'Shining Moments: "Maybe Happy Ending," "Purpose," and Nicole Scherzinger Triumph at 2025 Tony Awards'

“Maybe Happy Ending,” “Purpose,” Nicole Scherzinger, Sarah Snook, Darren Criss and Cole Escola were among the winners at the the 78th Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York. See our recap below.

11:14 PM: Analysis from Thomas Floyd, Writer-editor covering arts, sports and pop culture

When “Maybe Happy Ending” premiered in the fall, it looked like its grosses might not be strong enough to keep the show open through the Tonys. Not only did this quirky four-actor show build a strong enough audience to stay afloat, it just dominated the Tonys with wins for book, score, scenic design, lead actor Darren Criss, director Michael Arden and best musical.

11:11 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

“Maybe Happy Ending”! A scrappy and happy musical winning big! Far from a given! Heart is full and warm! Kind of a theme for the night: heartwarming, heart-filling.

Director Michael Arden shouted out their support systems in the acceptance speech for best musical. Amen.

And now Erivo serving Jennifer Holliday in “Dreamgirls” to take us home. Perfect tbh.

11:09 PM: Analysis from Thomas Floyd, Writer-editor covering arts, sports and pop culture

Broadway enthusiasts have been debating this best actress in a musical showdown for the better part of a year, and that roller coaster of a race concluded with Nicole Scherzinger claiming her first Tony — and denying Audra McDonald her record-extending seventh. “Growing up, I always felt like I didn’t belong,” a trembling Scherzinger said. “But you all have made me feel like I belong, and I have come home.”

11:08 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Do we think Nicole Scherzinger saying “Love always wins” at the end of her speech was a sort of olive branch to the people who were angry about her praising Russell Brand’s “ MAKE JESUS FIRST AGAIN ” hat?

11:06 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

“Maybe Happy Ending” won best musical.

11:05 PM: Analysis from Jada Yuan, Feature reporter covering culture and entertainment

So far I’d say the top two social media moments are the look of terror on Keanu Reeves’s face when Jonathan Groff jumped on his chair and Tom Felton (a.k.a. Draco Malfoy) saying on the red carpet that J.K. Rowling’s political views don’t matter to him. Keanu can do no wrong, ever, on the internet. Felton probably needed to use legilimency to read the room.

11:03 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

FYI, Jennifer Simard holding a sign saying “That Was Rude” is a reference to a lyric she sings from “Death Becomes Her” that has also become a BIG OL’ HIT on TikTok.

11:01 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Nicole Scherzinger won best leading actress in a musical for “Sunset Blvd.”

10:59 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

Accepting his award, Criss gave a very sweet shout-out to his co-star, whom he called “one of the best leading actresses in a Broadway musical this season — Helen J. Shen. I am so proud of you, and your Broadway debut for the books. This is where you belong.”

10:57 PM: Analysis from Ben Zauzmer, Ben Zauzmer, the author of “Oscarmetrics,” uses math to predict and write about awards shows

“Sunset Blvd.” is only the second winner of best musical revival in the past eight years whose original incarnation won best musical, after “Company” (2022).

10:56 PM: Analysis from Ben Zauzmer, Ben Zauzmer, the author of “Oscarmetrics,” uses math to predict and write about awards shows

Darren Criss (“Maybe Happy Ending”) is the first Tony winner for best actor in a musical who also has an Emmy since Tony Shalhoub won for “The Band’s Visit” (2018).

10:55 PM: Analysis from Jada Yuan, Feature reporter covering culture and entertainment

If you’re not in New York, you may not realize what a completely New York experience this Tonys live stream is. Broadway is obviously a unique New York industry. But then every commercial break has ads for the upcoming Democratic primary (early voting is June 14-22 and Election Day is June 24). Zohran Mamdani’s ad had narration in the thickest New York accent you’ve ever heard. Scott Stringer’s ad called Andrew M. Cuomo “a schmuck.” Didn’t realize how targeted my Paramount+ ads would be!

10:54 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Darren Criss won best leading actor in a musical for “Maybe Happy Ending.”

10:53 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

“Real Women Have Curves: The Musical” combines two of my big interests: American musical theater and domestic garment manufacturing.

Also love that its performance seemingly took Tim Gunn’s “Make it work” catchphrase from “Project Runway” and made it into a musical mantra.

10:48 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

It’s hard not to feel one’s heart warm to the collective dreams achieved by the cast (and authors!) of “Operation: Mincemeat.” Theater is a team sport, and this show reminded us of that.

They performed in front of a yellow grid that pleasantly reminded me of this T-shirt that I bought for my boyfriend at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

10:46 PM: Analysis from Thomas Floyd, Writer-editor covering arts, sports and pop culture

If you thought “Dead Outlaw” was the only best musical nominee centered around a corpse, think again! “Operation Mincemeat,” the scrappy West End transfer about a just-so-crazy-it-might-work scheme from World War II, just took the stage to perform its delightfully bonkers opening number, “Born to Lead.”

10:45 PM: Analysis from Jada Yuan, Feature reporter covering culture and entertainment

Thinking about how the 2024-2025 Broadway season broke box office records (grossing $1.89 billion) and how the last record-breaking season was 2018-2019, before the pandemic occasioned a great national cultural pause that hit extra hard on the stage. There’s an electricity to the ceremony that feels both new and old, a defiance to the speeches at a time when the Trump administration is slashing arts funding. The Tonys often feel like an invitation to the rest of the country — come on over, we’re having a ton of fun here — and now, that’s true more than ever. I just wish we could get some price controls so that the theater actually was as accessible as these awards make it seem.

10:40 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Watching Andrew Lloyd Webber, Nicole Scherzinger and roughly 126,000 other people take the stage for “Sunset Blvd.” reminds me of this wild performance in which several Phantoms from years past surround Scherzinger, sonically berating their “angel of music.”

10:38 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

Jamie Lloyd, joined by uncountable collaborators onstage, accepted the award for best revival of a musical before ceding the floor to (Baron!) Andrew Lloyd Webber. “It’s just fantastic for me to see the old shows rethought, reworked,” Lloyd Webber said.

10:35 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Audra McDonald (above, in Christian Siriano) is a Broadway legend performing a legendary Broadway number: “Mama’s Turn” from “Gypsy” with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. When it was written, it was revolutionary for its dark pathos, especially at the end of a musical. It still hits hard.

Rose is a character that is often played as the musical theater equivalent of a foghorn or a steamroller or a sledgehammer. McDonald’s version is much more nuanced . It’s pretty amazing to see her bring all those shades and highlights and midtones, even if she isn’t belting those notes like Merman or LuPone.

Eek! “ LuPone !” That’s worse than saying “Macbeth” at the 2025 Tonys!

10:35 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

“Sunset Blvd.” won best musical revival.

10:30 PM: Analysis from Ben Zauzmer, Ben Zauzmer, the author of “Oscarmetrics,” uses math to predict and write about awards shows

Sam Pinkleton became the first person in Tony Awards history to have a win for directing a play (“Oh, Mary!”) and a nomination for choreography “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812”).

10:26 PM: Analysis from Thomas Floyd, Writer-editor covering arts, sports and pop culture

“Dead Outlaw” performed its first two numbers — the soothing “Ballad” and the rollicking “Dead” — which conveniently capture this show’s eclectic musical styles while delivering plenty of exposition for newcomers to chew on. All in all, it was quite the effective Tonys performance. Considering “Maybe Happy Ending” looks like it’ll coast to the best musical win, this spotlight was “Dead Outlaw’s” best shot at an audience-swaying moment tonight.

10:23 PM: Analysis from Ben Zauzmer, Ben Zauzmer, the author of “Oscarmetrics,” uses math to predict and write about awards shows

“Buena Vista Social Club” is the first musical in Tonys history to win featured actress, choreography, orchestrations and sound design.

10:22 PM: Analysis from Ben Zauzmer, Ben Zauzmer, the author of “Oscarmetrics,” uses math to predict and write about awards shows

“Stranger Things: The First Shadow" is the seventh play to win lighting, scenic design and sound design, after “Red” (2010), “War Horse” (2011), “Peter and the Starcatcher” (2012), “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” (2018), “A Christmas Carol” (2020) and “Life of Pi” (2023).

10:19 PM: Analysis from Ben Zauzmer, Ben Zauzmer, the author of “Oscarmetrics,” uses math to predict and write about awards shows

Cole Escola (“Oh, Mary!”) is the first person to win best actor in a play for a play that they themselves wrote since Harvey Fierstein won for “Torch Song Trilogy” (1983).

10:19 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

FINALLY. SOME JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD.

Many of us have long known that Cole Escola was a genius. Now the whole world knows!!

I’m raising a glass of Happy Orange to Escola.

10:18 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

The first words out of Cole Escola’s mouth (after the thank yous): “ Julie Harris has a Tony for playing Mary Todd Lincoln. ”

The last (before “thank you very much and good night!”): “Amy Sedaris always reminds me how important she is to me — and she is.”

10:14 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Passing thought: The glitzy ’80s-inspired “ boom boom ” aesthetic hasn’t been as big as people predicted it would be … but it sure seems to be influencing the Tonys this year …

10:14 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Cole Escola won best leading actor in a play for “Oh, Mary!”

10:13 PM: Analysis from Ben Zauzmer, Ben Zauzmer, the author of “Oscarmetrics,” uses math to predict and write about awards shows

Michael Arden’s two wins for direction of a musical (“Maybe Happy Ending,” “Parade”) put him behind only Harold Prince (8 wins), Gower Champion (3) and Tommy Tune (3).

10:09 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Sara Bareilles sang “Tomorrow” from “Annie” for the in memoriam segment alongside Cynthia Erivo, still in all sequins, albeit in a more elegiac gown.

Reminds me of this Mad magazine comic strip about Liberace dressing for a funeral (“I simply must have the black sequins”).

10:07 PM: Analysis from Thomas Floyd, Writer-editor covering arts, sports and pop culture

In one of the night’s most compelling races, best director of a musical went to “Maybe Happy Ending” director Michael Arden over Jamie Lloyd of “Sunset Blvd.” “Will Aronson and Hue Park wrote a perfect musical,” Arden said. “It dares us to love with radical abandon, despite the fact we know we have shelf lives.” This is Arden’s second Tony after he won two years ago for “Parade.”

10:06 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

SAM PINKLETON! WINNER! WHOA! (Also another high-contrast stripe on a suit by Thom Browne.)

And there’s Cole Escola crying in the crowd. My heart is full.

10:04 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

Last nominated for choreography, for the musical “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812,” Sam Pinkleton thanked writer and actor Cole Escola on accepting his award for best direction of a play: “You have taught me to make what you love, and not what you think people want to see.”

10:03 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Michael Arden won best direction of a musical for “Maybe Happy Ending.”

10:03 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Sam Pinkleton won best direction of a play for “Oh, Mary!”

9:55 PM: Analysis from Ben Zauzmer, Ben Zauzmer, the author of “Oscarmetrics,” uses math to predict and write about awards shows

Surprisingly, this is the first time in 10 years that the NBA Finals and the Tonys have coincided. The last time was on June 7, 2015, when the Cavaliers beat the Warriors 95-93 (OT) in Game 2, “Fun Home” won best musical and “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” won best play.

9:55 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Okay, we got the original cast of “Hamilton” clad in a sort of fancified awards show-ready version of the “theater blacks” that actors sometimes wear for readings.

It is striking to see how 10 years after “Hamilton” opened, it has fully transitioned from an upstart revolutionary take on history to something fully woven into the fabric of theater history.

Also striking to see how many of these people have had great careers after this show — Ariana DeBose, Christopher Jackson, and of course Lin Manuel Miranda. It’s not quite that legendary 1972 Toronto production of “Godspell.” But it sure is remarkable.

9:54 PM: Lizzy McAlpine was done with viral stardom — so she became someone else

NEW YORK — Lizzy McAlpine’s superpower has always been her authenticity. Even when her voice floats through sold-out venues of 10,000 fans, it still sounds like a whispered secret. Online, where the folksy singer-songwriter found fame promoting her three albums and expansive tours, she’s funny, personal and forthright. Her priority, as her stardom grew, was to remain herself.

Now, she is becoming someone else.

Metaphorically, of course. At 25, McAlpine is opening Monday in her Broadway debut, “Floyd Collins,” a musical about a 1925 Kentucky cave explorer trapped underground, playing his whimsical sister, Nellie.

McAlpine is more than familiar with the challenges that accompany fame in young womanhood. But despite world tours and a Billboard Hot 100 charting, she hasn’t acted since her high school student-run productions. The pivot from her music career wasn’t a whim; it was a deliberate way of coping with quarter-life burnout.

Read the full story

By: Sophia Solano

9:52 PM: Analysis from Jada Yuan, Feature reporter covering culture and entertainment

Is Cynthia Erivo writing her own jokes? Because they are killing in this crowd. She did a riff on balcony seats, saying everyone loves them, perhaps with the exception of Abraham Lincoln. (Dark and always too soon! But appropriate in a year when we have “Oh, Mary!”). Also, “The balcony might be the safest place to watch Jonathan Groff sing.” The crowd immediately burst into laughter and knew Erivo was referencing her friend’s prolific spitting, which will spray you if you’re privileged enough to sit in the first three rows of any of his shows.

9:50 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Lynne Meadow, the producer who accepted the award for “Eureka Day,” is also the longtime artistic director at Manhattan Theatre Club. “I’m so nervous, I’m shaking,” she said, before asking Spector to hold her Tony while she finished her speech. Even veterans get the jitters!

9:49 PM: Analysis from Thomas Floyd, Writer-editor covering arts, sports and pop culture

“Eureka Day,” playwright Jonathan Spector’s incisive vaccine mandate comedy, claimed revival of a play in what really was a two-horse race with “Yellow Face.” (Sorry, “Our Town” and “Romeo + Juliet.”) “Thanks to my Bay Area theater community, who gave me space to find my voice as a writer,” Spector said. You may remember that the production was set to transfer to the Kennedy Center in March, after its Broadway run, before it was pulled.

9:43 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

“Eureka Day” won best play revival.

9:41 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

This number from “Floyd Collins” demonstrates the power of clever lighting design to create space and depth — and to induce claustrophobia. (Scott Zielinski and Ruey Horng Sun were nominated for a Tony, but did not win.)

Also, between this and the short-lived “Swept Away,” was this the year of folksy survivalist musicals?

9:37 PM: Analysis from Ben Zauzmer, Ben Zauzmer, the author of “Oscarmetrics,” uses math to predict and write about awards shows

After “Leopoldstadt” and “Stereophonic,” “Purpose” marks the third consecutive year a one-word title has won best play. That had never before happened in even two consecutive years.

9:34 PM: The 9 best looks on the 2025 Tony Awards red carpet

Even a light shower of rain over Midtown Manhattan couldn’t dampen the glamour of Tonys night at Radio City Music Hall. On Sunday’s red carpet — the show before the show (which is itself about shows) — multitudes of splendid white gowns were in attendance; colorful and funky tuxedos arrived en masse. There were fantastical mohawks, bedazzled snack bags, sartorial tributes to the Broadway stars of yore — and exactly one coat that looked like a down comforter . Here are the nine best looks of the evening.

Read the full story

By: Ashley Fetters Maloy

9:34 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen performing as naive robots seeing a firefly for the first time in a number from “Maybe Happy Ending.”

It doesn’t get any more twee than this. Musical theater is still a safe space for optimists.

9:29 PM: Analysis from Thomas Floyd, Writer-editor covering arts, sports and pop culture

Accepting the best play Tony for “Purpose,” D.C. native Branden Jacobs-Jenkins — the first Black playwright to claim the prize in 38 years — used the platform to advocate for regional theater. “A lot of great stuff happens in New York, but a lot more happens out in the regions,” he said. “So use your next commercial break to Google ‘a local theater near me.’”

9:25 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

You could argue that “Purpose” winning was an upset. The fact that a Pulitzer-winning play could be an “underdog” tells you just how much momentum “Oh, Mary!” had this year.

Kara Young, who also won for “Purpose” tonight, just found out in the press room that it won best play and screamed with joy. “Oh my God, I’m gonna cry!” she said.

9:22 PM: It is the very model of a silly show-off theater song

In “ Despicable Me 3 ,” the Minions are escaping from security guards and find themselves onstage at a singing competition . What will get them out of this mess?

Some Gilbert and Sullivan, it turns out. You know the tune — “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General.” Or as a Minion sings it, “Pito pata milo mila taka tiki poulet tika.”

The Minions are voiced by the French director and voice actor Pierre Coffin, who’s been a fan of the Victorian era’s most famous comic songwriters since their show “The Mikado” popped up in the 1978 Goldie Hawn movie “Foul Play,” which he saw as a kid. He’s had a particular fondness for the Major General’s song, with its bouncy melody and esoteric lyrics . His Minions version now has 46 million views on YouTube, and the movie made a billion dollars.

Read the full story

By: Zachary Pincus-Roth

9:22 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

“Purpose” won best play.

9:21 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

“HwaBoon is a lot more humble in Korea. He’s a lot more outgoing here” said the “Maybe Happy Ending” writer Hue Park on how the plant (HwaBoon, held below by Darren Criss) is played in different productions.

9:16 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

Cheers broke out for Jinkx Monsoon in this “Pirates” number, finished off with the world’s most charmingly self-deprecating washboard solo from David Hyde Pierce.

I pray for relief from the constant reminders that the “Hamilton” performance is still coming up.

9:14 PM: Analysis from Ben Zauzmer, Ben Zauzmer, the author of “Oscarmetrics,” uses math to predict and write about awards shows

Sarah Snook’s win for best leading actress in a play marks the third straight year that the winner in this category had won an Emmy within the past decade, after Jodie Comer and Sarah Paulson.

9:09 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Natalie Venetia Belcon is a Broadway veteran! First nomination! First win!

“The last time I was here was the 58th Tony Awards,” she said. “I missed this place.”

She also gave a wink and an air kiss to Jason Momoa. Relatable.

9:06 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Love Cynthia Erivo’s continued meditation on sequins. I am pretttty sure this is Marc Jacobs? Very sure that I love it.

9:06 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Natalie Venetia Belcon won best featured actress in a musical for “Buena Vista Social Club.”

9:02 PM: Analysis from Thomas Floyd, Writer-editor covering arts, sports and pop culture

After “Sunset Blvd.” re-created Tom Francis’s viral walk-and-sing for last year’s Olivier Awards, the production decided to put star Nicole Scherzinger front and center at the Tonys. She didn’t disappoint, with a shattering rendition of “As If We Never Said Goodbye” — one of multiple numbers that sometimes earn her a mid-show standing ovation.

9:02 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Best featured actress in a play winner Kara Young is looking splendid in a skirt suit with a cropped jacket. (She ditched the billowing skirt she wore on the red carpet for the acceptance speech.)

8:58 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

Our own Naveen Kumar wrote of Kara Young’s performance in “Purpose” : “Young plays Aziza’s starstruck reverence and sobering disillusionment with the oddball appeal that’s become the actor’s signature.”

Accepting her second Tony win in a row in this category — last year’s was for “Purlie Victorious” — Young was nearly played off the stage. “One more second!” she exclaimed. “In this world, that we are so divided, theater is a sacred space. It’s a sacred space that we have to honor and treasure, and it makes us united.”

8:54 PM: Analysis from Ben Zauzmer, Ben Zauzmer, the author of “Oscarmetrics,” uses math to predict and write about awards shows

Jak Malone (“Operation Mincemeat”) is the second person this century to win best featured actor in a musical for playing multiple characters. The first was Daveed Diggs in “Hamilton,” as the Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson.

8:52 PM: Analysis from Thomas Floyd, Writer-editor covering arts, sports and pop culture

Jak Malone is brilliant as a slew of characters in the sketch-comedy-inspired “Operation Mincement,” but his Tony win was undoubtedly thanks to one showstopping song: “Dear Bill,” a poignant number that briefly brings the show’s madcap antics to a halt and tugs at the audience’s heartstrings. (A year ago, “Hell’s Kitchen” actress Kecia Lewis similarly won for one emotional wallop of a song.)

8:51 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

After his win for “Yellow Face,” Francis Jue talked in the press room about how important “Pacific Overtures” was in 1976. “Until then, it had never even occurred to me that people like me could be in a musical.”

8:50 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Kara Young won best featured actress in a play for “Purpose.”

8:46 PM: Analysis from Thomas Floyd, Writer-editor covering arts, sports and pop culture

“Just in Time” isn’t nominated for best musical, but the Tonys weren’t going to turn down a chance to have Jonathan Groff crooning Bobby Darin tunes on their broadcast. The highlight from the performance: When Groff voyaged into the audience — just as he does in the intimate show over and over — and climbed over a delightfully game Keanu Reeves.

8:45 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

Jak Malone, winning for his Broadway debut, closed his speech this way: “Eight times a week, I walk out on that stage and tell the audience that I’m a woman. I’m not one, and I only convey it through subtle adjustments to posture, voice, and energy. But night after night, audiences believe in Hester. They weep for her. They invest in her. They love her for her old, romantic heart. And if you watch our show and found yourself believing in Hester, well, then I am so glad to tell you that intentionally or otherwise, you might have bid farewell to cynicism, to outdated ideas about the rotten old binary, and opened yourself up to a world that is already out there and glorious.”

8:43 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Jak Malone just won a Tony in his Broadway debut! In an embroidered jacket!

Sometimes the nominees for best featured actor in a musical can collectively remind me of my friend Sarah Smallwood-Parson’s parodic song about unexciting songs in musicals .

Stoked that there’s some fresh blood winning tonight! Speaking of blood: He shouted out his dog Dracula!

8:41 PM: Analysis from Ben Zauzmer, Ben Zauzmer, the author of “Oscarmetrics,” uses math to predict and write about awards shows

Dane Laffrey and George Reeve’s win for scenic design of a musical for “Maybe Happy Ending” is the second time two individuals have shared this award for a single musical, after Franne and Eugene Lee won for “Candide” (1974).

8:38 PM: Analysis from Ben Zauzmer, Ben Zauzmer, the author of “Oscarmetrics,” uses math to predict and write about awards shows

The win by “Death Becomes Her” for costume design of a musical helps Paul Tazewell join Gregg Barnes, William Ivey Long and Catherine Zuber as the only people with multiple wins on eight-plus nominations (or even five-plus nominations) in this category.

8:38 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Be back in five minutes — I need to enter a state of deep contemplation of the many textures in Adam Lambert’s visage.

8:38 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Jak Malone won best featured actor in a musical for “Operation Mincemeat.”

8:37 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Tonys menswear microtrend: high-contrast striping on suits.

Andrew Durand (above) and Lin-Manuel Miranda (below).

8:32 PM: Analysis from Thomas Floyd, Writer-editor covering arts, sports and pop culture

That vibrant performance from best musical nominee “Buena Vista Social Club” highlighted aspects of the show that have already won Tonys — the choreography, orchestrations and sound design — and a performer widely expected to give a speech later tonight: featured actress in a musical nominee Natalie Venetia Belcon.

8:31 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

The only thing better than hearing the title of a movie spoken in a film is hearing the title of a musical spoken onstage.

Just happened onstage with “Buena Vista Social Club.” Dopamine hit.

8:31 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

Francis Jue’s tux was a gift from actor Alvin Y.F. Ing, who had it made for himself for the 1976 Broadway opening of “Pacific Overtures” and who told Jue to wear it when he accepted the Tony.

“I’m only here because of the encouragement and inspiration of generations of wonderful, deserving Asian artists who came before me, and never got the opportunities that I’ve had,” Jue said.

8:29 PM: Analysis from Ben Zauzmer, Ben Zauzmer, the author of “Oscarmetrics,” uses math to predict and write about awards shows

Justin Peck and Patricia Delgado’s win for best choreography for “Buena Vista Social Club” makes Peck the fifth person to win this category two years in a row, joining Bob Fosse, Tommy Tune, Susan Stroman and Andy Blankenbuehler. (Last year he won for “Illinoise.”)

8:27 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Erivo’s third outfit change for the night! Another sparkly thing! A rose-rhinestoned affair! She introduced Danielle Brooks and Katie Holmes, who also had some tasteful beading on their looks.

I know we’re tired of recession indicators, but ... don’t you think that our collective anxiety about the 2020s being similar to the 1930s is making us all a little more excited about clothing that catches the light?

8:26 PM: Analysis from Thomas Floyd, Writer-editor covering arts, sports and pop culture

Want to place an early bet on who will follow in Sarah Snook’s shoes and win best actress in a play down the line? Look no further than our host, Cynthia Erivo, who just signed on to star in a similarly staged one-woman “Dracula” in London from Kip Williams, the director who just helped Snook snag her Tony for “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Just as “Dorian Gray” made a quick West End to Broadway move, “Dracula” seems ripe for a Broadway production.

8:24 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Francis Jue won best featured actor in a play for “Yellow Face.”

8:23 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

One man’s opinion: Tonight is a sure bet for Cole Escola.

And a sorbet for Auli’i Cravalho.

What a fun dress!

8:22 PM: Analysis from Naveen Kumar

Megan Hilty giving the gays everything we want while wearing a fringy trans flag? Pride Month is underway!

8:20 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

This number from “Death Becomes Her” doubles as a showcase of Paul Tazewell’s (now Tony-anointed) costumes: feathers! Convertible rip-away dresses! Fringe in the colors of the trans flag!

8:19 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

I’m watching Paul Tazewell (above) talk about his win for “Death Becomes Her” costume design while a number from the show plays live on TVs behind him.

Don’t have analysis, it’s just pretty cool!

8:17 PM: Analysis from Naveen Kumar

Sometimes all you need is a song, but sometimes you need a little bit more? Cynthia tore up the opening number, but unlike past years, we didn’t get much of a sense of the nominated shows, aside from some AI-meets-PowerPoint-looking projections that came and went, fast.

8:15 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Wait, did Keanu Reeves just mispronounce “Sarah Snook”?

Apparently not. I’ve just been mispronouncing “Snook.” I guess it rhymes with “spook” not “look.”

Whoops!

8:15 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Re: host Cynthia Erivo’s comments about actors from “Succession” starring in shows, Naveen Kumar had a great story about the various TV-Broadway links this season, and last year Peter Marks wrote about how stars from “Succession” fared onstage .

8:14 PM: Analysis from Thomas Floyd, Writer-editor covering arts, sports and pop culture

“This was Broadway’s most financially lucrative year ever,” host Cynthia Erivo said during a brief monologue. “Broadway is officially back — provided we don’t run out of cast members from ‘Succession.’” She’s not kidding: Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Sydney Lemmon, Peter Friedman, Jeremy Strong, Juliana Canfield — the list of “Succession” alums from the last two seasons alone is staggering.

8:12 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Sarah Snook won best leading actress in a play for “The Picture of Dorian Gray.”

8:10 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Normally I would assume that if someone is “impromptu” making people in a crowd sing — as Cynthia Erivo did to Kristin Chenoweth and Adam Lambert in this opening song — it was planned.

But if ever there was a crowd where the ENTIRE AUDIENCE is JUST WAITING for someone to ask them to sing …

8:10 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

Before she closed out the number, Cynthia Erivo walked the mic down the aisle and offered it to various audience members, who definitely displayed varying levels of gameness and terror. (Kristin Chenoweth up first, thankfully.)

8:08 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Cynthia Erivo with a backstage follow camera (a nod to “Sunset Blvd.”) in a red gown with white collar and belt (a nod to “Annie”) sang about how “sometimes all you need is a song” (presumably an original song written for the 2025 Tonys).

8:04 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

OMG YES LARRY OWENS DOING THE WICKED VOCAL RIFF to Cynthia Erivo at the beginning!

(Owens originated the lead role in “A Strange Loop” off-Broadway but didn’t appear in the Broadway version — that was when he started shooting “Abbott Elementary,” I believe.

8:01 PM: Analysis from Jada Yuan, Feature reporter covering culture and entertainment

Shout-out to Harvey Fierstein, who brought a clutch labeled “snacks” and filled with Blow Pops, which he’s showing off with his cobalt blue nails. When you’ve been to enough Tony ceremonies to get a lifetime achievement award, you know to be prepared. It’s also a good way to make friends, as long as you remind everyone to spit out their bubble gum (and not into their partner’s hand, a la Adrien Brody and Georgina Chapman) before they have to make a speech!

7:58 PM: Analysis from Jada Yuan, Feature reporter covering culture and entertainment

Everyone tearing up about Gavin Creel — the Tony-winning actor who was just 48 when he died in September from a rare form of cancer — reminds me of the wonderful story Jonathan Groff told about how Creel inspired him to come out.

Shortly after Groff left “Spring Awakening,” he told the New Yorker , he fell in love with Creel. The two went together to a march on Washington for marriage equality, but when a woman from Broadway.com asked Groff why he was there, he shied away. Then he looked over at Creel, who was out and proud, and leading people through the march with a bullhorn.

“And I was, like, I ... love him so much. I’m coming out. I’m at the ... gay marriage-equality march!” said Groff. “I walked back over to her and said, ‘I’m here because I’m gay. And that’s what I’m sharing with you.’ She said, ‘On the record?’ And I said, ‘Yes, on the record.’ I hadn’t planned it. It just happened that way.”

7:56 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

Harvey Fierstein received a standing ovation as he walked up to accept his lifetime achievement award. He recalled being cautioned to keep his personal life to himself if he wanted a theater career. But in 1982 on Broadway, he said, “This was no time to hide. We needed to go to war, and it was a war that cost us much too dearly.”

He concluded by saying, “As many of you know, there is nothing quite like bathing in the applause of a curtain call. But when I bow, I bow to the audience, with gratitude, knowing that without them, I might as well be lip-syncing show tunes in my bedroom mirror. And so I dedicate this award to the people in the dark and offer my profound thanks to all of you.”

7:53 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Will Aronson and Hue Park won best original score for “Maybe Happy Ending.”

7:50 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

“Don’t make mommy cry,” Harvey Fierstein said at the beginning of his lifetime achievement acceptance speech.

Didn’t work. His voice broke when he remembered finding his community in the basement of a Unitarian church in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn.

7:39 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Paul Tazewell won best costume design of a musical for “Death Becomes Her.”

7:38 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

Celia Keenan-Bolger was honored with this year’s humanitarian award. She said that during challenging times, small acts of service can feel insufficient, but that the award highlighted that “small efforts over sustained periods of time,” and that acts of care in the community remain worthy.

7:36 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Marg Horwell won best costume design of a play for “The Picture of Dorian Gray.”

7:25 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

The first time Gary Edwin Robinson, a teacher at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, stood on the stage at Radio City Music Hall, he was 15 years old, singing with a high school chorus. The second time, he was singing backup for Diana Ross. Tonight, he returned to accept this year’s Tony for excellence in theater education. People cheered just hearing the clear bass of his voice.

7:23 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Before I saw “Sunset Blvd.,” I was already contemplating scalp tattoos.

Now that I’ve seen the production (directed by Jamie Lloyd, above), I want one more than ever.

7:22 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Dane Laffrey and George Reeve won best scenic design of a musical for “Maybe Happy Ending.”

7:21 PM: Analysis from Naveen Kumar

“Stranger Things: The First Shadow” sweeping home awards for its showy design elements has “big blockbusters raking in special effects Oscars” energy. The brand extension from the streaming behemoth, which is also getting a separate special Tony for its effects, isn’t otherwise a favorite tonight.

7:20 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Miriam Buether and 59 Studio won best scenic design of a play for “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.”

7:14 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Harvey Fierstein is giving away snacks!?

The generosity! After he already gave us all Estelle Getty. (He gave her a a big break in his play “Torch Song Trilogy” years before “Golden Girls.”) He’s getting a lifetime achievement award this year.

7:11 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Jordan Roth — red carpet favorite and theater producer — serving Gothic Catholic rooster.

Remember when even theater stars were closeted? When Rosie O’Donnell and Nathan Lane made jokes about being each other’s beards.

Well … we’ve come a long way.

7:10 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Jack Knowles won best lighting design of a musical for “Sunset Blvd.”

7:09 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Wait a minute: “Chicago” isn’t nominated this year ... but Sarah Paulson and Sarah Snook are in the City of Big Shoulders tonight!

(Sorry.)

7:07 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Jon Clark won best lighting design of a play for “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.”

7:06 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

The Muny, an outdoor theater based in St. Louis , won this year’s outstanding regional theater award. Its president and CEO, Kwofe Coleman, who started his career there as an usher, accepted the prize and made the night’s first — veiled — reference to “political turmoil,” thanking supporters for sticking by the theater through tough times.

7:05 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Laufey is an Icelandic singer who has made quite a career doing jazzy whimsical covers.

Her look for the Tonys: Very cute. (Too cute?) Also very on-brand. (Too on-brand?)

7:03 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck won best choreography for “Buena Vista Social Club.”

7:03 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Hot tip: if you see a look tonight that makes you say some variation of “Whoa!” or “Wait … what?” or “Okay, more power to ’em,” it’s a safe bet that it’s being worn by someone involved with the musical “Operation: Mincemeat.”

This is writer-actor David Cumming. He’s nominated for two Tonys tonight.

7:02 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Severe bun. Serious face. Uniform, confident, sequins. In blood red.

Nicole Scherzinger is not here to play around tonight.

7:01 PM: Analysis from Jada Yuan, Feature reporter covering culture and entertainment

The fun of the Tony Awards red-carpet live streams being fairly unproduced is that you can get a feel for what it’s truly like to be a red carpet reporter. Over on the Associated Press ’s C-SPAN-like feed, you could hear one deep-voiced person in the background giving commentary that would never make the air under better-regulated circumstances. “I would bet money she’s not doing the red carpet,” the person said. “Oprah never does the red carpet.” This disembodied voice also referred to the after-party in a secret location: “That’s where everyone goes.”

On Playbill’s live stream , you could watch reporter Jeffrey Vizcaíno valiantly try to wrangle celebs in real time. “Oh, there goes Lin-Manuel!” he said. “I guess he’s not talking to the press.” Later, during a lull: “We’re just vibing.” Later, talking to someone nice who came over to fill the lull: “Hold on, I’ve got to talk to this Tony nominee. Come back in a minute.”

6:58 PM: Analysis from Naveen Kumar

I’m just going to say it — I’m rooting for “Boop” star Jasmine Amy Rogers to break the nail-biter best actress in a musical race. The season-long toss-up between Audra McDonald (“Gypsy”) and Nicole Scherzinger (“Sunset Boulevard”) has been fun. Both of them are phenomenal! And tonight Rogers paid many red-carpet respects to her competitors (including Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard of “Death Becomes Her”). A Rogers win would be a star-making moment, and the sort of surprise that all awards shows need.

6:57 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Re: Naveen’s comment earlier about Andrew Lloyd Webber saying he’s scared of “The Phantom” stalking the red carpet: Homeboy loves a Phantom Gimmick.

My first party reporting assignment was his post-covid reopening party for “The Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway, which featured him live on the decks. His wife warned me to only refer to him as “DJ Webbz” that night.

6:56 PM: Analysis from Jada Yuan, Feature reporter covering culture and entertainment

Sarah Paulson has entered a new era of wearing incredible sculptural silhouettes. Bow down. At the Tony Awards, she’s in a black velvet bodice that looks like futuristic armor and a cream (that color again!) skirt with detailing that almost looks like she’s got a second person attached to her lower half. Endlessly interesting. Earlier this year, she stepped out on the red carpet for the Vanity Fair Oscar party in a red Marc Jacobs dress with inflatable shoulders that would allow her to fall over and bounce right back up. It landed her on some worst-dressed lists, but those people just have no imagination.

6:55 PM: Theater is feeling more and more like TV

One of this season’s biggest Broadway cash cows is a critical darling about the power of TV, headlined and co-written by a star who started in TV, featuring live close-ups and archival footage broadcast on giant TVs. “ Good Night, and Good Luck ” is set in the 1950s, when Edward R. Murrow’s investigation of Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist crusade was made possible by the birth of broadcast television.

The play, starring George Clooney as the stalwart CBS journalist, strikes an especially timely chord, given current tensions between the news media and the Trump administration: Its chilling final montage traces the profound — and, many would argue, degenerative — impact of television and digital media on decades of American culture and politics.

If you haven’t seen the production, you can naturally catch a live stream Saturday evening on CNN and Max, ahead of Sunday’s Tony Awards honoring a season in which ties to the small screen have been all but inescapable.

Read the full story

By: Naveen Kumar

6:53 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Marco Paguia won best orchestrations for “Buena Vista Social Club.”

6:52 PM: Analysis from Shane O’Neill, Writer of the Style Memo newsletter focusing on entertainment, power, media and fashion.

Cole Escola’s gown is a custom Wiederhoeft inspired by Bernadette Peters’s look from the 1999 Tonys (below). My head spins, thinking of the weird videos Escola used to post in character as Peters. (In one, her accountant scolds her for an exorbitant annual candle budget.)

As a theater professional, this has obviously been Escola’s year.

As a fashion plate, the looks they’ve concocted with Winning & Losing have been some of the most eclectic and exciting and queer things we’ve seen in the mainstream in a long time.

When I first asked Escola if they thought they would win a Tony (waaaaaaay back before “Oh, Mary!” opened on Broadway), they scoffed, saying that they would have to beat George Clooney.

Doesn’t seem scoff-worthy at all tonight.

6:50 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Jonathan Deans won best sound design of a musical for “Buena Vista Social Club.”

6:50 PM: Analysis from Jada Yuan, Feature reporter covering culture and entertainment

I’m afraid I do not know what to think of Katie Holmes’s outfit. On one hand, I want to applaud her for taking risks and wearing color — green! We love to see it! On the other hand, the bottom looks like an ill-fitting evening gown and the top looks like something one would wear when forced to return to the office five days a week, after having exhausted every other item in one’s closet. Love the effort, don’t love the result.

6:49 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

When “Maybe Happy Ending” took home the first award of the night, with Will Aronson and Hue Park winning for best book, the first words out of Park’s mouth were a clarification: “We are not a couple! I am very much single, okay?”

6:48 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Paul Arditti won best sound design of a play for “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.”

6:47 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

Will Aronson and Hue Park won best book of a musical for “Maybe Happy Ending.”

6:45 PM: LaTanya Richardson Jackson never chased stardom. It found her on Broadway.

Our profile of the Tony nominee...

NEW YORK — LaTanya Richardson Jackson sweeps into a lobby restaurant on the Upper East Side like a majestic auntie dream girl. A crisp citrine tunic frames her Van Cleef Vintage Alhambra necklace. Her hands sparkle as her fingers drum the table to emphasize a point. Tiny golden starbursts dot each ear. And to top off Jackson’s not-so-quiet luxury? A ball cap that reads, in cheeky bold letters: Famous Black.

“Ha! This? It’s a line from the play,” says Jackson, 75, who is up for a Tony on Sunday for her role as Claudine Jasper, the fierce matriarch and “fixer” of a prominent Chicago family in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Pulitzer-winning play “ Purpose .”

Read the full story

By: Helena Andrews-Dyer

6:37 PM: Analysis from Naveen Kumar

George Clooney said that last night’s CNN live stream of “Good Night, and Good Luck” was “nerve-racking.” The hot-ticket show, which concluded its run this afternoon, broadcast a full live performance from the Winter Garden Theatre. Lin-Manuel Miranda, joining Clooney on the red carpet, joked that the broadcast was “the best rehearsed TV show of all time.” Miranda will be part of the 10th anniversary performance of “Hamilton” tonight.

6:25 PM: How Mary Todd Lincoln became Broadway’s biggest (and drunkest) new star

Our profile of Tony nominee Cole Escola from July...

NEW YORK — “I am the stupidest person here,” Cole Escola said in a speech last month. “And I mean that as an insult to all of you.”

They had just won a special Drama Desk Award for “Oh, Mary!,” their off-Broadway play that was extended twice before it was cleared for a Broadway run. The show also earned them the almost-serious “Cate Blanchett Award for Good Acting” from the hosts of the “Las Culturistas” podcast and the actually serious Outer Critics Circle Award for best lead actor in an off-Broadway play.

Like much of Escola’s work, “Oh, Mary!” is indeed stupid — but rigorously so. They wrote and starred in the heavily fictionalized play that envisions Mary Todd Lincoln as an alcoholic first lady whose dreams of cabaret stardom are stifled by her husband. One of many rapturous accolades was from the New York Times: “You’ll be losing your mind with joy.”

Read the full story

By: Shane O’Neill

6:25 PM: Analysis from Jada Yuan, Feature reporter covering culture and entertainment

The Oscars red carpet should really take a page from the Tonys because nearly everyone in a suit is wearing a great suit. Have a little fun if you’re going to go with a classic silhouette! Our prize so far goes to Jonathan Groff for his impeccable burgundy version, but we’re also big fans of Harvey Fierstein’s blue suit with black satin lapels (blue again!) and Samuel L. Jackson’s return to the Tonys in a black suit with sparkly lapels — two years after he went viral for his reaction to losing in 2023. May his facial expressions give the world even more memes tonight!

6:22 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

On Playbill’s red carpet stream, “Oh, Mary!” Tony nom Cole Escola says the performance they’re most looking forward to is the opening number: “That was always my favorite when I was a kid watching the Tonys, is what is the opening number going to be,” they said, then added, tongue-in-cheek, “and I’ve heard Cynthia Erivo can really sing.”

6:22 PM: Analysis from Naveen Kumar

A menace is on the prowl. Andrew Lloyd Webber said he’s scared of running into the Phantom inside Radio City before the camera cut to a caped and masked figure stalking the red carpet. This is an apparent live promo for the new production of “The Phantom of the Opera” set to open inside an old Midtown arts shop later this year. Webber is enjoying a coy rollout for the revival, which he teased on Instagram in April.

6:20 PM: Analysis from Zachary Pincus-Roth, Editor in the Style section

How does Keanu Reeves feel about starring in “Waiting for Godot” on Broadway this fall? “Dream come true,” he says.

“And he’s not being flippant,” says his co-star Alex Winter, who of course also starred with Reeves in the Bill & Ted franchise.

They also revealed that it would be pronounced “GOD-oh.”

6:16 PM: Analysis from Sophia Nguyen, Reporter, Books

Pulled off the red carpet for an interview with Playbill, Jeremy Jordan pleaded: “I need to get some caffeine.” (He was fresh off a Sunday matinee performance of his show, “Floyd Collins,” and was at a rehearsal at 9 that morning.)

6:11 PM: Analysis from Jada Yuan, Feature reporter covering culture and entertainment

If Anna Wintour and her daughter Bee Carrozzini both wear cream to the Tony Awards, does it count as a color trend? I’m declaring it so! They’re not the only ones. Mia Farrow, Julianne Hough, Ariana DeBose and her producer bestie Tony Marion are all in cream or white-ish cream. Megan Hilty is wearing her cream with some sparkles and feathers. I’m choosing to say that they’re all making a statement for women’s suffrage with the New York mayoral primary fast upon us later this month. Clearly, this is not because it’s a breezy color and within the rules since it’s before Labor Day. There must be a deeper meaning behind it all!

6:10 PM: Which shows will be performing?

Each of the nominees for best musical and revival of a musical will perform numbers during the broadcast: “Maybe Happy Ending,” “Dead Outlaw,” “Death Becomes Her,” “Buena Vista Social Club,” “Operation Mincemeat,” “Sunset Blvd.,” “Gypsy,” “Floyd Collins” and “Pirates! The Penzance Musical.” “Just in Time” and “Real Women Have Curves,” which both missed out on best musical but earned key nods in other categories, will also perform. Plus the original Broadway cast of “Hamilton” — including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff and Ariana DeBose — will reunite in celebration of the modern classic’s 10th anniversary.

By: Thomas Floyd

6:05 PM: Want a Tony? Try playing one of these iconic roles.

Danny Burstein was uniquely aware of the legacy he was joining when the actor rehearsed for the Broadway revival of “Gypsy” and prepared to portray Herbie, the compassionate talent manager who romances Mama Rose.

Burstein, 60, had appeared in the 1993 production of “Three Men on a Horse” alongside Jack Klugman, the actor who played Herbie in “Gypsy’s” 1959 Broadway premiere. Over the years, Burstein also worked with Jonathan Hadary, John Dossett and Boyd Gaines — the actors who had inhabited Herbie in the beloved musical’s three most recent Broadway revivals. After all four of those performers earned Tony Award nominations for the role, Burstein wasn’t daunted by the prospect of living up to their performances. In fact, he invited their influence.

“I know all these guys,” Burstein says. “I love all of them, and they are all superb actors. I sort of take them all with me into the rehearsal room, and I carry all of that information with me. Then, as the rehearsal process goes on, I try and make it my own.”

Read the full story

By: Thomas Floyd

6:00 PM: What’s the Patti LuPone controversy?

In a New Yorker profile , three-time Tony winner Patti LuPone said Audra McDonald was “not a friend” and referred to a past rift before changing the subject. That appeared to be news to McDonald, who subsequently told CBS’s Gayle King, “I don’t know what rift she’s talking about.”

Whatever the case, LuPone’s negative remarks about McDonald and “Hell’s Kitchen” actress Kecia Lewis — who, like McDonald, is Black — prompted hundreds of theater artists to sign a letter condemning her behavior. “This language is not only degrading and misogynistic — it is a blatant act of racialized disrespect,” the letter said.

Last week, LuPone issued a public apology . “I am devastated that my behavior offended others and has run counter to what we hold dear in this community,” she wrote. “I hope to have the chance to speak to Audra and Kecia personally to offer my sincere apologies.”

By: Thomas Floyd

5:55 PM: 16 Broadway shows worth seeing right now

Broadway is lately catering to an especially wide range of tastes. Stars — including familiar Hollywood names and thrilling fresh discoveries — are out in multitudes. Want to escape the world outside the theater, confront it head-on or both at once? There are multiple shows for each. Ditto if you have a whole family to please, or weird and arty friends who never seem to agree on anything. (Have they seen “Oh, Mary!”? Try “Maybe Happy Ending” around the corner.)

Here are our picks for the best of what’s new on Broadway.

Read the full story

By: Naveen Kumar

5:53 PM: Analysis from Jada Yuan, Feature reporter covering culture and entertainment

Sensing that royal and electric blue could be trending colorways on the red carpet. Kristin Chenoweth and Audra McDonald both showed up in versions of it — Chenoweth in a head-to-toe blue corseted number and McDonald in sculptured black sequins with a lil’ blue pop on the train. A sign of solidarity with Democrats? We may never know.

5:50 PM: His starry Broadway shows have become pop culture events

Our profile of Tony nominee Jamie Lloyd...

NEW YORK — If you’ve seen a celebrity on a sparse stage in recent years, chances are they were in a revival directed by Jamie Lloyd.

There was Jessica Chastain, as a wife mostly confined to a chair until she walked out on her husband in “ A Doll’s House ,” on Broadway in 2023. Before that, Tom Hiddleston as a cuckold coolly navigating infidelity in “Betrayal,” first on London’s West End and then on Broadway in 2019. Both earned Lloyd Tony nominations for best director and a reputation as a promising young Brit with a distinct point of view.

But his buzzy reinvention of “Sunset Blvd.,” starring Nicole Scherzinger as a glamorous and clarion-voiced Norma Desmond , crossed over into pop culture with social media visibility rarely achieved by even the biggest Broadway hits. Shortly after the production opened at the St. James Theatre in October, blood-soaked fans turned up at the stage door and on Halloween in black slip dresses — mimicking the gory final visage of Scherzinger’s homicidal leading lady. Patti LuPone, who starred in the original 1993 London run and long held a grudge against composer Andrew Lloyd Webber for replacing her with Glenn Close for Broadway, gushed over the new staging . And it’s landed Lloyd, now 45, his third Tony nomination for directing, plus one for producing under his namesake banner, the Jamie Lloyd Company.

Read the full story

By: Naveen Kumar

5:50 PM: Which actors will win Tonys?

On the topic of “Oh, Mary!”: Also expect its playwright and star, Cole Escola, to win best actor in a play — a stacked category that includes George Clooney. Sarah Snook, meanwhile, is a lock to take lead actress in a play for her virtuosic, 26-roles-in-one performance of the solo show “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” And you can probably count on “Purpose” dynamo Kara Young to repeat as best featured actress in a play — her fourth straight nomination in the category — and “Oh, Mary!” scene-stealer Conrad Ricamora to win featured actor for his combustible portrayal of Abraham Lincoln.

Best actor in a musical could go to “Sunset Blvd.” breakout Tom Francis, who has earned acclaim for gamely belting the show’s title song eight times a week while strolling through the Theater District, a camera beaming his performance onto a screen in the St. James Theatre. And Jonathan Groff, starring in the Bobby Darin jukebox musical “Just in Time,” would be a worthy repeat winner (after taking a prize for “Merrily We Roll Along” last year). But the smart money is on Darren Criss, a first-time nominee who wins laughs and tugs heartstrings with his mannered portrayal of a fussy robot wrestling with love and mortality.

“Operation Mincemeat’s” Jak Malone feels like a safe bet to win featured actor in a musical, thanks to his ovation-inducing rendition of “Dear Bill,” a moment of startling poignance amid that charming comedy’s otherwise madcap antics. Natalie Venetia Belcon in “Buena Vista Social Club” should take the featured actress prize for playing famed Cuban singer Omara Portuondo.

Then there’s the showdown of the night: best actress in a musical. Reprising her staggering, Olivier Award-winning performance as the delusional Golden Age film star Norma Desmond, Nicole Scherzinger might have the edge after she won the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. But Audra McDonald’s shattering performance as a steamrolling stage mom in “Gypsy” could very well win her a record-extending seventh acting Tony — especially if Patti LuPone’s recent dig at McDonald prompts a surge of sentiment in her favor. And keep an eye on “Boop” breakout Jasmine Amy Rogers, an ingenue who shared the Drama Desk Award with McDonald.

By: Thomas Floyd

5:40 PM: Which shows are favored to win top Tonys?

“Maybe Happy Ending,” a South Korea-set sci-fi romance with a bittersweet book, striking visuals and a toe-tapping score, is favored to take best musical after claiming the top prizes at the Outer Critics Circle, New York Drama Critics’ Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League awards. There’s also an appealing underdog narrative: Featuring an odd concept and unproven creatives, the show stumbled out of the gate last fall before rapturous word of mouth morphed it into a box office success. But don’t count out “Dead Outlaw,” which was ineligible for many precursor prizes after its off-Broadway run snagged hardware at those ceremonies a year ago.

In revival of a musical, Jamie Lloyd’s radical reinvention of “Sunset Blvd.” will probably edge George C. Wolfe’s more reverent “Gypsy” staging (and give the boundary-pushing Lloyd his first best director statuette over “Maybe Happy Ending’s” Michael Arden). Revival of a play, meanwhile, seems likely to go to Jonathan Spector’s topical vaccine comedy “Eureka Day” in a nail-biter against David Henry Hwang’s theatrical memoir “Yellow Face.”

That takes us to best play, which features no shortage of contenders. “Purpose,” Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s drama about a crumbling African American dynasty, compiled a whopping five acting nominations and recently won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Still, it’s hard to overlook Phylicia Rashad’s best director snub and predict it to win. Although Kimberly Belflower’s “John Proctor Is the Villain” has steered droves of Gen Z theatergoers to Broadway with its crackling commentary on power and perceptions in the #MeToo era, the ultimate favorite is probably the only full-fledged phenomenon of the bunch: “Oh, Mary!,” a riotous romp that recasts Mary Todd Lincoln as an alcoholic shut-in with dreams of becoming a cabaret star.

By: Thomas Floyd

5:37 PM: Analysis from Jada Yuan, Feature reporter covering culture and entertainment

Theater friends, we’re following the action on every tab of our browsers. Playbill has a YouTube pre-show. The Associated Press is doing it C-SPAN style with no commentary. NY1 is on the red carpet, too . Broadway World’s Instagram is weighing in (look at their stories). Those are the best places to watch until 6:40 p.m. Eastern, when the official Tonys pre-show will stream on Pluto TV .

5:35 PM: Is Branden Jacobs-Jenkins the best playwright in America?

Our profile of the Tony-nominated playwright ...

NEW YORK — Branden Jacobs-Jenkins was anxiously amused about how he would be portrayed in this profile. Would I mention that twice when we met at the Hayes Theater, in the days after the playwright’s hilarious and explosive dynastic drama “ Purpose ” had won the Pulitzer Prize and six Tony Award nominations, he ordered the same quick bite while juggling a tight schedule? “The idea that you’re going to watch me eat Shake Shack twice is absolutely psychotic.”

Sitting in the green room upstairs, subdued after a whirlwind week that included his first time attending the Met Gala, he gave an eloquent answer about how he metabolizes contemporary culture to generate plays that feel thrillingly urgent.

“My obligation is to write to people living in reality with me in the present,” he said. “Obviously, I’m very neurotic. I’m always trying to understand what’s happening and why. My friends every day talk about what they’re anxious about, and yet no one’s asking for the theater to address that anxiety — but that’s what it’s supposed to do.” He added, “I try to follow my own panic.”

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By: Naveen Kumar

5:30 PM: What are the most nominated shows at the Tonys?

Three new musicals — the futuristic love story “Maybe Happy Ending,” the grisly laugher “Death Becomes Her” and the galvanizing dance party “Buena Vista Social Club” — led nominations with 10 nods apiece. “Dead Outlaw,” a musical about an inept train robber whose corpse was wheeled around the country as a tourist attraction, racked up seven nominations.

“John Proctor Is the Villain,” a feminist reexamination of “The Crucible,” and the haunting family drama “The Hills of California” each earned seven nods to lead the plays. “Sunset Blvd.,” a starkly stylish, projection-heavy spin on the classic Hollywood tale, also hit that number to pace all revivals.

By: Thomas Floyd

5:20 PM: Who votes on the Tony nominees and winners?

A rotating committee of approximately 50 theater professionals picks the nominees in the 26 competitive categories, which honor shows produced in Broadway’s 41 theaters (all of which must have at least 500 seats). This year’s nominators included actors Victoria Clark and Bob Balaban, playwright James Ijames, composer Michael R. Jackson and former Washington Post theater critic Peter Marks.

The nominators, who serve overlapping three-year terms, were asked to see every new Broadway production that opened between April 26, 2024, and April 27, 2025, for this year’s ceremony. The winners are then decided by the Tonys’ voting body of about 830 actors, playwrights, agents, publicists, critics and other industry members. If a voter fails to see any nominated production and log their attendance, that person can’t vote in any category in which the show is up for an award.

By: Thomas Floyd

5:10 PM: Who’s hosting the Tonys?

Cynthia Erivo, a Tony winner for “The Color Purple” and Oscar nominee for “Harriet” and “Wicked,” will host for the first time ahead of the November release of “Wicked: For Good.” She takes the reins from Ariana DeBose, who oversaw the past three ceremonies. Darren Criss, a nominee this year for “Maybe Happy Ending,” will co-host the “Act One” telecast with “Hamilton” alum and Tony winner Renée Elise Goldsberry.

By: Thomas Floyd

5:01 PM: How can I watch the Tonys?

The Tonys once more will launch with the “Act One” telecast, which begins at 6:40 p.m. Eastern time. (Yes, it’s oddly specific and 10 minutes later than last year.) Viewers can watch on Pluto TV, a free streaming service that doesn’t require registration. In recent years, the early show has featured the below-the-line categories (such as costumes, scenic design and choreography), noncompetitive prizes (for lifetime achievement and the like) and one buzzier award (for book or original score).

Viewers can shift to CBS and Paramount+ at 8 p.m. for the main event, which typically runs for about three hours. (Nonsubscribers who want to watch on Paramount+ can sign up for a seven-day free trial .)

Although there isn’t an official red carpet broadcast, those interested in following along can check out Playbill and Spectrum News’ s YouTube channels.

By: Thomas Floyd

5:00 PM: When and where are the Tonys happening?

After back-to-back ceremonies at first-time Tonys venues — United Place in Washington Heights in 2023 and the Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater last year — the ceremony is returning to tried-and-tested Radio City Music Hall. It will be the 21st Tonys at the Midtown Manhattan staple, giving it nine more than any other venue. (The Waldorf Astoria, which hasn’t hosted a ceremony since 1962, sits second.)

By: Thomas Floyd