The prize for the best new play at the Tony Awards on Sunday went to “Liberation,” about a consciousness-raising women’s group in 1970s Ohio, which earlier this year also won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
Bess Wohl’s memory play collects stories from second-wave feminists from all walks of life as they tackle misogyny, racism and traditional gender roles. Wohl is only the fourth woman to win a best play Tony, joining Wendy Wasserstein, Yasmina Reza and Frances Goodrich.
“This is the honor of a lifetime,” said Wohl, who thanked her mom, daughters and female producers. “I want to honor women everywhere who have the courage to use their voice. And to all the girls out there: May you speak your truth, and may the world be wise enough to listen.” The win came after presenter Julia Louis-Dreyfus pretended to believe all the original plays this season were written by artificial intelligence.
“Liberation” joins a list of 18 plays that have won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and the Tony Award in the same year, which includes “Death of a Salesman,” a well-received revival this year that was racking up awards at the halfway mark.
Shoshana Bean, who won best featured actress in a musical for playing a single mom in “The Lost Boys,” echoed the themes of “Liberation” in her speech.
“This is for the mamas. This is for the single mamas. This is for my single mama. You are the wild heroes. This is for the incredible army of women that surround and uplift me,” she said.
“Ragtime” — a big, soaring musical that depicts an America being remade by immigration, racial violence, industrial wealth and political unrest — won the best musical revival.
John Lithgow took home the first award, winning best lead actor in a play for “Giant” playing children’s writer Roald Dahl in Mark Rosenblatt’s production set in 1983, when the author is facing intense backlash for his antisemitic comments. The role earned Lithgow his first Olivier Award in London and now the Tony for lead actor in a play, his third. At 80, he is the oldest man ever to win a competitive acting Tony.
The win puts Lithgow in an exclusive group of actors who have won in three separate acting categories. He previously won featured actor in a play for “The Changing Room” and lead actor in a musical for “Sweet Smell of Success.”
“Two Tony bookends with 53 years between them,” he said. “In those years, I have worked with hundreds of just fantastic theater artists. I’ve had dozens and dozens of ecstatic moments on the stage, but I have to tell you right now, this moment has got to be one of the best.”
A revival of “Death of a Salesman” won six Tonys. “Roseanne” star Laurie Metcalf won her third Tony for playing Willy Loman’s wife opposite Nathan Lane in the revival, which also won for lighting, scenic design and sound design. Joe Mantello won best director for a play.
“Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” which reimagines the 1980s classic feline musical as a celebration of queer ballroom culture, won for best direction of a musical by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch.
“We honor the Black and brown trans women and gay men who were ballroom’s pioneers, as well as today’s icons, and our cast of astonishing triple-threats, including people from their 20s to their 80s, and every decade in between,” Levingston said.
Lesley Manville, an Oscar nominee for “Phantom Thread,” won best lead actress in a play, making her Broadway debut in a modern retelling of Sophocles’ classic tragedy “Oedipus.”
What was Pink’s opening number like?
Pink, the Tonys host, started the show spinning and then dangling uncomfortably from a harness over the stage, dressed like Peter Pan. Former host Neil Patrick Harris stepped in to suggest the first-time host just be herself. “You’re Pink, Pink. You can do anything,” he told her.
After lifting Harris off the stage with her legs, Pink relented to his suggestion of being “less Pan-ish” by taking off her harness, adding a top hat and leading an extended “Lady Marmalade” that included contributions from dozens of performers including Lea Michele and Megan Thee Stallion — plus some strange, new lyrics like “Gitchie, gitchie, Laurie Metcalf” — and ended with some 170 performers onstage and crowding the aisles.
In her opening remarks, Pink, who has not yet gotten a Broadway credit, called herself theater’s second-biggest fan after her teenage daughter, Willow. “I’m not here just to steal people’s wigs, although I will be doing that. I’m here to celebrate the hardest-working people in show business,” she said.
“Schmigadoon!” and “Death of a Salesman” each went into the main telecast with a lead of three Tonys after a preshow on Pluto TV hosted by Laura Benanti and Tituss Burgess that announced the more technical awards. Qween Jean became the first openly trans Tony winner ever for making the costumes for “Cats: The Jellicle Ball.” Kai Harada, nominated twice for the sound design of a musical, didn’t initially know which one he had won for until told onstage — “Ragtime.”
Twenty-four Broadway shows hoped to nab at least one win Sunday across the 26 Tony categories, which can mean the difference between keeping the doors open and pulling down the curtain.
Plenty of performances
There were performances from the seven best new musical and best musical revival nominees: “The Lost Boys,” “Schmigadoon!,” “Titanique,” “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York),” “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” “Ragtime” and “The Rocky Horror Show.”
Other performances included the original lead cast members of “The Book of Mormon” — Josh Gad, Andrew Rannells, Rory O’Malley and Nikki M. James — this year celebrating its 15th anniversary. Leslie Odom Jr. sang “Without You” from “Rent” during the In Memoriam section, in honor of that show’s 30th anniversary.
Another show celebrating a milestone, “Chicago” now at 30, got a performance slot featuring Pink, as well as Queen Latifah, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Alex Newell, Adrienne Warren, Julianne Hough, Whitney Leavitt and Dylan Mulvaney. Plus, “A Chorus Line,” which last year celebrated its 50th anniversary, got a special tribute by Rachel Zegler.
