NEW YORK – The revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” with a gender reassignment sparked Broadway’s love for the late iconic composer, winning five statuettes, including for Best Musical Revival. “The Lehman Trilogy” was crowned Best New Play.
The Company is a study of a person’s conflicting feelings about engagement, traditionally focusing on a 35-year-old bachelor. This time there was a maiden girl and the sexes of several couples exchanged.
Marian Elliott went down in Tony’s story, becoming the only woman to win three Tony for directing, the last for Company. She thanked Sondheim for allowing her to put a woman “in front and in the center.” She dedicated her award to all those who fight to keep theaters open.
Patti Lupone won the award for Best Actress in a Musical for her work in the Renaissance, thanking the COVID-19 security staff in her acceptance speech. Matt Doyle won Best Actor in a Musical for Company.
Covering 150 years and lasting three and a half hours, Lehmann’s Trilogy illustrates the trajectory of Western capitalism, following the fate of a family in the financial collapse of 2008. In addition to the awards for best game, Sam Mendes won the best -good direction of the play, praising the season for its “crazy creativity”.
Michael R. Jackson’s Strange Loop, a theatrical meta-journey for a playwright writing a musical, won Tony Best Book of a Musical. “MJ”, a biographical musical for the King of Pop’s greatest hits, won three Tony Awards, including Best Choreography.
Take Me Out won Best Revived Play, and Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson won Tony Best Actor in a play for his work. “Mom, Dad, thank you for letting me move to New York when I was 17,” said Ferguson, who also thanked his backup and husband.
Host Ariana DeBoss began her part of the show in a sparkling white jumpsuit and wide-brimmed hat, dancing and singing the song “This Is Your Round of Applause”, which mixed songs from favorite musical theaters such as “Chicago”, “The Wiz”, “Evita” , “Rent”, “Hair”, “Cabaret”, “Hairspray” and “West Side Story”, the remake of the film for which she recently won an Oscar.
Still out of breath as she greeted the audience, she told the crowd that this was Broadway Come Back.
Philicia Rashad won Best Actress in a play for Skeleton Crew, a play by Dominic Morrisso about the insecurity of blue-collar work at a Detroit car printing plant. “It’s wonderful to present humanity in all its fullness,” she said.
The season was marked by the embrace of seven black playwrights, from contemporary writers such as Dominic Morrisso, Keenan Scott II and Antoinette Nvandu, to underrated historical playwrights such as Alice Childress and Ntozake Shange. DeBoz said Broadway was more representative.
DeBose celebrates black voices and stage talent – and notes that two Broadway theaters have been renamed black icons James Earl Jones and Lena Horn – saying the Great White Road is now a nickname “unlike the manual.” guide. “
DeBoz also hailed the heroic efforts of backups, swings and standbytes to continue the show during pandemic peaks, noting that she and many other Tony nominees were once unannounced backups and swings.
After being released from the technical awards, the main TV show had a less frantic, more airy feel. DeBose was a confident, fun, and flexible host who walked around the seats, sat on Andrew Garfield’s lap, danced with Sam Rockwell, and encouraged Lawrence Fishburne to imitate Daffy Duck.
Some of the highlights of the show include the massive cast of “The Music Man”, which fills the massive stage of Radio City with “Seventy-Six Trombones”, as well as Prince Jackson and Paris Jackson, who presented the show for his father before the cast of “MJ” to dance to the energetic “Smooth Criminal”. Billy Crystal taught the crowd “Yiddish jumping.”
Many acceptance speeches thanked the audience for fighting the peaks of COVID-19 to come watch the show, and Marsha Gay Harden applauded 150 security officers invited as guests at Tonys.
Earlier, Darren Chris and Julian Huff launched the four-hour awards, handing out mostly design awards. Chris opened the TV show with the original song, “Set the Stage,” as he and Huff danced vigorously up the stairs, on the laundry baskets, and in the sliding theater seats to celebrate the artists who keep the theater alive.
The first prize of the evening – for best result – went to “Six: The Musical” with music and lyrics by Toby Marlowe and Lucy Moss. Marlowe became the first non-binary composer and songwriter to win Tony. “Six: The Musical” also won the award for best costume for a musical.
The revival of “Company” chose the best stage design for a musical. “Girl from the North” received the best orchestrations. “The Lehman Trilogy” won for Best Stage Play Design and Light Play Design.
“The Skin of Our Teeth” won the best costumes for a play, “MJ” won for choreography, best lighting for a musical and sound design for a musical, and “Dana H.” won for the sound design of the play.
The season – with 34 new productions – represents a complete return to the cinemas after nearly two years of pause imposed by a pandemic. At the last Tonys nine months ago, the winners were drawn from only 18 eligible plays and musicals, and many of the competition categories were exhausted.
The television had performances from this year’s Tony Award-nominated musicals, including “Strange Line,” “Company,” “North Side Girl,” “MJ,” “Mr. Saturday Night, Music Man, Paradise Square, and Six. The original cast of Tony’s 2007 Spring Awakening reunited.
Sondheim, the iconic composer who died in late 2021, was honored in a special segment by Bernadette Peters, singing his song “Children Will Listen.” Angela Lansbury, who was honored with a lifetime achievement Tony, was not present, so her colleague from “Sweeney Todd” Len Cariou accepted on her behalf.
“Strange Line” entered the show with 11 leading nominations for Tony. Immediately behind with 10 nominations are “MJ”, a bio-musical of the King of Pop, full of his greatest hits, and “Paradise Square”, a musical about Irish immigrants and black Americans struggling to survive in New York during the time of the civil war.
The best actresses in music leaders are Sharon D Clark from the revival of “Caroline, or Change” and Joaquin Calukango from “Paradise Square”. The best actor in a musical can be reduced to Jacqueline Spivey from “Strange Loop” against Miles Frost as the king of pop in “MJ the Musical”.
“The Lehman Trilogy” was the leading contender for Best New Play, while David Morse in the revival of “How I Learned to Drive” by Paula Vogel was the leading contender for Best Actor in a Play. His colleague Mary-Louise Parker may become the first actor to receive another Tony for Best Actress in a Play.
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