Tony Awards 2021: Winners, Performances, and Takeaways

by Nathaniel R

The incredible Audra McDonald hosted the 74th annual Tony Awards last night

Did you watch the Tony Awards on Paramount Plus or the "Broadway's Back" concert on CBS last night? Two years and three months after the 73rd Tony Awards and 11 months after the nominations were announced the 74th "Annual" Tony Awards were finally held. Those awards were celebrating the very short very depressing theater season of 2019/2020 which ended with lots of sickness (Moulin Rouge the Musical in particular was hit very hard by COVID-19 in the spring of 2020) and lots of crushed dreams as several shows never opened and others were pushed back two years and some had to close well before they ran out of steam. Cut to September 2021 and the shows that did somehow survive the two years shutdown are reopening or will reopen by the end of the year.

Let's look at the winners, the hightlights, and what we can clean from all of this after the jump... 

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Tony Award Predictions. Are you watching this Sunday?

by Patrick Ball and Nathaniel R

Will SLAVE PLAY emerge as the big winner?

The first leaves of Autumn 2021 will soon fall and we're finally wrapping up the ‘19/'20 Broadway season. The long-awaited Tony Awards are here this weekend from 7-9 PM EST on Paramount+ (where they will hand out most of the statues including the acting prizes) followed by a concert celebration of sorts from 9-11 PM EST on CBS where they will hand out the final few awards. These pandemic postponed awards will be divided among a smaller slate of shows than usual, as the Broadway shutdown instituted in March of 2020 cut the eligibility window off early. Broadway shows are only now in the process of reopening. All this affected the way we awards enthusiasts are able to predict this year’s show as well. The normal circuit of precursor awards happened a year and a half ago, if they even happened at all, and final voting took place last March (!) well before any shows had reopening dates. So there isn’t much in the way of narratives or momentum to consider. But, hey, the odd and unprecedented nature of this awards cycle presents a challenge, and who doesn’t love a challenge? Follow along below as we try to make sense of it all and be sure to tune in on Sunday to see how it all pans out... 

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Tony Nods 2020: "Jagged Little Pill" and "Slave Play" dominate

by Nathaniel R

The controversial "Slave Play," featuring multiple interracial couples and sexual power dynamics, transferred from Off-Broadway and was huge at the Tony nominations

We're not sure what possessed the Broadway League to announced Tony nominations in mid October (and some probable virtual ceremony in December), just after announcing that Broadway will not return before next summer (thereby missing another Tony season -- the theater season runs June to May). It's especially baffling because earlier it was understood that because the shutdown happened in March while so many of the shows that were expected heavyhitters were still in previews (like revivals of Company and West Side Story) so they never got a chance to be seen by Tony voters. Curious. As are the unusual nominations. But for those who miss Broadway (or just news of it from afar) here is the list that was announced this afternoon...

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