by Nathaniel R
To support the WGA or not to support the WGA? This is not, of course, even a question for the arts community and audiences. But the 76th Tony Awards, held last night at the gorgeous United Palace in Washington Heights, made an accidental case that maybe writers should be banned from awards shows moving forward (not as nominees -- but as, you know, writers of the ceremony).
Gone were the scripted jokes, awkward intros, and agonizing filler that disrupt the three-pronged reason we all watch awards shows in the first place: the drama of the awards and acceptance speech, seeing lots of celebrities, and enjoying "clips" of the nominated art. In the case of the Tony's the 'clips' are always live performance of nominated musicals...
But the 76th Tony Awards one-upped themselves by also deploying actual clips from each nominated performance too to given those who haven't (yet) seen the shows, a taste of them. It's a great ongoing mystery why awards show producers think clips are expendable. Everyone you'll ever meet who has ever watched an awards show has sampled something because they liked what they saw in clip form.
All in all it was a stellar evening with second time host Ariana DeBose outdoing her previous hosting gig, and entirely off the cuff at that. It was a very smart unexpected choice to have her opening number be wordless. We thoguht she might go with some celebratory Broadway standard but instead we got a crazy energetic and thrilling dance number -- that leap down the stairs (* gay gasp *). Our favourite bit from DeBose was her confession that she couldn't remember what the notes referred to that she had scribbled on her arm during a commercial break 'so welcome whoever walks out next'.
Not that the lack of a script was entirely successful. The hosts from the earlier "Act One", Julianne Hough and Skylar Astin, which streamed on Pluto TV were not as savvy as DeBose without the safety net of a script, with Astin pleasant but little else and Hough resorting to desperate cheerleading as if the mood in the room depended entirely on her enthusiasm. But overall there was a refreshing element of surprise due to the lack of teleprompters and guidance. What might each presenter say? Some presenters excelled just being themselves like the beautiful Denée Benton who got in an excellent dig at Ron DeSantis in Florida that never would have been allowed at a scripted show. Nathan Lane cracked a joke about the utter flamboyance of the United Palace. Marcia Gay Harden made a point to emphasize her middle name -- Ally icon! Dominique Fishback, probably reacting to general reactions to her incredible work as a serial killer and unhinged stan in Swarm, pointed out that she wasn't scary in real life. And so on.
It was a great night and the winners were fairly deserving, too.
We'd dive into more detail and share screenshots but Paramount + is currently having issues saying this program is not available to watch even though there's an image that says "watch now" on their home page. (They are however, streaming last year's Tony Awards. We thank them for that and wish all past awards shows were available but it doesn't help with a recap of last night's event!)
Big Winners
The poignant and funny original musical Kimberly Akimbo -- in some ways the "smallest" of the nominees in its categories -- was the night's biggest winner taking home 5 Tony Awards: Best Musical, Best Actress in a Musical (a second trophy for Light in the Piazza queen Victoria Clark), Best Supporting Actress in a Musical ( rising comic star Bonnie Milligan), and two somewhat surprising wins given the formidable competition: Best Book and Best Original Score. The latter two we thought might go to the laugh out loud hilarious Shucked and the tuneful Some Like It Hot.
Tom Stoppard's presumably final play, the epic Jewish family saga Leopoldstadt, was the big winner among plays taking home four statues: Best Play, Best Direction of a Play, Best Costume Design of a Play, and Best Featured Actor in a Play (Broadway regular Brandon Uranowitz finally triumphant on his fourth nomination in 8 years, all "Featured").
Who else had something to brag about?
Life of Pi wasn't nominated for Best Play but it snatched three craft trophies: Lighting, Sound Design, and Scenic Design. Some Like It Hot, which had led the overall nominations, was probably running second for Best Musical when the final votes were talented considering it took home four Tonys: Best Actor in a Musical, Best Costume Design of a Musical, Best Choreography, and Best Orchestrations.
Best Speech?
There were so many good ones -- many of them touching on similar topics --identity and representation, emotional/financial support from parents, and the writer's strike -- so I'm at a loss to name or rank them without the ceremony to skim through again. I do remember being very happy for Brandon Uranowitz, Alex Newell, and Bonnie Milligan in their tearful speeches.
Best Musical Performance
Who really sold the value of their show on Tony night? The messy medley tactic deployed by both Camelot and Shucked didn't really work -- too much going on. But the shows that opted for a single number all sold themselves well. If I had to choose I'd pick either "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" (a thrilling staging of that prologue) or "Some Like It Hot" as the standout performances of Tony night.
Spread the wealth!
Overall Tony voters expressed love of quite a few different shows and we always love a season (at any type of awards show) wherein voters can distinguish "bests" from several sources rather than just giving their overall favourite all the prizes. The Tony voters also gave multiple trophies to the revivals of Jason Robert Brown's Parade (Best Revival and Best Direction of a Musical) and Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece (one of them at any rate) Sweeney Todd which took home Sound Design of a Musical and Lighting Design of a Musical (both richly deserved)
Single wins
Shucked took home Best Featured Actor for non-binary diva and literal showstopper Alex Newell. The Sign in Sidney Burstein's Window took Best Featured Actress in a Play. New York New York took Best Scenic Design of a Musical. Jodie Comer won Best Actress in a Play for Prima Facie (she just has to win an Oscar to triple crown now). Sean Hayes won Best Actor in a Play for Good Night Oscar and in a surprise (or was it?) Top Dog/Underdog won Best Revival of a Play over the frontrunner A Doll's House.
The Nominations were the Reward
The minimalist modernized A Doll's House starring Jessica Chastain had led the nominations for Play Revivals but went home empty-handed. Aint No' Mo had similarly led the nominations for original Plays (albeit in a tie with Leopoldstadt) and also won nothing. Other multiple nominees that didn't triump in any of their categories included the musical revivals Camelot, and Into the Woods, and the original musical & Juliet. Several plays won nothing despite multiple nominations including Pulitzer winner Fat Ham, as well as Cost of Living, and Between Riverside and Crazy, and the revivals of Death of a Salesman, A Chrismas Carol, and The Piano Lesson.
Alex Newell wins their first Tony. Photo by Sara Krulwich for The New York Times
Sign of the Times
Though awards shows have been under a lot of pressure to go genderless, the Tony Awards, like their most iconic counterparts, the Oscars and the Emmys are still gendered. Given that fact it was interesting to note that both winners for male acting in musicals (J Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell) were non-binary performers who accepted their trophies in full makeup and gowns... or gown-like pant suits. They're the first out non-binary performers to win. That said we should note that "non-binary" is a very recent designation to permeate cultural conversations / understanding. Gender has of course always had some fluidity it just hasn't been 'named' in quite this way in previous years and decades.
Weird Juxtaposition
The Kander & Ebb musical New York New York, loosely based on the 1977 Martin Scorsese film, won Best Scenic Design of a Musical. The designer Beowul Boritt, made a very proud point of saying that they used no projections and it was all stage craft and actual painted sets. That was followed by a win for Life of Pi in Best Scenic Design of a Play which is a case very much of the opposite given its visual fx work.
If you watched the Tony Awards, what were your favourite speeches and performances?