“We don’t have a script, you guys,” DeBose said. “I’m live and unscripted. You’re welcome. So to anyone who may have thought that last year was a bit unhinged, to them I say, ‘Guys — buckle up.’”
The Writers Guild of America, whose strike against TV and film studios is in its second month, agreed not to picket the Tonys if the show proceeded without the contributions of writers. So the presentations in 26 categories, chosen by a voting academy of more than 700 theater producers, actors, designers and others, went on in the absence of original musical numbers, comedic bits and witty interludes.
“In order for this show to go on, a whole host of people had to come together in order to find a compromise,” DeBose said. “And we are all here. So to every single person who had a hand in finding that compromise, I say a full-throated thank you.”
Brandon Uranowitz of “Leopoldstadt” and Bonnie Milligan of “Kimberly Akimbo” won the first awards of the CBS broadcast for featured actor in a play and featured actress in a musical. (For a full list of winners, visit tonyawards.com.)
With three awards, “Some Like It Hot,” a splashy adaptation of Billy Wilder’s beloved 1959 film, led all musicals during the “Act One” broadcast, a 90-minute pre-show co-hosted by Julianne Hough and Skylar Astin on the free streamer Pluto TV. But “Kimberly Akimbo’s” Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire won original score, which is often a bellwether for the best musical race. And Lindsay-Abaire, the coming-of-age musical’s book writer and lyricist, used that acceptance speech to make the evening’s first reference to the writers strike.
“We first want to thank the great state of New Jersey and every town in New Jersey that we mention,” said Lindsay-Abaire, referring to “Akimbo’s” Garden State setting. “Tonight, every town in New Jersey is union. If you believe in the power of storytelling, please support the WGA and everything that they’re fighting for.”
“Life of Pi,” a multimedia-heavy adaptation of Yann Martel’s 2001 novel, paced all plays with three wins in the pre-show. Hough and Astin, meanwhile, delivered some improvised quips and shout-outs but mostly seemed content to keep the ceremony moving.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, John Kander’s collaborator on best musical nominee “New York, New York,” presented a lifetime achievement Tony to the 96-year-old composer, revered for his partnership with the late Fred Ebb on such shows as “Cabaret,” “Chicago” and “Kiss of the Spider-Woman.” “Dirty Dancing” actress Jennifer Grey gave the evening’s other lifetime achievement prize to her father, Joel Grey, the 91-year-old actor who won a Tony and Oscar for playing the Emcee in “Cabaret.”
“Some Like It Hot” led the nominations with 13. Its competition in best musical is “Kimberly Akimbo,” “New York, New York,” the Shakespearean reimagining “& Juliet” and the punny laugher “Shucked.” The season’s buzziest hits are found in the revival of a musical category, where two Stephen Sondheim classics — “Into the Woods” and “Sweeney Todd” — are up against the fact-based epic “Parade” and Aaron Sorkin’s take on the Arthurian tale “Camelot.” “Sweeney Todd” topped the musical revivals with eight nominations.
Leading all plays with six nominations are Jordan E. Cooper’s “Ain’t No Mo’,” a searing satire about Black life in America, and Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt,” the decades-spanning story of a Jewish family in early-20th-century Vienna. The other three nominees for best play have already won the Pulitzer Prize for drama: Stephen Adly Guirgis’s “Between Riverside and Crazy,” Martyna Majok’s “Cost of Living” and James Ijames’s “Fat Ham.”
The revival of a play category features four high-profile star vehicles: “A Doll’s House” with Jessica Chastain and Arian Moayed; “The Piano Lesson” with Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington; “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” with Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan; and “Topdog/Underdog” with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Corey Hawkins.
This story will be updated.
