The 76th Tony Awards were hosted by Oscar-winning actress Ariana DeBose on Sunday night at United Palace in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood. The awards ceremony, which honors plays and musicals that opened on Broadway between April 29, 2022 and April 27, 2023, aired on CBS and streaming service Paramount+. A special segment, hosted by Julianne Hough and Skylar Austin, was streamed Pluto TV Before the main ceremony, several awards were announced, including Lifetime Achievement recognition and Best Original Score.
This year’s awards ceremony, which was nearly halted amid a Writers Guild of America strike, was offered without a script as part of an agreement reached with the union. (When a screenwriters’ strike threatened the broadcast last month, playwrights banded together to save the broadcast.) The ceremony also went without a personalized opening number and writers were encouraged to pre-record their acceptance speeches.
“Kimberly Akimbo” won Best Musical, and “Leopoldstadt” won Best Drama. J. Harrison Nye and Alex Newell became the first non-binary actors to win in their categories, Best Lead Actor in a Musical and Best Actor in a Musical. Jodie Comer, known for her role as an assassin on TV’s “Killing Eve,” took home the Tony for her first professional stage role in the one-woman show “Prima Face.”
Best actor in a play
Brandon Ouranowitz, “Leopoldstadt”
Best Actress in a Drama
Miriam Silverman, “The Sign in Sidney Prestein’s Window”
A great scenic design of a musical instrument
Beowulf Borritt, “New York, New York”
Best costume design of a play
Brigitte Riefenstwell, “Leopoldstadt”
Best costume design of a musical instrument
Greg Barnes, “Some Like It Hot”
Best sound design of a play
Caroline Downing, “Life of Pi”
Great sound design of a musical instrument
Nevin Steinberg, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
Best lighting design of a play
Tim Ludkin, “Life of Pi”
Excellent lighting design of a musical instrument
Natasha Katz, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement
Joel Gray and John Kander
Isabel Stevenson Award
Jerry Mitchell
Regional Theater Tony Award
Pasadena Playhouse
Tony Award for Excellence in Dramatic Education
Jason Zembuch Young
Tony was honored for excellence in theatre
Lisa Dawn Cave, Victoria Bailey and Robert Fried
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