The annual Tony Awards celebrating the best of Broadway returns to their summertime spot for 2022 before a live audience at Radio City Music Hall after having to take a break due to the coronavirus.
Julianne Hough and Darren Criss host the “Tony Awards: Act One”.
The night of music and awards begins with a musical performance which was written by Darren Criss.
The first award of the show is for Best Original Score written for the Theatre to Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow for “SIX: The Musical”.
The award for Best Costume Design of a Play went to Montana Levi Blanco for “The Skin of Our Teeth”. Blanco also worked on costume design for “A Strange Loop”. This is his first Tony win.
The award for Best Costume Design of a Musical went to Gabriella Slade for “SIX: The Musical”. This is her first nomination and Tony win.
The award for Best Scenic Design of a Play went to Es Devlin for “The Lehman Trilogy”.
The award for Best Scenic Design of a Musical went to Bunny Christie for “Company”. This is her second Tony win.
The award for Best Lighting Design of a Play went to Jon Clark for “The Lehman Trilogy”. This is his first Tony win
The award for Best Lighting Design of a Musical went to Natasha Katz for “MJ”. With 15 Tony nominations, this is Katz seventh Tony win.
The Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement goes to Angela Lansbury. The five time Tony Award winner has been acting for 75 years. She has hosted the Tony Awards five times and appeared in 15 Broadway productions. Angela could not be present to accept the award but the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus gave her a musical salute.
Giving the Vulcan salute, 85 year old George Takei makes his ”Broadway debut” by presenting the awards for Best Sound Design.
The award for Best Sound Design of a Play went to Mikhail Fiksel for “Dana H”. This is his first Tony win. Previously he was known as a DJ who went by the name White Russian. Noting that he is getting married in a couple of weeks, Fiksel call it the best wedding gift ever.
The award for Best Design of a Musical went to Gareth Owen for “MJ”. This is his first Tony win.
The award for Best Orchestrations went to Simon Hale for “Girl from the North Country”. This is his first Tony win.
Agnes de Mille won the very first award for Best Choreography; this year the award for Best Choreography goes to Christopher Wheeldon for “MJ”. This is his second Tony win.
Ariana DeBose hosts the 75th annual awards presentation and opens the show with a musical performance that featured a mashup of songs from the history of musicals on Broadway.
DeBose pointed out the diversity of this year’s nominees including seven playwrights of colour, the first transgender actor in a major role, and the first non binary winner.
The first award of the night was for Best Featured Actor in a Play and went to Jesse Tyler Ferguson for his role in “Take Me Out”. This is his first Tony Award nomination and win. He said that he could not believe he got to do this for a living.
Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster, and cast members from “The Music Man” performed “76 Trombones”.
Ariana DeBose gave a big shout out to all of the under studies and crew that help to put on the productions.
The award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical went to Patti LuPone for her role in “Company”. This is her third Tony Award win. LuPone also thanked all of the crews and under studies; adding the Covid safety people to the list.
Prince and Paris Jackson introduced the production “MJ: The Musical”. Prince noted that his father loved musicals. Cast members of “MJ: performed “Smooth Criminal” form the show.
The award for Best Direction of a Play to Sam Mendes for “The Lehman Trilogy”. This is his second directorial Tony Award.
The award for Best Direction of a Musical went to Marianne Elliott for “Company”. This is her third directorial Tony win. Her first thank you was to Stephen Sondheim. She dedicated the award to everyone fighting to keep theater alive.
Cast members of “Mr. Saturday Night” including Billy Crystal perform. Crystal tried to teach the audience a little Yiddish scatting. “Oy Vey!”.
Ariana DeBose noted that Bob Fosse was the greatest choreographer and did a little dance with Sam Rockwell.
There are 150 Covid Safety managers in the house tonight as a thank you for getting Broadway back to work and thriving.
The award for Best Featured Actress in a Play went to Phylicia Rashad for her role in “Skeleton Crew”. This is her second Tony win. She also noted that you don’t come to the stage alone.
The original musical “Company” has been reimagined as a gender bending production. Cast members from the show give a performance.
The American Theatre Wing pays tribute to the person who gave the Tony Awards its name – Antionette Perry.
Among the new productions beginning on Broadway in the fall is “The Piano Lesson” starring Samuel L. Jackson who began his career as an understudy in the play 32 years ago, and his wife LaTonya will be the first female ever to direct an August Wilson play.
The award for Best Revival of a Play went to “Take Me Out”.
Cast members of “The Girl from the North Country” give a performance from the show that feature the music of Bob Dylan.
Host Ariana DeBose performs as she wanders through the audience.
The award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical went to Matt Doyle for his role in “Company”. This is his first nomination and Tony win.
Four time Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda paid tribute to the late Stephen Sondheim who died last year. The tribute featured a video of Sondheim’s own words and a performance by Bernadette Peters.
The award for Best Book of a Musical went to Michael R Jackson for “A Strange Loop”. He received a standing ovation when he took the stage. Currently 41, Jackson said that he began writing “A Strange Loop” when he was 23. He told everyone to never settle for anything but your best.
The award for Revival of a Musical went to “Company”. One of the people on the stage to accept the award held up a photo of Stephen Sondheim.
Jennifer Hudson and RuPaul introduce a performance form “A Strange Loop” the tale of a queer man of colour writing a production of a queer man of colour.
The original cast of “Spring Awakening” return give a performance from the eight time Tony Award winning musical.
The playwright nominees for this year speak about their plays in a video clip.
The award for Best Play went to “The Lehman Trilogy” by Ben Power and Stefano Massini.
Cast members from “Paradise Square” give a performance and earned a standing ovation from the audience.
The award for Best Leading Actor in a Play went to Simon Russell Beale for his role in “The Lehman Trilogy”. This is Beale’s first Tony win.
The award for Best Lead Actress in a Play went to Dierdre O’Connell for her role in “Dana H.”
Laurence Fishburn introduced the In Memoriam segment honouring those who were lost over the past year. Billy Porter performs “On the Street Where You Live” from “My Fair Lady” as the names and photos were presented on the screen.
The award for Leading Actor in a Musical went to Myles Frost for his role as Michael Jackson in “MJ”. This is his first Tony win.
The award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical went to Joaquina Kalukango for her role in “Paradise Square”. This is her first Tony win.
Cast members from “SIX: The Musical” give a performance. The performance included an alternate that learned she would be a part of the performance just 12 hours earlier.
The original Anita in “West Side Story” Chita Rivera presents the award for Best Musical to “A Strange Loop”.
Ariana DeBose closes out the night with one more mashup performance.
Special Tony Awards not presented during the live broadcasts:
Special Tony Award: James C. Nicola
Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award: Robert E. Wankel
Regional Theatre Tony Award: Court Theatre in Chicago, IL
Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre:
Asian American Performers Action Coalition
Broadway for All
Feinstein’s 54 Below
Emily Grishman
United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, IATSE