Possibly Joyful Ending, a rom-com musical about androids that crackles with humanity, had a particular completely happy ending at Sunday’s Tony Awards.
It gained greatest new musical on an evening when Kara Younger made historical past as the primary Black particular person to win two Tonys consecutively, for Function, which additionally gained greatest new play.
Helen J Shen, left, and Darren Criss carry out By no means Fly Away from Possibly Joyful Ending, which gained the Tony Award for greatest new musical, throughout the 78th Tony Awards on Sunday. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Starring Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen, Possibly Joyful Ending charts the romantic relationship between two decommissioned robots, changing into a commentary on human themes and the passage of time. It gained a number one six Tonys.
With Function, a drawing-room drama about an achieved Black household exposing hypocrisy and pressures throughout a snowed-in gathering, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins caps a exceptional 12 months.
Along with profitable back-to-back Tonys — his Acceptable gained greatest play revival in 2024 — earned the Pulitzer Prize for Function. (That win got here the day of the Met Gala, the place he served on the host committee.)
Jacobs-Jenkins turns into the primary Black playwright to win for greatest new play since August Wilson took house the trophy in 1987 for Fences. He urged Tony viewers to assist regional theatres; Function was nurtured in Chicago.
Younger, the primary Black feminine actor to be nominated for a Tony Award in 4 consecutive years, turned the primary Black particular person to win two Tonys consecutively with the featured actress in a play trophy for her work in Function.
Younger thanked her dad and mom, Jacobs-Jenkins, her forged and director Phylicia Rashad.
Kara Younger accepts the award for greatest efficiency by an actress in a featured position in a play for Function throughout the 78th Tony Awards on Sunday. (Charles Sykes/Invision/The Related Press)
“Theatre is a sacred house that we’ve got to honour and treasure, and it makes us united,” she mentioned.
Sundown Blvd., with Nicole Scherzinger starring as a fallen display idol determined to reclaim her fame, gained greatest musical revival, handing composer Andrew Lloyd Webber his first aggressive Tony since 1995 — when the unique present gained. The present model is a stripped-down, minimalist manufacturing.
Scherzinger additionally gained for greatest lead actress in a musical, muscling apart a substantial problem from Audra McDonald, who was gunning for her seventh statuette. It caps a exceptional profession pivot for Scherzinger, as soon as the lead singer of the pop group Pussycat Dolls and a TV expertise present choose.
“Do not hand over,” she mentioned. “It is a testomony that love all the time wins.”
Criss, who has starred in all the things from Glee to The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, gained his first Tony for Possibly Joyful Ending, which he additionally co-produced. He mentioned he shared it with Shen, who was not nominated.
Notable Tony moments
Sarah Snook took house the trophy for main actress in a play for her tireless work in The Image of Dorian Grey, the place she performs all 26 roles.
“I do not really feel alone any evening that I do that present,” Snook mentioned, dismissing the concept of her play as a one-woman present. “There are such a lot of individuals onstage making it work and behind the stage making it work.”
Sarah Snook gained greatest actress in a number one position in a play for her efficiency in The Image of Dorian Grey on the Tony Awards in New York Metropolis on Sunday. (Evan Agostini/Invision/The Related Press)
Downtown cabaret star Cole Escola took house the most effective actor in a play trophy for enjoying a deranged, repressed and over-the-top ahistorical model of Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary!, beating such Hollywood stars as George Clooney and Daniel Dae Kim.
Sam Pinkleton gained greatest director for Oh, Mary! and thanked Escola, saying he taught him, “Do what you’re keen on, not what you suppose individuals wish to see.”
Francis Jue gained greatest actor in a featured position in a play for his work in a revival of Yellow Face. He mentioned he was gifted his tuxedo from one other Asian actor who wished him to put on it to the Tonys.
“I am solely right here due to the encouragement and inspiration of generations of great deserving Asian artists who got here earlier than me,” he mentioned. “To those that do not feel seen,” he added, “I see you.”
Jak Malone gained greatest actor in a featured position in a musical for the British import Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical, enjoying a lady each efficiency. He hoped his win may very well be a robust advocacy for trans rights.
Eureka Day, Jonathan Spector’s social satire about well-meaning liberals debating a college’s vaccine coverage, gained the most effective play revival trophy. It made its off-Broadway debut in 2019.
The unique forged of Hamilton, together with creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, did a victory lap all wearing black to mark the present’s tenth anniversary on Broadway, with a medley together with My Shot, The Schuyler Sisters, Historical past Has Its Eyes on You and The Room The place It Occurs.
1st-time host
First-time host Cynthia Erivo kicked off the present from her dressing room in Radio Metropolis Music Corridor, uncertain of her opening quantity because the stage supervisor urged her to get to the stage. As she made her method by the backstage warren, she bumped into varied individuals providing recommendation till she reached Oprah Winfrey, who suggested, “The one factor it is advisable to do is simply be your self.”
Erivo then appeared on the stage in a pink, spangly robe with white accents, hip cocked, as she launched into the slow-burning authentic music Generally All You Want Is a Tune, written by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Initially alone with only a pianist, Erivo’s hovering voice was quickly joined by dozens of members of the Broadway Inspirational Voices choir, all wearing white, making her appear like a robust strawberry in a bowl of whipped cream.
In her opening feedback, she singled out first-time nominees Louis McCartney, Sadie Sink, Cole Escola and “an up-and-comer that I feel you are going to actually be listening to fairly a bit about — George Clooney.”
Sara Bareilles, left, and Host Cynthia Erivo carry out Tomorrow throughout the In Memoriam phase throughout the 78th Tony Awards on Sunday. (Charles Sykes/Invision/The Related Press)
She famous that the 2024-2025 season took in $1.9 billion US, making it the highest-grossing season ever and signalling that Broadway has lastly emerged from the COVID-19 blues.
“Broadway is formally again,” Erivo mentioned. “Offered we do not run out of forged members from Succession,” a nod to appearances this season by former co-stars Snook and Kieran Culkin and final season by Jeremy Sturdy.
She and Sara Bareilles duetted for a shifting in memoriam part, singing The Solar Will Come Out from Annie, and honouring its composer Charles Strouse in addition to George Wendt, Richard Chamberlain, Athol Fugard, Joan Plowright, Quincy Jones, Linda Lavin, James Earl Jones and Gavin Creel.
Will Aronson, left, and Hue Park settle for the Tony Awards for greatest authentic rating for Possibly Joyful Ending on Sunday. (Theo Wargo/Getty Photos for Tony Awards Productions)
One of the best e-book and greatest rating awards went to Possibly Joyful Ending, with lyrics written by Hue Park and music composed by Will Aronson. Its director, Michael Arden, gained — Joyful Pleasure! he mentioned — and it additionally picked up greatest scenic design of a musical.
Justin Peck and Patricia Delgado gained for choreographing Buena Vista Social Membership and Peck famous a music from the famend authentic album was performed at their wedding ceremony. The musical takes its inspiration from Wim Wenders’s 1999 Oscar-nominated documentary on the making of the Cuban album.
Patricia Delgado, proper, and Justin Peck of Buena Vista Social Membership pose with their Tony Awards for greatest choreography on Sunday. (Jeenah Moon/Reuters)
Harvey Fierstein, the four-time Tony winner behind Torch Tune Trilogy and Kinky Boots, was honoured with a lifetime achievement Tony and have become emotional throughout his speech.
“There’s nothing fairly like bathing within the applause of a curtain name, however after I bow, I bow to the viewers, with gratitude, figuring out that with out them I’d as properly be lip-syncing showtunes in my bed room mirror. And so I dedicate this award to the individuals in the dead of night.”
