Tony Award winners Kimberly Akimbo and Parade. Pictures; Joan Marcus
Broadway musical Kimberly Akimbo, the work of Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori and Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire, led the way at the 76th Annual Tony Awards, winning five prizes (the most received by any production) including Best Musical.
The show also picked up performance awards for Victoria Clark and Bonnie Milligan plus Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre.
Originally seen in a critically acclaimed seven-performance run at New York City Center, the Michael Arden-directed production of Jason Robert Brown’s Parade, starring Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, also had a great night, winning Best Revival of a Musical and Best Director of a Musical for Arden.
Close behind Kimberly Akimbo was the brand-new musical adaptation of classic movie Some Like it Hot (1959) from the composer-songwriter team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and librettists Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin. The production won four Tony Awards: Casey Nicholaw (Best Choreography), J Harrison Ghee (Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical), Gregg Barnes (costumes) and Charlie Rosen and Bryan Carter (orchestrations).
During an evening where no one musical theatre production swept the board there were also successes for Shucked (due to transfer to the West End in 2024) with Alex Newell being recognised in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical category. Plus Beowulf Boritt won a Tony Award for his scenic design for New York, New York and the revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street received Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Natasha Katz) and Best Sound Design of a Musical (Nevin Steinberg).
History was also made with J Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell becoming the first nonbinary artists to win Tony Awards.
British success came in the form of four awards for Leopoldstadt including Best Play for Tom Stoppard and Best Direction for Patrick Marber, and Life of Pi won three design prizes. Plus Jodie Comer followed up her Olivier Award success by winning a Best Actress Tony Award for Prima Facie.
Both actor, singer and dancer Joel Grey (best known for his performance as the Emcee in Cabaret) and composer John Kander (Cabaret, Chicago, New York, New York and many more) won the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.
The Tony Awards were held at United Palace in New York City’s Washington Heights and were hosted by Tony nominee and Oscar winner Ariana DeBose for the second year in a row.
A full list of winners follows:
Best Musical
Kimberly Akimbo
Best Play
Leopoldstadt
Best Revival of a Play
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog
Best Revival of a Musical
Parade
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Victoria Clark, Kimberly Akimbo
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
J. Harrison Ghee, Some Like It Hot
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Sean Hayes, Good Night, Oscar
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Jodie Comer, Prima Facie
Best Book of a Musical
Kimberly Akimbo
David Lindsay-Abaire
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Kimberly Akimbo
Music: Jeanine Tesori Lyrics: David Lindsay-Abaire
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Brandon Uranowitz, Leopoldstadt
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Miriam Silverman, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Alex Newell, Shucked
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Bonnie Milligan, Kimberly Akimbo
Best Direction of a Play
Patrick Marber, Leopoldstadt
Best Direction of a Musical
Michael Arden, Parade
Best Choreography
Casey Nicholaw, Some Like It Hot
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Tim Hatley and Andrzej Goulding, Life of Pi
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Beowulf Boritt, New York, New York
Best Costume Design of a Play
Brigitte Reiffenstuel, Leopoldstadt
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes, Some Like It Hot
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Tim Lutkin, Life of Pi
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Natasha Katz, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Best Sound Design of a Play
Carolyn Downing, Life of Pi
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Nevin Steinberg, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Best Orchestrations
Charlie Rosen and Bryan Carter, Some Like It Hot
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