At the Tonys, Hamilton harkens back to a more optimistic moment in American life
Cynthia Erivo hosted a rousing ceremony that felt more triumphant than politically defiant.
It was 2015 all over again at the Tony Awards Sunday night. Or at least it felt that way for a few blissful minutes, as the original cast of Hamilton reunited for a special performance celebrating the musical’s 10th anniversary.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Renée Elise Goldsberry, Daveed Diggs, Jonathan Groff and other stars performed a medley of songs, including “My Shot,” “The Schuyler Sisters,” “You’ll Be Back,” and “The Room Where It Happens.”
The reunion at Radio City Music Hall harkened back to a more optimistic time in American life, serving as a potent reminder of the excitement Hamilton brought to Broadway—and to pop culture more broadly—a decade ago.
“In 2015, a lot was different. Barack Obama was president. TikTok wasn’t even called TikTok yet, and I had hair,” said host Cynthia Erivo, eliciting raucous applause at the mention of the former president.
Hamilton “reinvigorated American theater, nearly swept the Tonys, and changed not just Broadway, but how Americans view their own history,” she added. “Or so I’m told.”
The sly addendum was, presumably, a joke about Erivo being English. But, intentionally or not, the comment also underscored the battle raging over our country’s history, who gets to control it, and whose contributions are celebrated.
The rousing Hamilton performance was arguably the highlight of a thoroughly entertaining three-hour broadcast celebrating one of the most artistically and financially successful Broadway seasons in recent memory.
It comes just a few months after Miranda and Hamilton producer Jeffrey Sellers canceled the musical’s upcoming run at the Kennedy Center, citing the president’s hostile takeover of the performing arts institution.
It also stood out as one of the more pointedly political moments in a night where the mood was more triumphant than defiant.
During Trump’s first term in office, celebrities and artists of all stripes regularly voiced criticism of the president at glittery awards shows. The Tonys in particular were a bastion for the resistance. At the 2018 ceremony, Robert DeNiro received a standing ovation when he delivered a blunt but forceful message about the president: “Fuck Trump.”
On Sunday, no one mentioned Trump’s unlawful crackdown on protestors in Los Angeles or spoke out against his recent attacks on cultural institutions, including the Kennedy Center.
But much like at the Oscars in March, the political statements were there for anyone who was paying attention—starting with a diverse array of winners.
The bittersweet South Korean robot romance Maybe Happy Ending won six awards, including best musical, the most for any show. Buena Vista Social Club, which follows a group of Cuban musicians, won four Tonys, and Purpose, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ drama about a politically influential Black family, won two awards, including best play. Oh, Mary!, a gloriously campy comedy reimagining Mary Todd Lincoln as a wannabe cabaret star, also took home two awards, including one for star Cole Escola.
As the night’s emcee, Erivo demonstrated why she’s already a Tony-winner, performing multiple songs—including a rousing opening number—changing into a dozen or so increasingly fabulous outfits, and hitting each punchline with ease. She has spent much of the last year tirelessly “holding space” for Wicked, and she displayed the same indefatigable energy Sunday night.
Francis Jue, who won for featured actor in a play for his role Yellow Face, a revival of David Henry Hwang’s semi-autobiographical play about Asian representation in the theater, gave the night’s most overtly political acceptance speech.
Jue began by noting that he was wearing a tuxedo given to him 20 years ago by the late actor Alvin Ing.
“I am 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. It can be difficult in challenging times to be brave,” he said, thanking producers for “daring to do a play called Yellow Face in an election season.”
“To those who don’t feel seen, to those who are being targeted in these authoritarian times, I see you,” he continued. “At its best, this community sees you, and I hope that encourages you to be brave, to dream. and to dream big.”
Jak Malone won for featured actor in a musical for Operation Mincemeat, in which he played multiple characters, including an MI5 secretary named Hester. He used the Tonys stage to make a (subtle) plea for inclusivity.
“If you watched our show and found yourself believing in Hester, then I am so glad to tell you, intentionally or otherwise, you might have just bid farewell to cynicism, to outdated ideas, to that rotten old binary, and opened yourself up to a world that is out there in glorious technicolor and isn’t going away anytime soon,” he said, making an artful case for trans acceptance.
The awards cap off one of the most competitive Broadway seasons in recent memory, with strong contenders in both the musical and play categories and a slew of celebrity-driven projects with sky-high ticket prices. In an average year, a musical like Death Becomes Her or a play like John Proctor is the Villain might have swept the Tonys.
Perhaps the most closely watched race of the evening was best actress in a musical, perceived as a two-diva race between Nicole Scherzinger and Audra McDonald for Gypsy. The prize ultimately went to Scherzinger, former lead of the girl group the Pussycat Dolls, who starred as aging film star Norma Desmond in a pared-down revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical (in turn based on Billy Wilder’s classic film noir.)
Scherzinger, who gave a showstopping performance of “As If We Never Said Goodbye” Sunday night, caught flak in November for making a supportive comment on a post by Trump supporter and accused rapist Russell Brand. But the controversy didn’t seem to hurt her standing with Tony voters. In an emotional speech, she thanked the Tonys "for making this little Hawaiian-Ukrainian-Filipino girl's dream come true." She was one of several Asian-American performers to win Sunday night.
Escola won for lead actor in a play for their madcap performancein Oh, Mary!, beating nominees including “up and comer” George Clooney. They made history as the first non-binary performer to win the category — and, we assume, as the first winner to thank “T. Bone from Grindr” in their acceptance speech.
Escola, who also wrote Oh, Mary!, wore a dress and wig inspired by Bernadette Peters’ Tonys look in 1999. (The ensemble also felt like a callback to one of Escola’s earliest YouTube sketches, “Bernadette Peters Does her Taxes.”)
Sam Pinkleton won for direction of a play for Oh, Mary!. He thanked his mother, who “did not stop a little gay boy from doing little gay things, and Escola, who “taught me to make what you love and not what you think people want to see.”
Going into Sunday’s event, the theater community—and a significant corner of the internet—had been buzzing about Patti Lupone, the Tony-winning Broadway legend who mouthed off about fellow theater stars Audra McDonald and Kecia Lewis in a recent New Yorker profile.
Lupone reportedly did not attend the awards Sunday, and only Oprah Wonfrey dared to allude to it during the ceremony.
But on the red carpet, Variety asked Escola for their take on the profile ’round the world.
“I think it should be left up for the states to decide,” they said.
Meredith Blake is The Contrarian’s culture columnist.
The Tonys program was the best medicine for me last night. A wonderful three hours.
Best night! So many highlights! Thanks for the recap Meredith!