What a night to remember!
It wouldn’t be a night that celebrates theatre without a touch of drama.
With predictions feeling rock solid, this year’s Tony awards came with some major snubs and surprises.
The 72nd annual Tony Awards was co-hosted by Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles and was broadcasted live Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The Waitress and Great Comet actors proved winning hosts, with plenty of songs and an opening field with self-referential humor, as the duo itself has never won a Tony.
The night brought out the who’s who of theatre as well as Hollywood A-listers including Tina Fey, Robert De Niro, Andrew Garfield and Bruce Springsteen who even took to the stage to perform.
The star-studded night recognized the best of Broadway and eligible for nominations were productions that opened during the 2017-2018 season on or before April 26.
Going into the night with the highest number of nominations were SpongeBob SquarePants and Tina Fey’s Mean Girls with an impressive 12 nods each. But the night biggest snub was Mean Girls that ended up not winning a single one of the twelve awards for which it was nominated. A favorite to take home the award for best book of a musical with Fey a favorite with the Broadway community, went home empty-handed.
The night’s biggest winner was The Band’s Visit, who came into the night with eleven nominations and won a whopping ten Tonys including top honors of Best Musical.
The first award of the night went to Andrew Garfield who took home the coveted award for Best Lead Actor in a play for the Angels in America revival. As he accepted his award he said, “We are all sacred and we all belong, so let’s just bake a cake for everyone who wants a cake,” Garfield said referencing to the recent Supreme Court ruling around a Colorado cake shop that refused to make a cake for a same-sex couple. “We need to change everything. We need to start over. The old guard needs to quietly vanish into the night and graciously give the world to the new generation.”
An extra special moment during the telecast was Glenda Jackson’s first ever win at the age of 82. Jackson won Best Actress in a play for her role in the Edward Albee drama, Three Tall Women after being nominated for the same award four times previously.
As she accepted the honor she chose to recognize the young talent around her, “I’m one of the oldest people I think to have ever stood on this platform receiving this award, but what a thrill to be in the same house as those amazing children. Weren’t they marvelous?”
The night featured musical numbers from The Band’s Visit, Carousel, Frozen, Mean Girls, My Fair Lady, Once on This Island, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, as well as a special performance by Bruce Springsteen.
Check out the full list of winners below:
Best Play
The Children
Farinelli and The King
WINNER: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Junk
Latin History for Morons
Best Musical
WINNER: The Band’s Visit
Frozen
Mean Girls
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Best Revival of a Play
WINNER: Angels in America
Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Lobby Hero
Travesties
Best Revival of a Musical
My Fair Lady
WINNER: Once On This Island
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Best Direction of a Play
Marianne Elliott, Angels in America
Joe Mantello, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Patrick Marber, Travesties
WINNER: John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
George C. Wolfe, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Best Direction of a Musical
Michael Arden, Once On This Island
WINNER: David Cromer, The Band’s Visit
Tina Landau, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls
Bartlett Sher, My Fair Lady
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
WINNER: Andrew Garfield, Angels in America
Tom Hollander, Travesties
Jamie Parker, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Mark Rylance, Farinelli and the King
Denzel Washington, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
WINNER: Glenda Jackson, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Condola Rashad, Saint Joan
Lauren Ridloff, Children of a Lesser God
Amy Schumer, Meteor Shower
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady
Joshua Henry, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
WINNER: Tony Shalhoub, The Band’s Visit
Ethan Slater, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady
Hailey Kilgore, Once On This Island
LaChanze, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
WINNER: Katrina Lenk, The Band’s Visit
Taylor Louderman, Mean Girls
Jessie Mueller, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Anthony Boyle, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Michael Cera, Lobby Hero
Brian Tyree Henry, Lobby Hero
WINNER: Nathan Lane, Angels in America
David Morse, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Susan Brown, Angels in America
Noma Dumezweni, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Deborah Findlay, The Children
Denise Gough, Angels in America
WINNER: Laurie Metcalf, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Norbert Leo Butz, My Fair Lady
Alexander Gemignani, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Grey Henson, Mean Girls
Gavin Lee, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
WINNER: Ari’el Stachel, The Band’s Visit
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Ariana DeBose, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
Renée Fleming, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
WINNER: Lindsay Mendez, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Ashley Park, Mean Girls
Diana Rigg, My Fair Lady
Best Book of a Musical
WINNER: The Band’s Visit, Itamar Moses
Frozen, Jennifer Lee
Mean Girls, Tina Fey
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical, Kyle Jarrow
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Angels in America, Adrian Sutton (Music)
WINNER: The Band’s Visit, David Yazbek (Music and Lyrics)
Frozen, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (Music and Lyrics)
Mean Girls, Jeff Richmond (Music)
and Nell Benjamin (Lyrics)
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical, Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman, John Legend, Panic! at the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants, T.I., Domani and Lil’C (Music and Lyrics)
Best Sound Design of a Play
Adam Cork, Travesties
Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Angels in America
WINNER: Gareth Fry, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Tom Gibbons, 1984
Dan Moses Schreier, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Best Sound Design of a Musical
WINNER: Kai Harada, The Band’s Visit
Peter Hylenski, Once On This Island
Scott Lehrer, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Brian Ronan, Mean Girls
Walter Trarbach and Mike Dobson, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Best Orchestrations
John Clancy, Mean Girls
Tom Kitt, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Annmarie Milazzo and Michael Starobin, Once On This Island
WINNER: Jamshied Sharifi, The Band’s Visit
Jonathan Tunick, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Miriam Buether, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and The King
WINNER: Christine Jones, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Santo Loquasto, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Ian MacNeil and Edward Pierce, Angels in America
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Dane Laffrey, Once On This Island
Scott Pask, The Band’s Visit
Scott Pask, Finn Ross and Adam Young, Mean Girls
Michael Yeargan, My Fair Lady
WINNER: David Zinn, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Best Lighting Design of a Play
WINNER: Neil Austin, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Paule Constable, Angels in America
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Paul Russell, Farinelli and The King
Ben Stanton, Junk
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kevin Adams, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Once On This Island
Donald Holder, My Fair Lady
Brian MacDevitt, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
WINNER: Tyler Micoleau, The Band’s Visit
Best Costume Design of a Play
Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and The King
Nicky Gillibrand, Angels in America
WINNER: Katrina Lindsay, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Ann Roth, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Ann Roth, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes, Mean Girls
Clint Ramos, Once On This Island
Ann Roth, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
David Zinn, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
WINNER: Catherine Zuber, My Fair Lady
Best Choreography
Christopher Gattelli, My Fair Lady
Christopher Gattelli, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Steven Hoggett, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls
WINNER: Justin Peck, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Chita Rivera
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Special Tony Awards
John Leguizamo
Bruce Springsteen
Regional Theatre Tony Award
La MaMa E.T.C.
New York City
Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award
Nick Scandalios
Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre
Sara Krulwich
Bessie Nelson
Ernest Winzer Cleaners
