While the words “a show like no other” often accompany any conversation regarding the annual Tony Awards; this year those words have a meaning all of their own.

The show began with host Ariana DeBose opening a script that was filled with blank pages.  The pages were blank because the writers who would normally fill those pages are on strike.

But a strike didn’t slow DeBose or her fellow cast mates down, they put on a full on dance routine with no words that brought the house to their feet.

Due to the strike, the host and presenters were on their own with their skits and speeches – all of which were clean and did not bully anyone.

But that was only the beginning of the special evening of awards.

Identifying themselves as non-binary personnel, Alex Newman and J Harrison Ghee became the first such people to win a Tony Award for acting roles in the Featured and Lead Actor categories.  Writer Toby Marlow and composer Lucy Moss won awards last year but not in major award categories.

Tom Stoppard won his fifth Best Play award for “Leopolstadt” to make him the most awarded playwright in Tony’s 76 year history.

Composer Jeanine Tesori earned her second Tony for Best Score, making her the first female to have two such wins.

Natash Katz became the most awarded lighting designer of a musical with eighth win for “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”.

Not surprising, the award winners were not afraid to speak their mind and showed support for the striking writers and members of the LGBTQA+ community.

Not seen on the live television broadcast but a part of the “Act One” segment presented via streaming, Denee Benton brought the house down when she referred to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as the “Grand Wizard”.  Benton was presenting the Excellence in Theatre Education award to South Plantation High School theater teacher Jason Zembuch Young when she made the remark.

Young gave a very emotional acceptance speech encouraging people not to see what people can’t do but what they can; saying that the possibilities are endless when you do.

Brandon Uranowitz, Miriam Silverman, Bonnie Milligan, Sean Hayes, J. Harrison Ghee, Alex Newell, and Jodie Comer were all first time acting Tony winners.