That a musical about hell triumphed at the 2019 Tony Awards seems almost uncanny and feels exactly right — not just because many find it’s where we live now. Hadestown, which won the Best Musical award among seven others, chooses insight over escape, wrestling with the present by way of a familiar story. So does the stripped-down, live-wire production of Oklahoma! that won Best Revival of a Musical and delivered the evening’s best performance, “Cain’t Say No” from Featured Actress winner Ali Stroker.
Last summer’s production of Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band, which won Best Play Revival and is forthcoming on Netflix with original stars Zachary Quinto, Jim Parsons, and Andrew Rannells, likewise polished an old story to show how much or how little the demons faced by gay men may have changed since 1968.
“Change is possible, and in dark times hope can come again,” Hadestown producer Mara Isaacs said accepting the night’s big prize.
Signs of hope came in many forms. Stroker made history as the first-ever Tony winner who uses a wheelchair, dedicating her award to every kid at home with a disability or limitation who’s been unrepresented until now. Tarell Alvin McCraney, Oscar-winning screenwriter of Moonlight, introduced his Best Play nominee Choir Boy by asking when we’re going to love queer, Black boys for who they are and not just what they can do. Sergio Trujillo, accepting Best Choreography for Ain’t Too Proud, said, “I stand here as proof for all those Dreamers that the American dream is still alive, you just have to keep on fighting because change will come.”
Taylor Mac presented his Best Play nominee Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, about the catastrophe of despotic rule, dressed as the spirit of Mardi Gras and gay rights.
Accepting Best Actor for his role as news anchor Howard Beale in Network, Bryan Cranston spoke out against attacks on free press, dedicating his award to real journalists “in the line of fire with their pursuit of the truth.” “The media is not the enemy of the people. Demagoguery is the enemy of the people,” he said.
Cranston opened his acceptance speech by tossing off a cringe-worthy joke about an old white guy finally catching a break. Of course, he was being sarcastic, if perhaps betraying a bit of unconscious anxiety. But progress has hardly come far enough for self congratulations.
Rachel Chavkin, accepting the Tony for Best Direction of Hadestown, had sharp words for an industry in which she was the only woman to direct a Broadway musical this season. “There are so many women and artists of color ready to go. We need to see that racial and gender diversity reflected in our critical establishment, too,” she said. “This is not a pipeline issue. It is a failure of imagination by a field whose job is to imagine the way the world could be.”
Here’s the full list of nominees with WINNERS in bold.
BEST MUSICAL
“Ain’t Too Proud”
“Beetlejuice”
“Hadestown”
“The Prom”
“Tootsie”
BEST PLAY
“Choir Boy”
“The Ferryman”
“Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus”
“Ink”
“What the Constitution Means to Me”
BEST PLAY REVIVAL
“All My Sons”
“The Boys in the Band”
“Burn This”
“Torch Song”
“The Waverly Gallery”
BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL
“Kiss Me, Kate”
“Oklahoma!”
Best Book of a Musical
Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations, Dominique Morisseau
Beetlejuice,Scott Brown & Anthony King
Hadestown,Anaïs Mitchell
The Prom,Bob Martin & Chad Beguelin
Tootsie, Robert Horn
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Be More Chill,Music & Lyrics: Joe Iconis
Beetlejuice,Music & Lyrics: Eddie Perfect
Hadestown,Music & Lyrics: Anaïs Mitchell
The Prom, Music: Matthew Sklar, Lyrics: Chad Beguelin
To Kill a Mockingbird,Music: Adam Guettel
Tootsie,Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Paddy Considine, The Ferryman
Bryan Cranston, Network
Jeff Daniels, To Kill a Mockingbird
Adam Driver, Burn This
Jeremy Pope, Choir Boy
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Annette Bening, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons
Laura Donnelly, The Ferryman
Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery
Janet McTeer, Bernhardt/Hamlet
Laurie Metcalf, Hillary and Clinton
Heidi Schreck, What the Constitution Means to Me
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom
Derrick Baskin, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Alex Brightman, Beetlejuice
Damon Daunno, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Santino Fontana, Tootsie
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show
Caitlin Kinnunen, The Prom
Beth Leavel, The Prom
Eva Noblezada, Hadestown
Kelli O’Hara, Kiss Me, Kate
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Bertie Carvel, Ink
Robin De Jesús, The Boys in the Band
Gideon Glick, To Kill a Mockingbird
Brandon Uranowitz, Burn This
Benjamin Walker, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Fionnula Flanagan, The Ferryman
Celia Keenan-Bolger, To Kill a Mockingbird
Kristine Nielsen, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Julie White, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Ruth Wilson, King Lear
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
André De Shields, Hadestown
Andy Grotelueschen, Tootsie
Patrick Page, Hadestown
Jeremy Pope, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Ephraim Sykes, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Lilli Cooper, Tootsie
Amber Gray, Hadestown
Sarah Stiles, Tootsie
Ali Stroker, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Mary Testa, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Miriam Buether, To Kill a Mockingbird
Bunny Christie, Ink
Rob Howell, The Ferryman
Santo Loquasto, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Jan Versweyveld, Network
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Robert Brill and Peter Nigrini, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Peter England, King Kong
Rachel Hauck, Hadestown
Laura Jellinek, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
David Korins, Beetlejuice
Best Costume Design of a Play
Rob Howell, The Ferryman
Toni-Leslie James, Bernhardt/Hamlet
Clint Ramos, Torch Song
Ann Roth, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Ann Roth, To Kill a Mockingbird
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Michael Krass, Hadestown
William Ivey Long, Beetlejuice
William Ivey Long, Tootsie
Bob Mackie, The Cher Show
Paul Tazewell, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Neil Austin, Ink
Jules Fisher + Peggy Eisenhauer, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Peter Mumford, The Ferryman
Jennifer Tipton, To Kill a Mockingbird
Jan Versweyveld and Tal Yarden, Network
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kevin Adams, The Cher Show
Howell Binkley, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Bradley King, Hadestown
Peter Mumford, King Kong
Kenneth Posner and Peter Nigrini, Beetlejuice
Best Sound Design of a Play
Adam Cork, Ink
Scott Lehrer, To Kill a Mockingbird
Fitz Patton, Choir Boy
Nick Powell, The Ferryman
Eric Sleichim, Network
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Peter Hylenski, Beetlejuice
Peter Hylenski, King Kong
Steve Canyon Kennedy, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Drew Levy, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz, Hadestown
Best Direction of a Play
Rupert Goold, Ink
Sam Mendes, The Ferryman
Bartlett Sher, To Kill a Mockingbird
Ivo van Hove, Network
George C. Wolfe, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Best Direction of a Musical
Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown
Scott Ellis, Tootsie
Daniel Fish, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Des McAnuff, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Casey Nicholaw, The Prom
Best Choreography
Camille A. Brown, Choir Boy
Warren Carlyle, Kiss Me, Kate
Denis Jones, Tootsie
David Neumann, Hadestown
Sergio Trujillo, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Best Orchestrations
Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose, Hadestown
Simon Hale, Tootsie
Larry Hochman, Kiss Me, Kate
Daniel Kluger, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Harold Wheeler, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
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Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar
photos by matthew murphy, joan marcus, jan versweyveld
