The 77th annual Tony Awards were dominated by major wins for shows Stereophonic, Merrily We Roll Along and The Outsiders as well as actors Jeremy Strong and Daniel Radcliffe.
Stereoscopic, the most nominated play in Tony history with 13 nods, took home five awards including best play. It tells the story of a British-American rock band in the 1970s trying to produce an album.
Playwright David Adjmi spoke about how it took him 11 years to get to the stage. “It’s really hard to be in the arts, we need to fund the arts in America,” he said on stage. Gloria Oladipo of The Guardian called it “a triumphant example of what happens when art has time to evolve” in a five-star review.
A revival of Stephen Sondheim’s failed musical “Merryly We Roll Along” took home four awards. The show, which initially closed abruptly after its launch in 1981, won best revival of a musical, while stars Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff won for their performances.
Radcliffe thanked his parents for playing Sondheim in the drive-in, calling the play “one of the best experiences of my life” while praising its cast and crew. “I’ll never have that good again,” he said.
Groff, who has been nominated twice before, gave an emotional speech in which he said that “musical theater continues to save my soul” and praised his parents for allowing him to be himself.
The Outsiders, based on the S.E. Hinton novel and produced by Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie, took home the award for best musical and took home three other awards. Dania Taymor, niece of acclaimed director Julie Taymor, won best director in a year in which women made up the majority of directing nominees.
Emmy Award-winning Succession star Jeremy Strong won Lead Actor in a Play for his performance in An Enemy of the People, beating out Liev Schreiber and William Jackson Harper. He described Henrik Ibsen’s cautionary environmental play as a “cry from the heart” with “the hard truths staring back at us now”.
Hell’s Kitchen, based on the life and music of Alicia Keys, won two awards for actresses Malé Joy Moon and Kesia Lewis. Keys also performed Empire State of Mind on stage with Jay-Z.
The darkly comedic family drama “Appropriate” won best revival of a play and best actress in a leading role for Sarah Paulson, who beat out Jessica Lange and Rachel McAdams. She thanked playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins for giving her a character that has “the hope of being seen” and spoke about why theater is an important way to learn what it means to be human. It also won an award for lighting design for the play.
Host Ariana DeBose praised the “ambitious Broadway season” with 36 new productions. “The headlines are frankly terrifying most of the time, but theater is a safe place for all of us,” she said. She later made a joke about the rap that went viral at last year’s Baftas, claiming to be writing a three-hour musical based on it.
The night was packed with celebrities who have been behind the scenes this season, including Oscar winner Jolie, Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson and Hillary Clinton. Clinton, who received a standing ovation, spoke about the importance of voting while performing a song by the band Suffs.
There was also a special tribute to Chita Rivera, who died in January at the age of 91, led by Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald and Bebe Neuwirth. “The air sparkled when she got on stage,” Neuwirth said, and MacDonald called her one of the “perfect” voices on Broadway.
Among the nominated shows that left empty-handed were: The Notebook, Mary Jane, Days of Wine and Roses, Lempicka and Mother Play.
The 2023 ceremony was held during the writers’ strike meaning DeBose, who also hosted last year, was left without a script for the night. Last year’s big winners included Tom Stoppard and Jodie Comer’s family drama Leopoldstadt.
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