Oscar winner and Broadway luminary Ariana DeBose, hosting for the second year running, immediately addressed the elephant in the room. “Thank you for coming uptown - never in my wildest dreams,” quipped Lin-Manuel Miranda, who has helped bring events to the venue in the neighborhood where he set his “In the Heights.” The afterparty was held in tents outside the building instead of the usual festivities in the fancy food halls of the Plaza Hotel near Central Park. The ceremony also touched on the specter of antisemitism in very different places: World War II Europe, with best play winner “Leopoldstadt," and early 20th-century America, with “Parade,” winner for best musical revival. Harrison Ghee, made history by winning their respective acting categories. It was a night of triumph for the small-scale but huge-hearted musical “Kimberly Akimbo,” about a teenager with a rare aging disease, but also a night notable for inclusion: Two nonbinary performers, Alex Newell and J. The event was scriptless, to honor a compromise with striking writers, but chock-full of high-spirited Broadway performances drawing raucous cheers from an audience clearly thrilled just to be there at all. After the audience was warned during a commercial break to keep the aisles clear for a big moment, Swenson came onstage crooning “Sweet Caroline,” soon accompanied by dancers dressed in sparkly gold, filling the aisles.There was plenty of uncertainty in the run-up to this year’s Tony Awards, which at one point seemed unlikely to happen at all because of the ongoing Hollywood writer’s strike.īut the ceremony went off without a hitch on Sunday night.
Judging from faces in the crowd, neither did Neil Diamond - actually Will Swenson, who plays Diamond in the musical “A Beautiful Noise” (not nominated but currently playing).
The “Funny Girl” lead was not eligible for a Tony because she didn’t originate the role last year (that would be Beanie Feldstein, whom Michele replaced in a matter of months).īut the former “Glee” star, who has turned around the fortunes of the revival, is seen by many as the ultimate Fanny Brice, and her gorgeously belted rendition of “Don’t Rain On My Parade” - 13 years after she first performed it at the Tonys - definitely did not disappoint. Not to mix show metaphors or anything, but Lea Michele was not about to throw away her shot. LEA MICHELE GETS HER TONY MOMENT (NEIL DIAMOND, TOO) And of course there was more room for singing and dancing - including from current shows not in competition - and nobody was complaining about that. In the end, the lack of scripted banter didn’t much dampen the proceedings, and little wonder: Broadway folks are trained in improv. The ceremony also touched on the specter of antisemitism in very different places: World War II Europe, with best play winner “Leopoldstadt,” and early 20th-century America, with “Parade,” winner for best musical revival.
There was plenty of uncertainty in the run-up to this year’s Tony Awards, which at one point seemed unlikely to happen at all because of the ongoing Hollywood writer’s strike.īut the ceremony went off without a hitch on Sunday night.
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