A Recap of the 73rd Annual Tony Awards

  One of my favorite annual traditions is by far the American Theatre Wing's annual Tony Awards ceremony. I spend the entire year tracking the races and devoting my time to each of the new shows that opens on Broadway each season. I do not measure my year from January-December, but by Broadway season to Broadway season. This begins from the moment the first show of the season opens until the moment the annual Tony Awards ceremony ends. The 2018/2019 Broadway season ran through all of the types of shows. Some were good, some were bad, and some were even life affirming. I love the Tony Awards because not only do we get to honor all of our favorite shows and performers of the season, but we get to celebrate them through nominations, wins, and a wonderful show. This year, Hadestown led the pack, pulling in 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. They were followed by The Ferryman, who picked up 4 Tony Awards, including Best Play. Also winning big was the new revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! and The Boys in the Band, winning awards in each of the revival categories, musical and play. As always, I am going to run through each aspect of the ceremony, starting with the red carpet:

Tony Host, James Corden, and his wife, Julia Carey on the red carpet of the 73rd Annual Tony Awards. Photo Credit: The Hollywood Reporter

Laura Donnelly (Tony Nominated Star of The Ferryman) on the red carpet of the 73rd Annual Tony Awards.

  As always, the stars looked absolutely fabulous. I was particularly taken with the fashion of Lilli Cooper (nominated for Tootsie, wearing a stunning dark blue gown), Jeremy Pope (double nominated for Choir Boy and Ain't Too Proud- The Life and Times of the Temptations, who was wearing a gorgeous black suit), Laura Donnelly (nominated for The Ferryman, in a divine purple gown, dressed in purple flowers), Brandon Uranowitz (nominated for Burn This, his suit was just fabulous), and Cynthia Erivo, who looked simply elegant in a beautiful gown, complete with a feather shawl draped over her shoulders. I also must make mention of André de Shields (Winner for Best Featured Actor in a Musical), Tina Fey (presenter), Rosemary Harris (winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award), Audra McDonald (presenter), Sarah Stiles (nominated for Tootsie), and our host, James Corden, who also looked wonderful in his flowered suit on the red carpet. So many of the stars looked so amazing on the red carpet that I cannot even begin to name everyone who I thought looked wonderful on the red carpet, especially since I didn't even get to see Stephanie J. Block's and Ali Stroker's amazing looks until they took the stage to accept their awards. As I expected he would, Billy Porter stole the show on the red carpet and during the ceremony, simply with what he was wearing. He always looks PHENOMENAL. You can see more pictures from the red carpet here.

Billy Porter on the Tony Awards Red Carpet. Photo: Marc J. Franklin, Playbill.com

  James Corden returned to the Tony Awards as a host for the second time, having previously hosted them in 2016. I have always loved James Corden. He does a wonderful job with his late night talk show, The Late Late Show, and I adored him when he hosted the 70th Annual Tony Awards. He did nicely hosting this years awards, but he was hardly ever around during the ceremony. I understand that as a host, you do not want to overstay your welcome, as that does happen at award shows, but I was constantly wondering where he was. I'd say he was maybe in about 20-30 minutes of the 3 hour telecast. He did kick off the evening with a gigantic opening number (which is important for the Tony Awards) and while it may not have been the most amazing opening number to have ever been done at the Tony Awards, I always get emotional whenever I see theatre people that I recognize on national television, so I loved it. He had great bits with the people in the audience, my favorite of which was when he asked Broadway performers to settle whatever feuds they have in order to boost the ratings of the Tony Awards. Equally as hilarious is when he asked Kristin Chenoweth, Jeff Daniels (nominated for To Kill a Mockingbird), and the company of The Boys in the Band to practice their "I just lost a Tony Award face." Although I loved the bits that he did do, I was hoping very much for another Broadway themed edition of "Carpool Karaoke" and a brand new "Crosswalk: The Musical," which are everyone's favorite segments on the Corden's Late Late Show.

 Just about every single person who won a Tony Award last night deserved to win. I only missed 5 of of the 15 musical categories in my predictions. The biggest and only surprise for me was Sergio Trujillo winning Best Choreography for his work on Ain't Too Proud- The Life and Times of the Temptations. As previously mentioned, Hadestown won big last night. They picked up Best Musical, Best Original Score for Anais Mitchell, Best Featured Actor in a Musical for André de Shields, Best Direction of a Musical for Rachel Chavkin, Best Scenic Design of a Musical for Rachel Hauck, Best Lighting Design of a Musical for Bradley King, Best Sound Design of a Musical for Jessica Paz and Nevin Steinberg (Paz is the first woman to have ever been nominated and won in a Sound Design category at the Tony Awards), and Best Orchestrations for Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose.  

   The Ferryman earned four Tony Awards for Best Play, Best Direction for Sam Mendes (who unfortunately could not make it to accept his award. Read his acceptance speech here.) and Best Scenic Design and Lighting Design of a play for Rob Howell. Other notable winners include Stephanie J. Block and Bob Mackie for The Cher Show in Best Leading Actress of a Musical and Best Costume Design of a Musical, respectively, with Santino Fontana picking up one of Tootsie's two Tony Awards for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance as Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie. In the play categories Elaine May (Best Leading Actress in a Play for The Waverly Gallery), Bryan Cranston (Best Leading Actor in a Play for Network), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Best Featured Actress in a Play for To Kill a Mockingbird), and Bertie Carvel (Best Featured Actor in a Play for Ink) all won the Tony Awards that everyone expected they would win.

Ali Stroker accepting her Tony Award for her performance as Ado Annie in the 2019 Broadway Revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards. Photo Credit: Theo Warger, Getty

  Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! won the Best Revival of a Musical category and their Ado Annie, Ali Stroker, delivered the most monumental win of the night. Ali Stroker won the award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and became the first person with a disability to win a Tony Award. Stroker is a wheelchair user and is the first performer on Broadway who is wheelchair bound, having made her debut in the 2015 Broadway revival of Spring Awakening. Her win was incredible. Her speech was beautiful and brought me to tears. She deserves this award so much for delivering what I think is the definitive performance of the song "I Cain't Say No." I think and hope that after this win, Ali Stroker can do whatever she wants on Broadway. She is extremely talented and can light up any room with her amazing voice and persona. I am so happy that people with disabilities across the country have this amazing role model and can see themselves represented on the Broadway stage and on national television winning an award. They can do it too.

  Although it was not as monumental as Stroker's win for Oklahoma!, The Boys in the Band debunked a long standing Tony theory that it is very hard for closed shows to win Tony Awards, let alone the Best Revival Tony Award. The Boys in the Band ran in New York for only last summer and I think the fact that the Tony voters remembered it and voted for it, speaks wonders about not only the production itself, but for the Tony voters, as it proved that they remembered things that happened before January in the Broadway season. I would say the same about Elaine May winning for her performance in The Waverly Gallery, who seemed to be a lock from the moment that show opened. I was thrilled for everyone who won, but particularly for Block and Fontana, who I have adored for years, and I loved them in each of their shows. Andre de Shields is a legend and Ali Stroker is achieving legend status. Hadestown is also a gorgeous musical that deserved each of its Tony Awards. 

Andre de Shields and his Tony Award. Photo Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Tony Awards Pro

   This was a great year for Tony speeches. I do not even know how to list standout speeches, because they were all standout speeches. From Celia to Andre to Stephanie to Santino, each and every one of the speeches was completely lovely. Ali Stroker's speech made everyone cry and Rachel Chavkin called for more diversity and inclusion in the theatre, as of the thirteen musicals to open on Broadway this season, Hadestown (directed by her) was the only one that was directed by a woman. Chavkin gave a powerful speech that was a highlight of the night. I hope producers listened very closely to what Chavkin was saying and that we see more women and people of color in the playing field of directors and writers in the next Broadway season and every season thereafter.

  I watch the Tony Award for the awards themselves. I love the other production aspects, but I watch them to see who wins. However, most people watch The Tony Awards because they want to see the performances from each of the nominated shows, more so than to see who wins. I don't think that anyone would have been very disappointed with the performances that took place last night. Hadestown may have deservedly won 8 Tony Awards, but The Prom gave the best and most impactful performance of the evening. The Prom is one of my favorite musicals of the season and their performance was moving and brought me to tears. The Prom is a musical that can change lives and their performance on the Tony Awards was incredible to watch. I feel like I say something like this every year, but The Prom's performance was one of the best things I have ever seen on a Tony Awards telecast. I love this show so much. Hadestown also delivered a strong performance of one of the show's big numbers "Wait For Me," which is sung by the un-nominated star, Reeve Carney, De Shields, and the rest of the company. Chavkin's staging is incredible and they certainly showed us why they won 8 Tony Awards. All of the shows who performed did a great job. Choir Boy's performance was powerful, Kiss Me, Kate's "Too Darn Hot" was darn hot, Tootsie's was delightful, Beetlejuice gave a very strong performance (I LOVE SEEING KERRY BUTLER ON TELEVISION!!!), and Oklahoma! rightfully showed off Stroker with the signature, "I Cain't Say No," and the electric title number, which was performed by the entire company. Also standing out was the multi talented cast of Ain't Too Proud- The Life and Times of the Temptations and while I love The Cher Show, their performance wasn't as powerful as I had hoped. Although, Block, Micaela Diamond, and Teal Wicks are some of the most talented women on this planet. Finally the In Memoriam was sung masterfully by Cynthia Erivo. The salute to Carol Channing, Marin Mazzie, and the other members of the community who have passed away was very emotional. The choice of song wasn't ideal (It was "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King) , but it was still a lovely tribute.

Isabelle McCalla (Alyssa Greene), Caitlin Kinnunen (Emma Nolan), and the company of the Tony nominated musical The Prom, at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards. Photo Credit: The Oklahoman

 This Tony Awards telecast was unfortunately plagued with technical issues. There were long awkward pauses where nothing was happening and there were sound issues. Towards the beginning of the evening, I heard talking coming from backstage, and there were microphone issues a few times throughout the evening. There was even an occasion where they returned from the commercial break too early, so nobody was onstage yet, and we saw people quickly shuffling up and down the aisle. They also cut away from the lighting design awards that were being announced as we were returning from the commercial break, so we never found out who won Best Lighting Design of a Play during the telecast. It was Neil Austin for his work on the play, Ink. The show itself wasn't bad by any means, but the telecast was far from picture perfect and there were plenty of technical issues that have not been as prevalent as in previous years. I do think that these issues brought the production down quite a bit, at least on the end of our televisions.

  I wanted to give a special shout out to the people who received special Tony Awards this year. Jason Danieley accepted a special award for his recently departed wife, the incredible, Marin Mazzie, for her great talent and for her activism for Ovarian Cancer Awareness. Broadway legends Rosemary Harris (currently appearing as Miss Higgins in My Fair Lady) Terrence McNally (Tony Award winning playwright and book writer) and Harold Wheeler (nominated this year for his orchestrations for Ain't Too Proud- The Life and Times of the Temptations) were awarded for their Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. Judith Light received the Isabelle Stevenson Award for her work to end HIV/AIDS and for her activism for the LGBTQ+ community and human rights. The Regional Theatre Award went to TheatreWorks (Silicon Valley) in Palo Alto, California and the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre was awarded to Broadway Inspirational Voices, Peter Entin (retired Vice President of Theatre Operations for the Shubert Organization, Joseph Blakely Forbes (the founder and President of Scenic Arts Studio Inc.; and the FDNY Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9. Finally, Jason Michael Webb (music director) and Sonny Tilders and Creature Technology Company also received special Tony Awards for their work on Choir Boy and King Kong, respectively.

Reeve Carney (Orpheus) and the company of the 8 time Tony Award winning musical, Hadestown, performing at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards. Photo Credit: Charles Sykes, Invision/AP

  Another season has come and gone. It is always bittersweet for me to put one to rest. I love the Tony Awards more than I love essentially anything else and I am already ready to hop right into the next theatrical season. I love Broadway. Support live theatre and support the arts everywhere. I loved this awards season with all my heart. I raise my cup to live theatre and let's allow the beat to go on!

Read the full list of the nominations for the 73rd Annual Tony Awards here.
Read the full list of the winners for the 73rd Annual Tony Awards here. 

To stream the 2019 Tony Awards and to find out more information about them, visit https://www.tonyawards.com/