“Moulin Rouge! The Musical” dominated Sunday’s pandemic-delayed Tony Awards with 10 awards, including Best Musical. The adaptation of the 2001 Baz Luhrmann movie also collected first wins for director (and three-time nominee) Alex Timbers as well as for stars Aaron Tveit and seven-time nominee Danny Burstein.
Matthew Lopez’s two-night drama “The Inheritance” earned four awards, including Best Play. Director Stephen Daldry also won for the E.M. Forster-inspired play about gay men in the AIDS era, along with lead actor Andrew Burnap and 90-year-old featured actress Lois Smith, who earned her first ever Tony on her third nomination. Jeremy O. Harris’ “Slave Play,” which came in with a record 12 nominations, was completely shut out.
“A Christmas Carol,” a nonmusical production that ran during the 2019 holiday season, collected five awards for technical categories — including a rare win for Best Original Score made possible because of the dearth of original (non-jukebox) musicals that managed to open before the pandemic shut down Broadway in March 2020.
“Jagged Little Pill,” a jukebox musical based on Alanis Morisette’s hit 1995 album that led with 15 nominations, settled for two awards, for Diablo Cody’s book and for supporting actress Lauren Patten, who acknowledged the recent blowback for her portrayal of a character who was nonbinary in the show’s pre-Broadway run. In her acceptance, Patten acknowledged the “necessary conversations” she has had in recent weeks with trans and nonbinary people upset that a cisgender actress was playing the role.
And host and six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald welcomed the Broadway community back, telling the masked crowd in the 110-year-old Winter Garden Theatre: “It’s wonderful to see half of your beautiful faces.”
The Tonys celebrated the Broadway productions that managed to open during the 2019-20 season before the pandemic shuttered all Broadway theaters in March 2020. Just 18 productions were eligible, roughly half the number that would be contending in a normal year. In fact, no musical revivals opened during the eligibility period, so that category was eliminated altogether.
The show was livestreamed on Paramount+, with sister network CBS airing “The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!”, a concert special hosted by Leslie Odom Jr. and featuring performances from Best Musical contenders, “Jagged Little Pill,” “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” and “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical.”
The Tonys also presented special Tony Awards to the productions “David Byrne’s American Utopia” and “Freestyle Love Supreme” and the Broadway Advocacy Coalition.
Here’s the complete list of winners:
Best Musical
- “Jagged Little Pill”
- “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” **WINNER
- “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical”
Best Play
- “Grand Horizons” – Bess Wohl
- “The Inheritance” – Matthew Lopez **WINNER
- “Sea Wall/A Life” – Simon Stephens/Nick Payne
- “Slave Play” – Jeremy O. Harris
- “The Sound Inside” – Adam Rapp
Best Play Revival
- “Betrayal”
- “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune”
- “A Soldier’s Play” **WINNER
Best Actor (Play)
- Ian Barford – “Linda Vista”
- Andrew Burnap – “The Inheritance” **WINNER
- Jake Gyllenhaal – “Sea Wall/A Life”
- Tom Hiddleston – “Betrayal”
- Tom Sturridge” – “Sea Wall/A Life”
- Blair Underwood – “A Soldier’s Play”
Best Actress (Play)
- Joaquina Kalukango – “Slave Play”
- Laura Linney – “My Name Is Lucy Barton”
- Audra McDonald – “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune”
- Mary-Louise Parker – “The Sound Inside” **WINNER
Best Actor (Musical)
- Aaron Tveit – “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” **WINNER
Best Actress (Musical)
- Karen Olivo – “Moulin Rouge! The Musical”
- Elizabeth Stanley – “Jagged Little Pill”
- Adrienne Warren – “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical” **WINNER
Best Direction of a Play
- David Cromer – “The Sound Inside”
- Stephen Daldry – “The Inheritance” **WINNER
- Kenny Leon – “A Soldier’s Play”
- Jamie Lloyd – “Betrayal”
- Robert O’Hara – “Slave Play”
Best Direction of a Musical
- Phyllida Lloyd – “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical”
- Diane Paulus – “Jagged Little Pill”
- Alex Timbers – “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” **WINNER
Best Book of a Musical
- “Jagged Little Pill” – Diablo Cody **WINNER
- “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” – John Logan
- “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” – Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar, Kees Prins
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
- “A Christmas Carol” – Christopher Nightingale **WINNER
- The Inheritance” – Paul Englishby
- “The Rose Tattoo” – Fitz Patton and Jason Michael Webb
- “Slave Play” – Lindsay Jones
- “The Sound Inside” – Daniel Kluger
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
- Ato Blankson-Wood – “Slave Play”
- James Cusati-Moyer – “Slave Play”
- David Alan Grier – “A Soldier’s Play” **WINNER
- John Benjamin Hickey – “The Inheritance”
- Paul Hilton – “The Inheritance”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
- Jane Alexander – “Grand Horizons”
- Chalia La Tour – “Slave Play”
- Annie McNamara – “Slave Play”
- Lois Smith – “The Inheritance” **WINNER
- Cora Vander Broek – “Linda Vista”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
- Danny Burstein – “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” **WINNER
- Derek Klena – “Jagged Little Pill”
- Sean Allan Krill – “Jagged Little Pill”
- Sahr Ngaujah – “Moulin Rouge! The Musical”
- Daniel J. Watts – “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
- Kathryn Gallagher – “Jagged Little Pill”
- Celia Rose Gooding – “Jagged Little Pill”
- Robyn Hurder – “Moulin Rouge! The Musical”
- Lauren Patten – “Jagged Little Pill” **WINNER
- Myra Lucretia Taylor – “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical”
Best Scenic Design of a Play
- “The Inheritance” – Bob Crowley
- “Betrayal” – Soutra Gilmour
- “A Christmas Carol” – Rob Howell **WINNER
- “A Soldier’s Play” – Derek McLane
- “Slave Play” – Clint Ramos
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
- “Jagged Little Pill” – Riccardo Hernández and Lucy Mackinnon
- “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” – Derek McLane **WINNER
- “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” – Mark Thompson and Jeff Sugg
Best Costume Design of a Play
- “Slave Play” – Dede Ayite
- “A Soldier’s Play” – Dede Ayite
- “The Inheritance” – Bob Crowley
- “A Christmas Carol” – Rob Howell **WINNER
- “The Rose Tattoo” – Clint Ramos
Best Costume Design of a Musical
- “Jagged Little Pill” – Emily Rebholz
- “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical” – Mark Thomas
- “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” – Catherine Zuber **WINNER
Best Lighting Design of a Play
- “Slave Play” – Jiyoun Chang
- “The Inheritance” – Jon Clark
- “The Sound Inside” – Heather Gilbert
- “A Soldier’s Play” – Allen Lee Hughes
- “A Christmas Carol” – Hugh Vanstone **WINNER
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
- “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical” – Bruno Poet
- “Jagged Little Pill” – Justin Townsend
- “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” – Justin Townsend **WINNER
Best Sound Design of a Play
- The Inheritance” – Paul Arditti & Christopher Reid
- “A Christmas Carol” – Simon Baker **WINNER
- “Slave Play” – Lindsay Jones
- “Sea Wall/A Life” – Daniel Kluger
- “The Sound Inside” – Daniel Kluger
Best Sound Design of a Musical
- “Jagged Little Pill” – Jonathan Deans
- “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” – Peter Hylenski **WINNER
- “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical” – Nevin Steinberg
Best Choreography
- “Jagged Little Pill” – Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
- “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” – Sonya Tayeh **WINNER
- “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical” – Anthony Van Laast
Best Orchestrations
- “Jagged Little Pill” – Tom Kitt
- “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” – Katie Kresek, Charles Rosen, Matt Stine, Justin Levine **WINNER
- “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical” – Ethan Popp
