Razzle dazzle returned to Broadway for the Tony Awards 2022.
The much-heralded “A Strange Loop” landed the top award for Best Musical, while Best Play went to the big banking drama and British import “The Lehman Trilogy.”
Of note: Multi-hyphenate Jennifer Hudson, a co-producer on “A Strange Loop,” reached rare EGOT status with that show’s win. The 40-year-old performer previously won a 2021 Daytime Emmy for “Baba Yaga,” two Grammy Awards (in 2017 and 2015) and a 2007 Oscar for her role in the film “Dreamgirls.” She became one of only 17 artists who can claim that title.
Joaquina Kalukango, who earlier wowed the Tony Awards audience with a rousing, tear-filled performance with the company of “Paradise Square,” nabbed the trophy for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical. Myles Frost, meanwhile, landed his first Tony nomination and win for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical with the Michael Jackson story “MJ.”
Theater fave and eight-time nominee Patti LuPone won her third Tony Award — this time for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, for “Company,” which also won for Best Revival of a Musical.
In her acceptance speech, LuPone noted that she started pondering the revival way back in 2018 and expressed relief for the theater community somehow making it through the “endless and vulnerable lockdown” started by the coronavirus pandemic. LuPone, 73, specifically offered “huge gratitude” to both Broadway understudies and “COVID safety people.”
Nominees and “The Music Man” co-stars Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster perform during the Tony Awards 2022 on Sunday at Radio City Music Hall. Getty ImagesAfter the coronavirus pandemic pushed the 2021 ceremony to the Winter Garden Theatre last fall, the red carpet and glittery statuettes were at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
Meanwhile, the Tonys bestowed Best Revival of a Play on “Take Me Out” — which featured some steamy, full-frontal nudity that shone a particular spotlight on its 40-year-old star, Jesse Williams.
Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster’s big, high-profile revival of “The Music Man,” however, was shut out, despite six nominations.
Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”) hosted the 75th main ceremony on CBS.
The team behind “Take Me Out” — which stars Jesse Williams and Tony-winner Jesse Tyler Ferguson — accepts the award for Best Revival of a Play. Getty Images “A Strange Loop” led the nominations with 11 total, while the Michael Jackson musical “MJ” and the play “Paradise Square” each had 10 nods. “Company” and “The Lehman Trilogy” follow with nine and eight nods, respectively, while “for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf” garnered five.
See below for the complete list of winners.
Congrats to @strangeloopbway, #TonyAwards-winner for Best Musical. Bravo! #75YearsofTonyspic.twitter.com/Cua1NGloF4 WINNER: A Strange Loop Girl From The North Country Congrats to @ParadiseSquare’s Joaquina Kalukango, #TonyAwards-winner for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical. Bravo! #75YearsofTonyspic.twitter.com/FNcGKGvunx WINNER: Joaquina Kalukango, Paradise Square "I give thanks to all of the nameless ancestors who have suffered; this song, this show gives power to that — I honor them every day,” she said in her tear-filled acceptance speech. Sharon D Clarke, Caroline, or ChangeBest Musical
By Eric Hegedus
MJ
Mr. Saturday Night
Paradise Square
SIX: The MusicalBest Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
By Eric Hegedus
Carmen Cusack, Flying Over Sunset
Sutton Foster, The Music Man
Mare Winningham, Girl From The North Country
Congrats to @MJtheMusical’s @mylesfrost5, #TonyAwards-winner for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. Bravo! #75YearsofTonyspic.twitter.com/Y0h8ozyj53
— The Tony Awards (@TheTonyAwards) June 13, 2022
WINNER: Myles Frost, MJ
Frost used his acceptance speech to honor his mother. "Mom, I love you so, so much. Without you, there would be no me," he said in an emotional talk. "You taught me and showed me what a strong black woman is and what it means to raise a strong black man — and I just pray that I made you proud." He also offered a broad word of encouragement to "little black kids" in need of support. "I love you because we support each other because we are black men — we are strong black men at that," he said.
Billy Crystal, Mr. Saturday Night
Hugh Jackman, The Music Man
Rob McClure, Mrs. Doubtfire
Jaquel Spivey, A Strange Loop
Tony-winner, fashionista and “Pose” alum Billy Porter offered a soaring performance of “On the Street Where You Live” from “My Fair Lady” during the In Memorium segment. The appearance saluted notables who passed including Sally Kellerman, Arlene Dahl, William Hurt, Peter Scolari, Barbara Maier Gustern, Maurice Murphy, Hollis Resnik, Joan Didion, Stephen Sondheim and more.
Congrats to @danahbway’s Deirdre O'Connell, #TonyAwards-winner for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play. Bravo! #75YearsofTonyspic.twitter.com/0Vg3epbriM
— The Tony Awards (@TheTonyAwards) June 13, 2022
WINNER: Deirdre O’Connell, Dana H.
Gabby Beans, The Skin of Our Teeth
LaChanze, Trouble in Mind
Ruth Negga, Macbeth
Mary-Louise Parker, How I Learned to Drive
Congrats to @LehmanTrilogyUS’s Simon Russell Beale, #TonyAwards-winner for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play. Bravo! #75YearsofTonyspic.twitter.com/YYZ5xyNfAT
— The Tony Awards (@TheTonyAwards) June 13, 2022
WINNER: Simon Russell Beale, The Lehman Trilogy
Adam Godley, The Lehman Trilogy
Adrian Lester, The Lehman Trilogy
David Morse, How I Learned to Drive
Sam Rockwell, American Buffalo
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Lackawanna Blues
David Threlfall, Hangmen
Congrats to @LehmanTrilogyUS, #TonyAwards-winner for Best Play. Bravo! #75YearsofTonyspic.twitter.com/a9L73VOFMd
— The Tony Awards (@TheTonyAwards) June 13, 2022
WINNER: The Lehman Trilogy (Author: Stefano Massini, Ben Power)
Clyde’s (Author: Lynn Nottage)
Hangmen (Author: Martin McDonagh)
The Minutes (Author: Tracy Letts)
Skeleton Crew (Author: Dominique Morisseau)
Congrats to @companybway, #TonyAwards-winner for Best Revival of a Musical. Bravo! #75YearsofTonyspic.twitter.com/HKrlQANDCl
— The Tony Awards (@TheTonyAwards) June 13, 2022
WINNER: Company
Caroline, or Change
The Music Man
Congrats to @strangeloopbway’s @thelivingmj, #TonyAwards-winner for Best Book of a Musical. Bravo! #75YearsofTonyspic.twitter.com/lqWIL3Q2bn
— The Tony Awards (@TheTonyAwards) June 13, 2022
WINNER: Michael R. Jackson, "A Strange Loop"
Christina Anderson, Craig Lucas and Larry Kirwan, "Paradise Square"
Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, "Mr. Saturday Night"
Michael R. Jackson, "A Strange Loop"
Conor McPherson, "Girl From the North Country"
Lynn Nottage, "MJ"
Bernadette Peters honoring the life of Stephen Sondheim at the 75th Annual #TonyAwards on @CBS and @paramountplus. #75YearsofTonys
— The Tony Awards (@TheTonyAwards) June 13, 2022
📷: Getty Images pic.twitter.com/KE6oVMxpOH
Lin-Manuel Miranda offered a tribute to theater giant Stephen Sondheim — who died in November 2021 at age 91 — with help from Bernadette Peters, who performed a rendition of his song “Children Will Listen” from “Into the Woods.” The show won the Tony for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical for the 2002 revival.
Congrats to @companybway’s Matt Doyle, #TonyAwards-winner for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical. Bravo! #75YearsofTonyspic.twitter.com/uSqnYiRWWA
— The Tony Awards (@TheTonyAwards) June 13, 2022
WINNER: Matt Doyle, Company
Sidney DuPont, Paradise Square
Jared Grimes, Funny Girl
John-Andrew Morrison, A Strange Loop
A.J. Shively, Paradise Square
Congrats to @2STNYC’s Take Me Out, #TonyAwards-winner for Best Revival of a Play. Bravo! #75YearsofTonyspic.twitter.com/NWZPGx8iYm
— The Tony Awards (@TheTonyAwards) June 13, 2022
WINNER: Take Me Out
American Buffalo
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
How I Learned to Drive
Trouble in Mind
