Broadway had one of its biggest years this year, between A-list stars gracing the stage, exciting new musicals, and highly anticipated revivals.
Held June 8, the 78th Tony Awards proved to be a fitting celebration. The awards ceremony featured performances from all Best Musical nominees, as well as tributes to beloved shows from the past and bright new stars.
Host, Wicked star and GRAMMY winner Cynthia Erivo began the evening with a soaring opening song — an original by Pasek and Paul with Mark Shaiman — celebrating the year’s shows. The crowd at Radio City Music Hall in New York City jumped to their feet as Erivo took her mic into the audience and had original "Wicked" cast member Kristin Chenoweth, along with Aaron Tveit and Adam Lambert, sing along from their seats.
Read more: Cynthia Erivo’s Evolution: How The Actor & Singer Embraced Her Whole Self On 'I Forgive You'
Among the evening's highlights were Megan Hilty singing an affirming and highly theatrical number from "Death Becomes Her," complete with Liza Minelli and Judy Garland costumes. GRAMMY winner Johnathan Groff stole the show when he took his "Just In Time" performance into the audience and climbed atop Keanu Reeves, who seemed to be happy to participate.
Beyond the nominee performances, major moments included a "Hamilton" 10-year reunion which featured a medley of songs from the GRAMMY- winning show sung by members of the original Broadway cast.
For the Tony's "In Memoriam" performance, Erivo joined two-time GRAMMY winner Sara Bareilles to sing a harmony-infused duet of "Tomorrow" from "Annie" — a song written by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin, both of whom passed away this year. The segment also honored screen actors who also performed on The Great White Way such as 28-time GRAMMY winner Quincy Jones, James Earl Jones, and Dame Maggie Smith.
When it came to the awards themselves, there were no absolute shoe-ins for any of the major awards. One race that was anyone’s game was Best Musical. The nominations this year for Best New Musical were "Death Becomes Her," (adapted from the 1992 Meryl Streep film), "Maybe Happy Ending," an original piece about robots in love, and "Buena Vista Social Club," based on true events surrounding the Cuban band’s album of the same name. "Dead Outlaw," which had the creative marketing scheme of plopping a casket with an actor outside around New York, and "Operation Mincemeat" based on a World War II British deception operation were also nominated in the category.
@thetonyawards BEST MUSICAL #TONYAWARDS
"Maybe Happy Ending" was the evening's big winner, with six awards including the coveted Best Musical. It also took home awards for Best Book and Best Original Score, with Will Aronson and Hue Park taking home the trophies.
While they didn’t win for Best Musical, the musicians who make up "Buena Vista Social Club" received a special, noncompetitive Tony Award for their work in the show. The musical also won for Best Orchestrations.
@thetonyawards Buena Vista brought the 🔥 to the stage tonight @Buena Vista Social Club
One of the most talked about categories this year was Best Revival, particularly because of the powerhouse actresses leading the top two contenders. Frontrunners in the category were "Sunset Boulevard," which had Nicole Scherzinger in the leading role, and "Gypsy" led by Audra McDonald. The two-time GRAMMY winner also has the most Tonys of any performer, ever and has them in all four of her eligible acting categories. Scherzinger prevailed and won for her performance of actress Norma Desmond as did "Sunset Boulevard," which won for Revival.
@thetonyawards It’s AUDRA’s turn now 🌹
The Best Actor category was also highly competitive this year, with two actors playing recording artist legends, James Monroe Inglehart as Louis Armstrong in "A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical," and Jonathan Groff as Bobby Darin in "Just in Time." Had he won, Groff would have made history for getting two consecutive leading actor Tonys (he took home the Best Actor award in 2024 for "Merrily We Roll Along"). However, his former "Glee" co-star Darren Criss won yet another award for "Maybe Happy Ending."
Erivo declared at the top of the show that "Broadway is definitely back," and the proof is both on the stage and at the ceremony itself. With stars flocking from TV and movies to work onstage, shows making more money than ever, and innovative takes on new and returning shows, it does seem that live theatre is stronger than ever.