NEW YORK -- 鈥淎 Strange Loop,鈥 an irreverent, sexually frank work about Blackness and queerness took home the best new musical crown at the Tony Awards on Sunday, as voters celebrated Broadway鈥檚 most racially diverse season by choosing an envelope-pushing Black voice.
Michael R. Jackson鈥檚 2020 Pulitzer Prize drama winner is a theatre meta-journey 鈥 a tuneful show about a Black gay man writing a show about a Black gay man. Jackson also won for best book. Many of the night's other Tonys were spread over several productions.
The victory of a smaller, more offbeat musical against more commercial offerings continues a recent trend, as when the intimate musical 鈥淭he Band鈥檚 Visit鈥 beat the big brand-musicals 鈥淔rozen,鈥 鈥淢ean Girls鈥 and 鈥淪pongeBob SquarePants鈥 in 2018 or when 鈥淗adestown鈥 bested 鈥淭ootsie,鈥 鈥淏eetlejuice鈥 and 鈥淎in鈥檛 Too Proud鈥 a year later.
鈥淎 Strange Loop鈥 beat 鈥淢J,鈥 a bio musical of the King of Pop鈥檚 biggest hits, for the top prize, although the other Jackson musical nabbed four Tony Awards including for best choreography. Myles Frost moonwalked away with the award for best lead actor in a musical for playing Michael Jackson, becoming the youngest solo winner in that category. 鈥淢om, I made it!鈥 he said.
鈥淢J鈥 represents the 22-year-old Frost鈥檚 Broadway debut as he plays Jackson with a high, whispery voice, a Lady Diana-like coquettishness and a fierce embrace of Jackson鈥檚 iconic dancing and singing style. 鈥淗eal the world,鈥 Frost said from the stage, channeling Jackson.
Joaquina Kalukango won the Tony for best leading actress in a musical for her work in 鈥淧aradise Square,鈥 a show about Irish immigrants and Black Americans jostling to survive in New York City around the time of the Civil War. Earlier in the night, she blew the house down with a stunning performance of the musical's 鈥淟et It Burn.鈥
A gender-swapped revival of Stephen Sondheim鈥檚 鈥淐ompany鈥 rode the fondness Broadway has for the late iconic composer by earning five statuettes, including best musical revival.
鈥淐ompany鈥 is an exploration of a single person鈥檚 conflicted feelings about commitment, traditionally focusing on a 35-year-old bachelor. This time, it had a bachelorette and the sexes of several couples were swapped.
Marianne Elliott made Tony history by becoming the only woman to have won three Tonys for directing, the latest for 鈥淐ompany.鈥 She thanked Sondheim for letting her put a woman 鈥渇ront and centre.鈥 She dedicated her award to everyone fighting to keep theatres open.
Patti LuPone won best featured actress in a musical for her work in the revival, thanking COVID-19 safety officials in her acceptance speech. Matt Doyle won for best featured actor in a musical for 鈥淐ompany.鈥
鈥淭he Lehman Trilogy,鈥 spanning 150 years and running three and a half hours, follows the fortunes of a single family into the financial crash of 2008. It was crowned best new play and Sam Mendes won for best direction of a play, praising the season for its 鈥渞ampant creativity.鈥 One of its three stars, Simon Russell Beale, won for best actor in a play and thanked the audience for coming to see a trio of British actors tell a New York story.
Deirdre O鈥機onnell won for best actress in a play for her work in 鈥淒ana H.,鈥 about a real woman kidnapped by a former convict and white supremacist. O鈥機onnell never speaks, instead, lip-syncing to an edited recording of the survivor. On Sunday, O鈥機onnell urged the crowd to ignore safe options and 鈥渕ake the weird art.鈥
鈥淭ake Me Out鈥 won for best play revival, and 鈥淢odern Family鈥 star Jesse Tyler Ferguson won the Tony for best featured actor in a play for his work in it. 鈥淢om, Dad, thank you for letting me move to New York when I was 17-years-old. I told you it would be OK,鈥 said Ferguson, who also thanked his understudy and his husband.
Host Ariana DeBose kicked off her portion of the show in a sparkling white jumpsuit and wide-brimmed hat, dancing and singing to the song 鈥淭his Is Your Round of Applause,鈥 which mashed up shards of musical theatre favourites, like 鈥淐hicago, 鈥淭he Wiz,鈥 鈥淓vita,鈥 鈥淩ent,鈥 鈥淗air,鈥 鈥淐abaret,鈥 鈥淗airspray鈥 and 鈥淲est Side Story,鈥 the movie remake for which she recently won an Oscar.
Still panting while welcoming viewers, she told the crowd that this was the season 鈥淏roadway got it鈥檚 groove back.鈥
Phylicia Rashad won best featured actress in a play for 鈥淪keleton Crew.鈥 The Dominique Morisseau play is about blue-collar job insecurity set in a Detroit auto stamping plant. 鈥淚t鈥檚 wonderful to present humanity in all it鈥檚 fullness,鈥 Rashad said.
And the Tonys ushered in the latest EGOT winner: Jennifer Hudson, who has an Emmy, Grammy and Oscar, and joined that elite group Sunday when 鈥淎 Strange Loop鈥 won best musical 鈥 she鈥檚 a producer.
A starry revival of the classic show 鈥淭he Music Man鈥 with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster walked away empty-handed despite six nominations and being a box office smash, regularly pulling in more than US$3 million a week.
The season was marked by the embrace of seven Black playwrights, from contemporary writers like Dominique Morisseau, Keenan Scott II and Antoinette Nwandu, to underappreciated historical playwrights like Alice Childress and Ntozake Shange. DeBose said Broadway was more representative.
DeBose celebrated the Black voices and onstage talent 鈥 as well as noting that two Broadway theatres were being renamed for Black icons James Earl Jones and Lena Horne 鈥 saying that The Great White Way was now a nickname 鈥渁s opposed to a how-to guide.鈥
DeBose also hailed the heroic efforts of understudies, swings and standbys to keep shows going throughout pandemic spikes, noting that she and many other Tony nominees had once been unheralded understudies and swings. After the cast of 鈥淪ix鈥 performed, DeBose noted that one was a fill-in at the last minute.
Having been freed of handling the technical awards, the main telecast had a less frantic, more airy feel. DeBose was an assured, funny and versatile host, one who roamed the seats, sat in Andrew Garfield's lap, danced with Sam Rockwell and prompted Laurence Fishburne to do a Daffy Duck imitation. She closed the show with a medley of the musical nominees, at one point making 鈥淢J鈥 part of the Dylan show: 鈥淵ou鈥檝e been hit by/A rolling stone.鈥
Some of the show highlights included the massive cast of 鈥淭he Music Man鈥 filling the massive Radio City stage with 鈥淪eventy-Six Trombones,鈥 as well as Prince Jackson and Paris Jackson introducing the show about their father before the 鈥淢J鈥 cast danced to an energetic 鈥淪mooth Criminal.鈥
Billy Crystal taught the crowd 鈥淵iddish scatting,鈥 and the original cast of the 2007 Tony-winning musical 鈥淪pring Awakening鈥 鈥 including Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff 鈥 reunited for a performance.
Many acceptance speeches thanked the audiences for braving spikes in COVID-19 to come to see shows, and Marsha Gay Harden cheered 150 safety officers invited as guests to the Tonys.
Earlier, Darren Criss and Julianne Hough kicked off the four-hour awards, handing out mostly design awards. Criss opened the telecast with the original song, 鈥淪et the Stage,鈥 as he and Hough energetically danced up ladders, on laundry hampers and in sliding theatre seats to celebrate the artists who keep theatre alive.
The first award of the night 鈥 for best score 鈥 went to 鈥淪ix: The Musical,鈥 with music and lyrics by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. Marlow became the first out nonbinary composer-lyricist to win a Tony. 鈥淪ix: The Musical鈥 also picked up the award for best costumes for a musical.
The season 鈥 with 34 new productions 鈥 represents a full return to theatres after nearly two years of a pandemic-mandated shutdown. At the last Tonys nine months ago, the winners were pulled from just 18 eligible plays and musicals, and many of the competitive categories were depleted.
Sondheim, the iconic composer who died in late 2021, was honoured in a special segment by Bernadette Peters singing his song 鈥淐hildren Will Listen.鈥 Angela Lansbury, who was honoured with a lifetime achievement Tony, wasn鈥檛 present so her 鈥淪weeney Todd鈥 co-star Len Cariou accepted on her behalf.
