“The Outsiders,” a muscular musical based mostly on the basic younger grownup novel, was named finest new musical on the Tony Awards on Sunday night time, whereas “Stereophonic,” a behind-the music play a few band making an album, was named finest new play.
Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Alongside” accomplished a four-decade journey from flop to hit by profitable the very best musical revival prize, whereas “Applicable,” Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s household drama a few trio of siblings confronting an unsettling secret, gained finest play revival.
Listed below are the highlights of the 77th Tony Awards ceremony, which came about at Lincoln Heart in Manhattan and was hosted by Ariana DeBose:
Greatest New Musical: “The Outsiders” gained in an upset over “Hell’s Kitchen,” a musical powered by Alicia Keys songs and impressed by her life. “The Outsiders” is gritty, bloody and relentlessly youthful, and options among the most successfully vivid violence seen on a Broadway stage. The present’s director, Danya Taymor, additionally gained, and the present picked up prizes for sound and lighting. “Hell’s Kitchen” gained two efficiency prizes for its younger star, Maleah Joi Moon, and a featured performer, Kecia Lewis.
Greatest New Play: “Stereophonic,” by David Adjmi, takes place within the Nineteen Seventies in a pair of California recording studios. The play, which gained extra prizes than any of the musicals, additionally picked up prizes for its director, Daniel Aukin, in addition to for a featured actor, Will Brill, plus sound and scenic design.
Greatest Musical Revival: “Merrily We Roll Alongside,” one in every of Broadway’s most storied flops, cemented its standing as one in every of Sondheim’s masterworks. The present’s main actor, Jonathan Groff, and its featured actor, Daniel Radcliffe, each gained their first Tony Awards in a manufacturing that’s thriving amid a surge in curiosity within the work of Sondheim, an acclaimed composer and lyricist who died in 2021. “That is proof that what you had then was certainly a masterpiece,” the lead producer, Sonia Friedman, mentioned, addressing these from the unique manufacturing. And her sister, the musical’s director, Maria Friedman, addressed the spirits of Sondheim and the present’s e book author, George Furth, saying, “Steve and George: ‘Merrily’ is fashionable!”
Greatest Revival of a Play: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has lengthy been seen as probably the greatest amongst a brand new era of American playwrights, however “Applicable” is his first work to make it to Broadway. In his acceptance speech, he had mentioned that he spent years being instructed he was “too dangerous, too provocative and too not industrial sufficient.” The play’s star, Sarah Paulson, additionally gained a Tony, as finest main actress.
Starry Night time: The awards ceremony featured a variety of acquainted faces. A pair of movie star co-producers launched the exhibits they’re engaged on: Hillary Rodham Clinton with the brand new musical “Suffs,” and Angelina Jolie with “The Outsiders.” Jay-Z joined Keys for a rendition of “Empire State of Thoughts” as a part of a “Hell’s Kitchen” medley. Eddie Redmayne led a efficiency by the solid of a “Cabaret” revival, whereas Pete Townshend joined the solid of a revival of “The Who’s Tommy” for a little bit of “Pinball Wizard.” Brooke Shields, who was just lately elected president of Actors’ Fairness Affiliation, a labor union representing performers and stage managers, launched an In Memoriam phase.
