The 79th Annual Tony Awards were anything but controversial and, in the end, it feels like it hurt the broadcast. To the extent that when anything political came up, like the “free speech” bit, it felt forced and muted.
In what many would consider true P!nk fashion, the Tony Awards began with the host suspended mid-air and singing—while dressed in full Peter Pan garb. Only to be interrupted by four-time host Neil Patrick Harris, in what becomes a hilarious homage to musical theatre ending with P!nk perched atop Harris imitating Cynthia Erivo’s now iconic ending belt to the first Wicked film. He tells her to get down and go be her true self, then turns and deadpans to the audience, “She is going to need some help.”
Cue the opening notes to the Moulin Rouge film hit “Lady Marmalade.”
The opening number has been reworked Broadway style by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen, The Greatest Showman), and Mark Sonnenblick and all the musical nominees take part. P!nk and the ladies take the lead, but the male nominees get in a verse of their own, too. Singing “Hey sister, soul sister. Don’t forget your bros sister.” Not to mention stage and screen icon 96-year-old June Squibb saying the line, “All the roles I’ve played, I’ve slayed them.” No lies detected here. Moulin Rouge actress Meghan Thee Stallion takes over the song’s rap verse in place of Lil’ Kim in the original.
After the first category of the night, in which John Lithgow won best actor in a play for playing Roald Dahl in Giant, viewers are treated to the first performance of the night from the cast of Schmigadoon!. The show begins with with the two leads (Josh Skinner and Melissa Gimble) lost outside of Radio City Music Hall, wandering in and asking none other than musical theatre icon Bernadette Peters for directions whilst making their way to the stage where the magical musical town comes to life. Apple TV, you really blew it by cancelling the source material for this one.
Next up was the category of featured actress in a play, won by Laurie Metcalf for Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, featuring an intro by Glee star Darren Criss, whom P!nk tried to get to flip from the balcony onto the stage—even going so far as to jokingly threaten to have Daniel Radcliffe do it for him.
The second performance of the evening was the cast of Ragtime performing the title number to the show.
One of my favorite aspects of this year’s awards was the use of real performance footage of the play nominees with an explanation by the show’s playwright. It’s a good thing that they almost sort of assume that television viewers are going in with limited knowledge because, at least for me, that often proves to be true. I’m a musical person; my play knowledge is limited.
Fresh off their limited engagement performances in The Last Five Years, Ben Platt and future Broadway Evita Rachel Zegler announce the awards for best direction of a musical and best direction of a play. Cats: The Jellicle Ball receives their first award of the evening. Applause erupts as the directors’(Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch) state, “Ballroom is about legacy. We honor the Black and Brown trans women and gay men who were ballroom’s pioneers, as well as today’s icons.”
The award for best direction of a play goes to Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.
Wicked actor and 2026 Tony Nominee, Bowen Yang, introduces the next performance of the show, Titanique. Yang begins by citing the lengths that director James Cameron went to accurately portray “what went down” (bad joke!) in the 1997 film Titanic, the source material for Titanique, and then joked that the musical’s creators did not do any research.
“Instead, they asked, ‘What if Celine Dion was actually on the Titanic?’” Says Yang.
Celine Dion (Marla Mindelle) poorly and borderline hilariously recounts the plot of the film. The cast launches (OK, that one was my bad) into a mini medley beginning with Dion’s 2007 hit “Taking Chances” and, of course, it would not be a true Titanic performance without the last song in this mini-Celine Dion medley, “My Heart Will Go On.”
Shoshana Bean (Waitress, Wicked, Hell’s Kitchen) wins her first-ever Tony Award (long overdue!) for The Lost Boys. Bean dedicates her award to all the single mothers in the world.
“This is for the mamas. This is for the single mamas,” says Bean, “This is for my single mama. You are the wild heroes. This is for the incredible army of women that surround and uplift me. This is for every woman who ever felt like she was too much or not enough. I beg you not to wait for permission to be all of who you are.”
The next performance of the evening is the cast of Cats: The Jellicle Ball performing “Jellicle Cats” and featuring audience cameos from playwright Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Vogue editor (not to mention the inspiration behind The Devil Wears Prada’s Miranda Priestly), Anna Wintour holding cat themed signs.
After the next category (best play), the audience is treated to a love letter to New York, a song appropriately titled “New York”, from the leading actors of Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York), Sam Tutty and Christiani Pitts. Featuring Tutty as overeager Brit, Dougal, who admits that his knowledge of the city does not exactly extend beyond multiple viewings of Home Alone 2.
The award for Featured Actor in a Musical went to first-time nominee, Ali Louis Bourzgui for his performance as David in the musical adaptation of The Lost Boys.
“This is dedicated to the beautiful tapestry of immigrant families who make this country really special—may you one day not have to audition for the empathy that should be freely given by this country that benefits from your beauty, for the queer and trans communities who have and always will exist, no matter what people in power try to take away from them,” states Bourzgui,. For the people of Palestine who deserve to live a fruitful life, a free life, a full life without occupation. For Arab theatre makers and artists, may we continue to tell our stories and show our faces, so our humanity becomes undeniable, and our families can no longer be written off as merely collateral damage. May they know the beauty of our kisses upon each cheek and the romance of a language rooted in passion for love and life itself.”
The first anniversary celebration performance of the night is Chicago, celebrating 30 years and introduced by the Mama Morton of the Oscar-winning film adaptation, Queen Latifah. The cast performs a medley of “When You’re Good to Mama,” “Cell Block Tango”, and “All That Jazz” featuring lead vocals by P!nk.
After the next category (best actress in a play), viewers are treated to Rachel Dratch, Luke Evans and the cast of The Rocky Horror Show performing “Sweet Transvenstite” and the massive, high-energy dance anthem, “Let’s Do the Time Warp Again.” OK but seriously, how do they get Luke Evans into that skimpy, risqué corset eight shows a week? Wowzah!
Afterwards, P!nk appears to turn serious stating, “The powers that be are closing in on the first amendment. As the strongholds of free speech fall, I think it’s important that Broadway stands strong and sticks to its values. Hell yeah. Soon you may not be able to say what you believe. So tonight, I wanna make sure that all our voices are heard.” The bit while mildly funny falls flat with one participant saying ““I’m pretty sure that cats try to eat your hair while you’re sleeping” (I have had a cat who liked to do this in the past) and another stating, ““I think you should be allowed to text during the really slow boring parts.” A sentiment very likely shared by the few civilians in the audience who spent $495 on tickets.
In the first major upset of the night, Ragtime beat out favorite Cats: The Jellicle Ball for the award for Best Revival. Hey, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, you need to revive Anastasia next! Signed a fan who is still bitter over the show’s too early closure.
The evening’s “In Memoriam” segment was accompanied by Tony Award winner Leslie Odom Jr. singing Rent’s tearjerking “Without You.” As a fan of Rent since 2005, I know early on that I’m probably going to need tissues for this one. I am proven right when pictures of Diane Keaton and Robert Redford grace the screen and I start to tear up. The segment ends with words from none other than Jonathan Larson. “Forget regret, or life is yours to miss. No other road, no other way. No day but today,” and a stray tear grazes my cheek. An emotional tribute for sure but nowhere near as emotionally draining as the three-part segment in March’s broadcast of the 98th Academy Awards. Even my 89-year-old grandmother described that one as “too much.”
After the winner for best actor in a play is awarded, the cast of The Lost Boys takes to the stage for a medley of “Have to Have You” and “Lose Yourself.” Fans of the show can currently stream and purchase “Have to Have You” but will have to wait for the official cast recording to release on July 24 before they can play “Lose Yourself” on repeat.
The second anniversary performance of the night comes from the original Broadway cast of The Book of Mormon, celebrating 15 years and performing— in what several viewers posting on social media described as a disappointing song choice— lesser-known number “Man Up”.
After the stage is cleared, a final anniversary performance is given, though it truly feels like it has been added as an afterthought. A Chorus Line celebrates 50 years with a performance by Rachel Zegler singing “What I Did for Love.”
After what many considered a relatively light Broadway season, the awards for Best Actress and Best Actor both go to actors in a revival. Ragtime receives two of the biggest awards of the night with Caissie Levy (Frozen, Wicked) and Joshua Henry (Carousel, Into the Woods) taking the wins.
The biggest and final award of the broadcast went to Schmigadoon! In a deliciously savage dig at the streaming network, producer Christine Schwarzman thanked Apple TV for cancelling the third season of the show that once was Schmigadoon!.
“Without them dropping it, we couldn’t have picked it up and ran with it. So, thanks Apple TV,” said Schwarzman in her acceptance speech.
A full list of the winners can be found here.
Photo courtesy of social media.
