Perspective | The best and worst moments from the 2024 Tony Awards
Broadway’s biggest night borrowed a vibe from the Very Online to say “we are so back,” with a Tony Awards telecast that showcased an industry in full rebound. Celebrating a season packed with everything from jukebox juggernauts to prickly, provocative dramas, Tony voters spread accolades across a diverse array of shows, signaling an embrace of originality, ingenuity and love of the art form.
“The Outsiders,” a gritty adaptation of the coming-of-age novel, nabbed best musical and a directing prize for Danya Taymor, whose production takes bold aesthetic swings with highly emo stakes. Two of the night’s other major victors are odes to the rapturous heartbreak of making art with people you love: Best play winner “Stereophonic,” about the tortured recording session of a Fleetwood Mac-type band; and best revival “Merrily We Roll Along,” George Furth and Stephen Sondheim’s onetime flop about wide-eyed artists maturing into middle age.
It’s a strong argument for the industry’s faith in its own future that stories about making music and theater reigned victorious. Newcomers were crowned alongside veterans (like Maleah Joi Moon and Kecia Lewis, for playing opposite each other in “Hell’s Kitchen”), while production numbers sought to razzle-dazzle ticket buyers at the culmination of a vibrant and varied season. Here are the best and worst moments from the night.
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Kara Young’s win for featured actress in “Purlie Victorious,” in which she played a determined woman roped into a wacky scheme, comes after she was nominated for both “Clyde’s” and “Cost of Living,” demonstrating an astonishing breadth of talent in three consecutive seasons. Young tearfully thanked her family and paid homage to Ruby Dee, who originated the role in 1961.
Jonathan Groff, nominated for playing a horny teen in “Spring Awakening” in 2007 and a cheeky king in “Hamilton” in 2016, finally won a Tony Award for playing someone not unlike himself: a dreamer who has grown into musical theater royalty, in “Merrily We Roll Along.” His honey-sweet speech included a tribute to his co-stars, fellow winner Daniel Radcliffe and nominee Lindsay Mendez.
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Taking home best leading actor in a play for his not-unlike-Kendall-Roy turn in “An Enemy of the People,” Jeremy Strong thanked the ushers and front-of-house staff, who often see him looking like roadkill, he said. Radcliffe, accepting best featured actor in a musical for “Merrily We Roll Along,” thanked his longtime dresser.
The 77th Tony Awards, which featured big wins and exciting performances, were held in New York on June 16. (Video: Allie Caren/The Washington Post)
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New York City saw two of the gayest events of the year take place on Sunday: the Tony Awards and the fetish festival known as Folsom Street East. Eddie Redmayne’s elbow-length black gloves brought to mind scenes from the latter that upstaged the brief musical number from “Cabaret.” I’m an unapologetic fan of the divisive revival, but Redmayne’s emcee sticks out like a sore thumb, a steampunk Gollum lost in Weimar Berlin.
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Tony-nominated musicals get to perform splashy production numbers — basically big commercials — but the Tonys have struggled in the past with how to convey (and advertise) straight plays. This year, clips were shown for each acting nominee (except, curiously or not, Jeremy Strong) and interview montages preceded the best play and best revival awards.
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, winning best play revival for “Appropriate,” got sufficient time on the mic, thanking “Purlie Victorious” scribe Ossie Davis, whose legacy paved the way for the first-time Tony winner.
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The suffragist musical, for which Shaina Taub won two somewhat-surprise Tonys for best score and best book, was introduced by producer Hillary Clinton and performed the rousing, full-company number “Keep Marching.” Even without elaborate choreography, a medley of songs or a rain-soaked rumble (as good as the latter looked for “The Outsiders”), the performance from “Suffs” was the most stirring.
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To address the growing number of commercial Broadway investors who plunk cash into shows with the hopes of one day crowding the stage in person, Tony producers corralled them elsewhere to wave silently on like muted participants in a Zoom meeting. Oscars, take note.
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“Hell’s Kitchen” may have lost the top prize after scoring the most nominations of any musical, but the show’s on-air performance undoubtedly packed the most sizzle, thanks to an arena-worthy performance by Alicia Keys and Jay-Z of “Empire State of Mind.”
That song haunts my every waking hour, blasting from the pedicabs that ferry tourists around my neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen. But it resounded like an anthem — to a city that’s in the throes of bouncing back from dark times, and to a theater community doing the same.
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Ariana DeBose has become a Tony Awards MVP, returning to host with equal parts poise and sass for the third straight year. She knows you remember the cringe meme-ed ‘round the world that was her rap at last year’s BAFTAs, and joked about adapting it into a full-length musical (honestly, would watch!). She carried off the daunting task of emceeing unscripted during the WGA strike last year, and that opener sent her leaping down the lobby stairs and shimmying up the aisle.
By contrast, this year’s opener was tame, with lyrics that were tough to decipher and a “Cabaret”-light aesthetic that didn’t pop. DeBose looked fabulous, though, in a Bob Mackie minidress that screamed she was ready to audition for “The Prince of Egypt” on ice.
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The night’s earliest awards, for those die-hard enough to find them on Pluto TV, honored the industry’s unsung heroes — designers, orchestrators, book writers — who spouted the sort of flustered, unfiltered speeches you get from folks rarely in the spotlight.
Expressing disbelief that he was crying in front of so many people, Cory Spencer, sound design winner for “The Outsiders,” dropped an f-bomb. CJay Philip, a theater teacher honored with a special Tony, led the audience in a call-and-response to “let the light within you shine!” Amen to that.
correction
An earlier version of this article incorrectly implied that Daniel Radcliffe’s dresser was his dresser on “Equus.” Radcliffe actually reportedly stated: “We met on ‘Equus.’ You’ve dressed me on everything since.” It also misspelled the name Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.
