony Awards:
BEST MUSICAL: Buena Vista Social Club; Dead Outlaw; Death Becomes Her; Maybe Happy Ending; Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical.
BEST PLAY: English; The Hills of California; John Proctor Is the Villain; Oh, Mary!; Purpose.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL: Megan Hilty, Death Becomes Her; Audra McDonald, Gypsy; Jasmine Amy Rogers, Boop! The Musical; Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Blvd.; Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL: Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending; Andrew Durand, Dead Outlaw; Tom Francis, Sunset Blvd.; Jonathan Groff, Just in Time; James Monroe Iglehart, A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical; Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY: Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California; Mia Farrow, The Roommate; LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Purpose; Sadie Sink, John Proctor is the Villain; Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY: George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck; Cole Escola, Oh, Mary!; Jon Michael Hill, Purpose; Daniel Dae Kim, Yellow Face; Harry Lennix, Purpose; Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
The 78th Annual Tony Awards, airing Sunday, June 8, on CBS