It’s got all the glamour of the annual Oscars ceremony with all the anticipation of the superbowl in the theatre community. With enough jazz hands, vocal belts and kick lines to bring a crowd to their feet, the annual Tony Awards arrived for the 2025 year in theatre. We’ve gathered just some of the highlights from the evening, including that 10-year anniversary reunion.
Hosted by Wicked: For Good star of stage and screen, Cynthia Erivo inside the equally as iconic Radio City Music Hall in New York City, the 2025 Tony Awards celebrates the best in theatre on Broadway. From those who work tirelessly behind the stage making set, costume, lighting and sound to bring the stage to life, through to those who perform underneath the spotlight and make our hearts soar, this is the night of nights for theatre kids everywhere.
Pre Show Awards
The show generally begins with the Tony Awards “Pre-Show” awards, where nominees for lighting, costume, sound and the like receive their awards before the main event. Anyone who watches any awards ceremony will know, the speeches and general time dragging shlock of the show is a staple feature. The Tony’s – who, let’s face it, the stage manager backstage is running a tight ship – are used to sticking on time and here we give out awards to the unsung names.
And the Tony Awards go to:
Best Sound Design of a Play – Paul Arditti for “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.”
Best Sound Design of a Musical – Jonathan Deans for “Buena Vista Social Club.”
Best Orchestrations – Marco Paguia for “Buena Vista Social Club.”
Best Choreography – Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck for “Buena Vista Social Club.”
Best Lighting Design of a Play – Jon Clark for “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.”
Best Lighting Design of a Musical – Jack Knowles for “Sunset Boulevard.”
Best Scenic Design of a Play – Miriam Buether and 59 Studio “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.”
Best Scenic Design of a Musical – Dane Laffrey and George Reeve for “Maybe Happy Ending.”
Best Costume Design of a Play – Marg Horwell for “The Picture of Dorian Gray.”
Best Costume Design of a Musical – Paul Tazewell for “Death Becomes Her.
Best Original Score – Will Aronson (music and lyrics) and Hue Park (lyrics) for “Maybe Happy Ending.”
Let’s break it down:
Aussie favourite The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was first staged at the Sydney Theatre Company and garnered multiple Sydney Theatre Awards from its run and eventual return season, was the fan-favourite to win a heap of Tony Awards in its nominated categories. Marg Horwell‘s win for Best Costume was well deserved, but Dorian Gray was beaten out of Sound Design, Lighting Design and Scenic Design by Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
In the early race for the Best Musical Tony, Maybe Happy Ending – a story about two helper-robots who discover each other in Seoul – and Buena Vista Social Club – the Havana set musical which follows the lives of four prominent musicians under the era of Fidel Castro – set off the dash early with a slew of wins between them. In the Best Musical Revival category, the favourite to win (Sunset Boulevard) also secured its first Tony of the night for Best Lighting Design of a Musical.
Before heading onto the main event, Broadway veteran Harvey Fierstein was honored with the Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre award. “Don’t make mommy cry,” Fierstein joked as he began his speech. “Thank you so much you gorgeous people.” He thanked his mother, who drove him to rehearsals, and his brother, who he joked “used my shows as a personality test for his dates. If they freaked out seeing his drag queen brother, they were history.”
The Main Event
And Cynthia Erivo has officially entered the group chat. A strong start saw Erivo walk from dressing room to stage with a slew of backstage hands giving her advice for hosting this year. Nods to the year’s nominees as well as her starring role as Elphaba in the Wicked movies culminated in Erivo re-enacting the infamous “holding space” meme with none other than Oprah Winfrey.
This was followed up by Erivo showing off her phenomenal vocal range with a gospel choir, a bit of shared mic-singing crowd work, and many jabs at the Hollywood elite who made their Broadway debut this awards season. We’re glad they can spell EGOT, but have you seen those ticket prices??
Before departing, she warns the award winners to stick to timing. “If you go over, you will be played off or I will sing you off,” Erivo said, as the line “and now the end is near” from Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” was played on cue.
It’s Awards Time
And with a stellar crowd-pleasing opener, the main awards were handed out.
And the Tony Award goes to…
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play – Sarah Snook for “The Picture of Dorian Gray.”
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play – Francis Jue for “Yellow Face.”
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a MusicalJak Malone for “Operation Mincemeat.”
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play – Kara Young for “Purpose.”
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical – Natalie Venetia Belcon for “Buena Vista Social Club.”
Best Play – “Purpose”
Best Revival of a Play – “Eureka Day”
Best Direction of a Play – Sam Pinkleton for “Oh, Mary!”
Best Direction of a Musical – Michael Arden for “Maybe Happy Ending.”
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play – Cole Escola “Oh, Mary!”
Best Revival of a Musial – “Sunset Boulevard”
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical – Darren Criss “Maybe Happy Ending.”
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical – Nicole Scherzinger “Sunset Boulevard.”
Best Musical – “Maybe Happy Ending”
Let’s break it down:
This award season had some contentious categories, most notably Best Play which had a few contenders that could have taken out the big prize. But it was Purpose which ultimately took out the big gong. The play explores the complexities and secrets within the Jasper family, a family known for its influence in Black American politics and culture. Despite taking out the big win, it was the hilarious Oh, Mary! who won for Best Direction and Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. Cole Escola‘s acceptance speech being on brand for the show itself, wherein he thanked someone from Grindr.
The Best Revival of a Musical category had less competition, with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard being the clear favourite to win the Tony. And win it did, followed by former Pussycat Doll, Nicole Scherzinger, for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical following her stunning turn as faded silent film star, Norma Desmond.
Despite a heavy category for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, former Glee star Darren Criss won for his role in Maybe Happy Ending, taking out recent Tony Award Winner (and also former Glee star) Jonathan Groff for his performance in Just in Time,
All in all, it was a pretty predictable round of winners given the high level of calibre this year’s Tonys brought. With the Broadway season having its highest grossing season in years, there’s plenty to celebrate from the Great White Way.
And All That Jazz
Between the many wins, there was also the much anticipated performances by the nominees. And this year’s categories held many delights on the Radio City’s stage.
Death Becomes Her‘s Megan Hilty took on quick changes, many, many headdresses, a Liza Menelli homage and more against a backdrop of incredible dancers in “For the Gays” – very Broadway. This was followed by the performance of “Candela” by the cast of Buena Vista Social Club, with the musical’s band being among those receiving honours and awards from the evening’s events.
Jonathan Groff’s medley from Just In Time as singer Bobby Darin included raucous bouncing from the stage and onto and over Keanu Reeve’s chair to great delight from The Matrix star. The following one-person performance was none other than Nicole Scherzinger who treated audiences to “As If We Never Said Goodbye” from Jamie Lloyd’s revival of Sunset Boulevard.
Cast members from the revival of The Pirates! The Penzance Musical included Ramin Karimloo, Jinkx Monsoon and David Hyde Pierce who’s swashbuckling number was a highlight of the evening. The Floyd Collins cast followed in the Best Revival performances, as well as five time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald who performed the show-stopping number “Rose’s Turn”.
But it was the 10 Year Anniversary medley of Hamilton that shone brightest through the many performances of the night. #Hamilten years after the debut of Broadway’s iconic Hamilton the original cast kicked off the number dressed in all-black suits. Between the show’s many hit numbers, we were treated to a rapid fire medley “Non-Stop” to “My Shot” to “The Schuyler Sisters,” followed by “Guns and Ships,” “You’ll Be Back” and “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down).” Last, the cast rotated through “The Room Where It Happens” and “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” before it closed out with “Alexander Hamilton,” resulting in an instant standing ovation. Lin Manuel Miranda’s teary eyed glint was the cherry on top of the Hamilton-sized cake.
Closing out the night, Erivo sent off the winners and nominees in style with her own rendition of “And I am Telling You (I’m Not Going)” from the Tony-winning musical Dreamgirls, followed by one final standing ovation and a hosting performance that will go down as one of the greats.
Watch highlights from the Tony Awards here.
