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Recap the 2023 Tony Awards Acceptance Speeches
Read the speeches from the 76th Annual Tony Awards in full!
By: Team BWW Jun. 11, 2023
The 76th Annual Tony Awards have officially begun! As winners take the stage this evening, stay tuned to BroadwayWorld as we bring you full text of all of the acceptance speeches; from the emotional to the humorous, and everything in between.
Also make sure to stick with BroadwayWorld throughout the night, and into the morning, for all of the best videos, pictures, interviews, and commentary from theatre's biggest night!
Jeanine Tesori & David Lindsay-Abaire, Kimberly Akimbo
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
David: We first want to than the great sate of New Jersey. And every town in New Jersey that we mention. Tonight our favorite 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.
Jeanine: We’d like to thank the producers, especially David Stone. LaChanze/">LaChanze, Neil Pepe, everybody at the Atlantic Theatre.
Jeanine: Our intrepid diirector, Jessica Stone, or amazing choreographer Danny Medford, the designers and their associates, the cast and crew at the Booth Theatre. Victoria Clark, our great optimist. And this week, the sky was a bright canary yellow, so there you go.
David: We need to thank Nancy Rose, and David Berlin, John Buzzetti, the only thing bigger than his personality is his dedication to his clients. And also his opinions are pretty big.
Brigitte Reiffenstuel, Leopoldstadt
Best Costume Design of a Play
Thank you so much, I’m very honored. My friend just said to me this evening is like you’re gonna watch The Ring, and we are just about to watch The Valkyries, so we are in for a long night. I’m very honored to have been a part of this production, Tom Stoppard’s play Leopoldstadt. Working with Tom, working with the incredible designers, our wonderful cast, has really been a highlight of my professional life. I would like to thank Patrick Marber, Sonia Friedman, for their support and giving me the job and the first place. Thank you. Campbell Young for doing a beautiful job on hair and makeup, and Matthew Pachtman and Irene Bohan, for being fantastic associates. Everyone who has worked with me on costumes and basically made the play happen. Thank you. Very honored. Thank you.
Greg Barnes, Some Like It Hot
Best Costume Design of a Musical
I want to thank the producers of Some Like It Hot. Neil, Desi, Bob. I moved to new york 43 and half years ago, and right before I did, believe it or not I was in a production of the Robber Bride Groom at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, and there was a high school studnent in the company named Casey Nicholaw. So I’m thinking tonight about how these chance meetings that we have in our life can carry us through our adult career. I want to honor in memorium. Desmond Healy, Martin Pakledinaz, and the great Robin Wagner. Full disclosure, I don’t deserve this, it should really be given to the company of some like it hot who wear the clothes and make them so much better than they are. And I want to thank my amazing team, James Gwyn, Rachel Townsend, Amy Sutton, MJ Stone, Martin, and Jody. And the team in the basement where my heart is always beating the strongest.
Charlie Rosen & Bryan Carter, Some Like It Hot
Best Orchestrations
Charlie: Amazing! I’ll be very brief, mostly I want to thank Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, for trusting us with their amazing score–amazing score. I’d like to thank my parents who, like every year at the Tonys, are here once again. My girlfriend Danielle and our dog Daisy. But most importantly, this award, as it is the only award given to the interior music department of a show, I want to thank music supervisors, copyists, assistants, and most importantly all of the musicians who 8 times a week bust their ass to play Broadway shows every single night. Thank you.
Bryan: Well, first and foremost I want to thank my family for their unwavering love and support. I want to thank Evan Pulliam, my manager Christian Wiggs, 101 Productions, the Shubert Organizations, and the entire cast, company, and crew of Some Like it Hot, especially Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and our incredible 18 piece orchestra. Last and certainly not least, I want to thank the entire aristocracy of Black American music. In 1965, Duke Ellington was denied the Pulitzer Prize because of the color of his skin and those sacrifices that they made are the reason why I’m standing on this stage, so thank you so very much.
Regional Theatre Tony Award, Pasadena Playhouse
Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman: The story of The Pasadena Playhouse is one of those great theatre stories. In 1917, a group of community members led by Gilmore Brown, came together and said, ‘A great community needs a great theatre.’ And they started putting on plays and getting everybody in the community involved. Just a couple years later, they raised the money to build one of the most beautiful and important theatres in America, with the guiding principle of the theatre being a living force in the community. We are proud of Pasadena Playhouse to be one of the oldest not-for-profit regional theatres in the country.
Our regional theatres in America, they are the heart of the American Theatre. I am willing to bet that the majority of folks here in this room and watching at home, the majority of them all had formative experiences at regional theatres. And right now, our theatres need us more than every so that they are here for the next generation. We need everyone to support. To buy tickets, to become subscribers, and members, to donate to our theatres. Artists in this room, go back and do a show at a regional theatre.
This is a formative and important time. I want to thank the American Theatre Wing, the Broadway League, the American Critics’ Association, and City National Bank, thank you very much. We share this award with our beloved entire Los Angeles theatre community, we love you. With our formal leaders at The Pasadena Playhouse, going back from Gilmore Brown, and Suzi Dietz, and Lionel White, Sheldon Epps. With all of our hardworking, and talented, and passionate staff at the playhouse. Our donors, our members, our volunteer group, friends of the playhouse and our board of trustees, who in these last very few challenging years stepped up in a big way. We are here today because of them. And of course the artists, production community and crew of the playhouse, you all deserve this. Thank you very much.
Beowulf Boritt, New York, New York
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
To my beautiful wife, the brilliant actor Mimi Bilinski, this one is for you. Thank you for sharing your life with me.
New York, New York is a beautiful love letter to this great city and I hope you can all come be a part of it. I want to give thanks to Susan Stroman, my director, my choreographer, my friend. Our writers John Kander, the late Fred Ebb, Tommy Thompson, Sharon Washington, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Sonia Friedman and Tom Kirdahy, thank you for being the visionary producers you are. My associate Alexis Distler for your tireless devotion to this project. My assistants Romello Huins, Jared Rutherford, Nick Bertone. My fellow designers Christopher Ash, Ken Billington, Donna Zakowska. Johnny Millani, Todd Frank, the McDonaughs. Everybody backstage at the St. James. Everybody at Hudson Scenic, Showman Fabricators, propNspoon, Tom Carroll Scenery, BB props. And especially the great Neil Mazella, and my prop super Chris Pantuso.
There’s no video wall in New York, New York. It is good old-fashioned paint on canvas. Thank you to Amy Wharton and the painters at Hudson Scenic, and especially to Irina Portnyagina my brilliant Ukrainian genius who came out of retirement to paint this show for me. My agent Seth Glewen, the Tony Nominators, the voters, the Wing and the League. You have no idea how much this means to me.
Last things. I need to mention the 1/52 project, which we created to give grants to young designers from historically excluded groups funded primarily by broadway designers who donate a week’s royalties. Last year we gave 100,000 in grants,to young designers but anyone and everyone in this room can donate at oneeveryfiftytwo.org.
This production was lead by two brilliant women, Susan Stroman and Sonia Friedman, but our industry is not doing well by women. 50% of the population is having the right to control their own bodies stripped away in close to 50% of US states and in the Broadway community, that 50% of the population is deeply underrepresented. As we strive to make our industry more inclusive, we must remember all women. And so to Stro, and to Sonia, and to Alexis, and to my love Mimi Bilinski: Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
Tim Hatley & Andrzej Goulding, Life of Pi
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Tim: Life of Pi is about collaboration, and I’m delighted to be here with Andrzej. I must thank our other collaborators, I must thank Nick, Tim, who’s done the lighting. I’ve never worked with video in this way before. It was a first for me, and it was a joy. Show Motion, thank you for building us a lovely set, it’s worked beautifully over here. Aurora for your brilliant production management. The crew at the Schoenfeld Theatre for making it work tirelessly night after night. I could not have done this without Ross Edwards, my fantastic associate designer. Thank you!
Andrzej: Very humbling, I just want to shout out to my technical team, thank you to Tim Lutkin for being such a generous lighting designer, letting the video sing when it needed to. A big shoutout to Sheffield Theatres which is a theatre in the UK, it’s where we started the production a long time ago. A big shout out to my agent kirsten and my wife Kim, who is listening at home, love you very much.
John Kander
Lifetime Achievement
I think I’m gonna say something. This a very big deal. When your own community honors you, it’s very humbling, and a little bit scary. I also know that I am here, in great part, because of my long time collaborator Fred Ebb. And also the incredible performers and writers and directors and choreographers that I’ve been lucky enough to work with in my life. I have three major thank yous: I’m very grateful to my parents who somehow urged me to consider the possibility of happiness. I’m also grateful to Albert Stevenson, who is my home, and has been for 46 years. And last but certainly not least, I am grateful to music. Which has invaded me early on from the time I was a baby, and has stayed my friend through my entire life, and has promised to stick with me to the end. Thank you.
Casey Nicholaw, Some Like It Hot
Best Choreography
I have to first of all thank my mom, Kay Nicholaw, 90 years old, I love you mom. I have to thank my husband, Josh Marquette, who means everything to me. Glenn Kelly, I’ve been waiting to thank you for 18 years for your dance arrangements. You are the best, you are so inspiring, you make my work better because of what you do. Thank you for that. John McGuinness, who is a such great associate choreographer and friend. Steve, you're a miracle, Joe Machota, my agent, I was his first client. This cast is so fantastic, this cast is so game, they’re with me 100%, they like to work as hard as I like to work. And also with so much joy and I just love this cast, the dancers are incredible. The stage management, Karen, Mark and Scott, you guys are awesome. Matthew, Amber. Everyone, thank you. I can’t tell you how much this means to me, seriously, this is awesome.
Jason Zembuch Young of South Plantation High School in Plantation, Florida, 2023 Excellence in Theatre Education Award
I’d like to begin by thanking the American Theatre Wing, the Broadway League, and Carnegie Mellon University for this incredible honor.
My students have taught me way more than I have ever taught them. They’ve taught me to raise the bar high so that they have something to reach for. And they have taught me to look at potential rather than seeing face value. They have shown me that our exceptionalities make each and every one of us exceptional. And that with a little bit of creativity and ingenuity, anyone is capable of anything. So, why not cast the actor who is on the spectrum, or crew the light board operator with someone who can’t see the stage. Or give the dance solo to the girl who cannot hear the music. Because when we focus on what people can do, rather than what they can’t, the possibilities are endless
Thank you to my students who have shown me what teaching is really all about. And to the amazing group of interpreters that I have been blessed to work with all these years.
To Colleen Ramer, Dean Kausman, and Robin Case for this nomination. And to my incredible husband Michael, who I have been with for 28 years, and our incredible daughter Piper. for so frequently allowing yourselves to come second, so that others can come first. I am humbled and I am honored.
Natasha Katz, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Oh my god, thank you everybody so much. I am so proud to be a part of this loving, creative community. And to be back, Broadway is back and uptown now, tonight! I’m just sorry that Stephen Sondehim is not here to see Tommy Kail’s miraculous production of Sweeney Todd. It is one of the most extraordinary and thrilling experiences of my career, and I cherish every moment that I have with Tommy as we lit the show together. I want to thank Jeffrey Sellers and Maggie Brohn and Eddie Jones for leading us with such joy. And our stage manager Cody Renard Richard. And also the incredible crew at the Lunt Theatre. The heartbeat of the lighting team, Patti, Craig, Alex, Natalie, PRG lighting, and special thanks to Patrick Harold. I do stand on the shoulders of other lighting designers, one in particular, Ken Billington, another nominee, who lit the original Sweeney Todd. I worked for him, and I want to thank him for all his mentorship through the years. And my children, Gemma and Milo, I love you.
Tim Lutkin, Life of Pi
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Thank you. I’ll keep this short and sweet. I’d like to thank Tim, Paul and Bentley, who are my team. I’d like to thank Max Webster, our director. Tim Hatley, for getting me on board. And finally, my mom and dad, and my boyfriend Casper who is here all the way from Hong Kong this evening to be with me. Thank you.
Jerry Mitchell
Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award
I’m not nervous for the first time in my life. I’m overwhelmed and grateful. Most of what I was going to say tonight you just saw in the video, so I’m not going to go backwards, I am going to go forward. I want to thank the American Theatre Wing and the League, Tom Viola, everyone at Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights Aids. Laura Penn, and my dear friend Sergio Trujillo, who suggested that I should receive this Isabelle Stevenson Award.
It’s true, 43 years ago I stepped off the plane at LaGuardia Airport, I had some keys to a studio apartment, given to me by Kathleen Moore, I was on tour with A Chorus Line, and I was still in college, all my college roommates were jealous that I was going to Broadway to be in Brigadoon and dance for Agnes DeMille. They all got here two years later, and then they started dying. They started dying, and I was freaking out. And not just my friends, but some of the giants in our industry who I was dancing for, assisting, and working with, Michael Bennet. I had to do something. So I’m in Will Rogers Follies and I’m dancing naked eight shows a week, thank you Willa Kim, and my dressing roommate, Jason Opsahl, goes, “Go dance on the bar at Splash and raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids.” And 10 days later, John Ganun, Jason, myself, and Jack Doyle put on the first Broadway Bares. I walked home with a pillow case soaking in beer and sweat. It was $8000 bucks. Last year Broadway Bares 30, two shows, six thousand people, 1.9 million dollars, $25 million dollars raised, it’s madness. It just proves that anyone can make a difference.
I probably begged most of you in this room, cajoled, maybe bribed you over a margarita to take your clothes off for me at Broadway Bares, and most of you have, and if you haven’t taken your clothes off, you built the scenery, you made the costumes, you’ve done all the other stuff, which is everybody volunteering.
There is nothing wrong with taking your clothes off particularly when you’re doing it in service for your friends and your community. Mazeppa said, “What’s wrong with stripping?” There is nothing wrong with stripping! My dear friend Judith Light also received the Isabelle Stevenson award and she’s always on stage with me thanking the dancers and telling them that safe sex is hot sex. I am proud to be a gay man, I am proud to be in this community. I am proud to be married to my husband, Ricky Schroeder. But Judith had this amazing quote, it’s George Bernard Shaw, and I want to leave you with it. “I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live.” I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle for me, it’s a splendid torch which i have got a hold of for the moment. And I want to make it burn full out, and as brightly as possible before handing it off to future generations. George, I added the full out, thank you, thank you, thank you!
Carolyn Downing, Life of Pi
Best Sound Design of a Play
Thank you. I’m stunned actually. And speechless. Which isn’t really my style.
I’d love to thank the whole team of Life of Pi, the creative team. Such a collaborative brilliance, and creative path and journey we’ve been on since the beginning at Sheffield. Shout out again to Sheffield Theatres, where we started.
I’d like to thank my family, and my parter David Holmes, and my children Alice and Albie, and my mom and dad who are my cheerleaders and support, and also my associates Sam Clarkson and Rob Bettle of Sound Quiet Time for their dedication and friendship. John Dory, who’s just been a brilliant support and makes fantastic work.
I’d love to just say that this show is about storytelling and kind of… surviving, and I’d love to see us opening doors for more people to be able to do storytelling from all sorts of diverse backgrounds. But thank you so much. Thank you.
Nevin Steinberg, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Thank you. Before I forget I just want to say thanks to Paige, who continues to want these things more for me than I do for myself. When you get a call from Tommy Kail, Alex Lacamoire, Jeffrey Seller, Maggie Brown and Eddie Jones, you can be pretty sure it’s going to be a good day. But the thing to note is that the results have been good, and I’m grateful for that, but the process is extraordinary. It’s filled with love, and respect, and curiosity, and mostly laughter, and for this I am incredibly grateful. I am also grateful for my amazing team, Jason, Crystal, my right hand. All the folks at the Lunt, I won’t name them all right now because it’s too long of a list but they are integral to what I do. I literally couldn’t do it without them. I say things and they happen, and it is magic every time. I am so proud and honored to be associated with this masterpiece of writing, and this incredible production, and I am so grateful to be a part of this community.
Joel Grey
Lifetime Acheivement
Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome! My daughter, my beauty, my sweetness, 7 pounds, 11 ounces, no more. Thank you, darling. You know, parents always have an idea for their children. Plans. Which I suppose is how I ended up here.
My parents, my mom and dad, always wanted me to be on the stage. My mom took me to the theatre when I was 9. We went to the Cleveland Playhouse. It was a matinee. I still remember sitting there in the audience mesmerized, hypnotized, thrilled to the bone, and I still remember what I said to my mom that day: I wanna do that.
Lucky for me, I had a dad who was already a comedian and a success… the great yiddish comedian Mickey Katz. My dad never pushed me. He simply lead by example. And I must also admit that it’s a strange feeling to go from being the eager kid, which I was until yesterday, to being honored with my great great friend and collaborator John Kander, who is even slightly… elder than I am. Being recognized by the theatre community is such a gift because it has always been, next to my children, my greatest, most enduring love. What that 9 year old boy at the Cleveland Playhouse was seeking more than anything was a place to fit in, to be accepted.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the work. I love the words. I love the applause. Oh my God, I love the applause. But it’s ultimately people, the community, all of you, who have made this whole ride more magnificent than even I could have imagined. So thank you. Auf wiedersehen! A bientot! Good night.
Brandon Uranowitz, Leopoldstadt
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
My imposter syndrome is on fire. Thank you to The Wing, to the Broadway League, I am just astounded to be in the company of these incredible actors in my category. Jordan, Ain’t No Mo’ and your performance ripped me open, you are a superstar. Thank you Tom Stoppard for writing a play about Jewish identity and antisemitism and the false promise of assimilation with the nuances and the complexities that are contradictions that they deserve. My ancestors, many of whom did not make it out of Poland, also thank you. Thank you Patrick Marber, Sonia Freedman, and Ray Furman for the opportunity of a lifetime. I can’t believe this is happening.
To the most astonishing ensemble of actors, you have made me a better actor and a better person, I don’t do any of this alone, we are an ensemble and I share this with you. Our stage managers and crew, especially my dresser Billy, you keep me alive, I love you so much. Leopoldstadt above all else is a play about family and I am nothing within mine. Zack, you are home to me and I love you. My sister, Michelle, my best friend, and my parents who are here tonight. The only thing I have ever wanted in this life is to be able to repay you for the sacrifices you have made for me, but I work in the theatre, so I can’t do that. But maybe this little trophy helps in some way to do that, you can keep it at your house.
Finally, I just want to say this one thing, to anyone who is watching who is a parent, if your child tells you who they are, believe them, protect, celebrate, and honor that truth because an authentic life is a limitless life. The only reason I am standing here is because my parents did that for me growing up. They stood beside me, and they believed me when I said who I am. So, thank you , I love you all so much, this is crazy, thank you.
Bonnie Milligan, Kimberly Akimbo
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
I made CliffsNotes because I thought I’d emotionally black out. I probably am right now.
Thank you God. Thank you for this. And mostly thank you for this because I don’t know that my mom would have made a pretty good face of happiness for others. My category is glorious.
It’s such a gift to do Kimberly Akimbo. David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori have written such a incredible gift that came to me very closely after my father died. And It has helped me through my grief in so many ways. And so I thank you for that.
Going back to everyone involved with it. Neil Pepe and the atlantic, giving me an extension on my audition when I didn’t think I could make it. The creative team for dealing with this grieving, fragile human, Jessica Stone, Danny Meford, and our beautiful, beautiful Darius Barnes, who is not with us anymore, but whose heart and soul is in every piece of Kimberly Akimbo.
David Stone, LaChanze, Aaron Glick. Everyone involved onstage and off. We have the best crew. The best front of house. Thank you everyone. Our band is incredible.
And let’s go back to my family, my mom and my brother are here with me and they have always loved me and embraced this insane life, and including my dad. My voice is my dad’s voice, so I get to bring him to Broadway 8 times a week. My grandma in heaven who would take me to musical theatre camp and support me in every way she possibly could. There are so many people that are up there probably, hopefully, up there celebrating. My amazing agent Erin, who always believed in me and thought I was a star, so thank you for believing in that. Andrew, casting agent.
Village of support, this is what’s important, because this is what’s going to America. I want to tell everybody that doesn’t maybe look like what the world is telling you you should look like Whether you’re not pretty enough, you’re not thin enough, your identity is not right, who you love isn’t right. Well that doesn’t matter because guess what, it’s right and you belong somewhere. Thank you to the American Theatre Wing.
Patrick Marber, Leopoldstadt
Best Direction of a Play
I hate to complain, but did you notice how when the actors names were mentioned for their prizes, the little camera went to them, and they smiled, and they said, hello mom, and they got a little private moment of glory? Not so the directors. No one wants to see our ugly faces, not even the director of this show. The directors, we’re sat there at the back under the overhang, you are beautiful people, I love you all.
We directors, we belong in the dark, we belong backstage, they made the right decision. Thank you Sonia Freidman for being the greatest of producers. And thank you to everyone involved in Leopoldstadt, I’m thrilled to win this prize, thank you. Thank you Tom Stoppard, I can see you there beaming at me and that’s a thrilling sight. You were my hero when I was growing up, my inspiration when I decided to try to become a playwright, my great colleague when I started directing in plays, and now I think my beloved friend, and still my hero. Thank you Tom, you wrote a beautiful play.
Michael Arden, Parade
Best Direction of a Musical
Parade tells the story of a life that was cut short at the belief that one group of people is more or less valuable than another, and that they might be more deserving of justice. This is the belief that is the core of anti-semitism, of white supremacy, of homophobia, of transphobia, and intolerance of any kind. We must come together. We must battle this. It is so so important. Or else we are doomed to repeat the horrors of our history.
And to our beautiful, trans, non-binary, queer youth, know that your queerness is what makes you beautiful and powerful, and everyone in this room sees you, needs you, and we will fight alongside of you, and we will win.
Growing up, I was called the F-word more times than I can remember, and now I’m a f– with a Tony.
So, keep raising your voices, my friends. Keep loving and uplifting each other, standing up against intolerance any time you see it. And vote every chance you get.
And to my family and friends and to my colleges. And to Andy and Jay, thank you, I love you, I can’t wait to come home to you.
Miriam Silverman, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Wow, I am overwhelmed. This is for my mom, whom I miss beyond expression. She taught me to live life with love, conviction, compassion, radicalism and activism. This is also for my dad who is up there somewhere, hi Dad! And he brought me to the theatre as a little girl and got me hooked on this business, and he’s also the one who told me that day in the ICU that I should stick with this play no matter what, even if I wanted to quit, knowing how much it meant to me.
Lorraine Hansberry was a visionary and a genius, and it is a divine honor to get to speak her words every night. We all know the transformational power of theatre, that it can be a balm to commune with one another every night, and I have never felt that more tangibly. I have to thank everybody who has been a part of this along the way to bringing Sidney Brustein home to Broadway. Everyone at the Goodman, everyone at BAM, and everybody at the James Earl Jones who keep me alive every night. My dear husband Adam whom I would not have survived the last few months or years without.
To Stella and Henry my beautiful children who are my source of joy. To my reps, to Joi Gresham, to our fearless producers, to Annie Kauffman, my brilliant director, you believed in me and saw me, and brought me along for this ride. I have to thank everybody, my most beautiful cast, my crew, everybody. We are a staunchly pro-union household. I have to say my parents raised me to believe in the power of labor, and workers being compensated, and treated fairly, and I stand with the WGA in solidarity, thank you very much.
Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog
Best Revival of a Play
Yes, yes, yes! Yes, yes.. Look at what the spirit can do, look at what the spirit can do. This means a whole lot to a whole lot of people. I want to thank, first and foremost, my brother Kenny Leon, who directed this play like the genius that he is. I also want to give thanks to Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Corey Hawkins–they played every night like there was no tomorrow. They showed up living large in a world that often does not want the likes of us living at all.
I’m gonna thank our brilliant producers, David Stone, LaChanze, Debra Martin Chase, Rashad Chambers, Marc Platt. I want to thak The Shuberts for the beautiful Golden Theater. This time around we’re golden!
I want to thank my family from home, my husband Christian, our son Durham. My mom and sister in Syracuse, hello! Please wrap–my family at The Public Theater! Theatre is the great cure. Thank you for acknowleging our contribution. Thank you.
Alex Newell, Shucked
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
I’m not going to hold y’all cause it’s hot in here. I have wanted this my entire life. And I thank each and every one of you in this room right now. And mommy, I love you, thank you for believing in me, thank you for loving me unconditionally. Thank you for teaching me what strength is. To my entire building and cast and crew of Shucked, you are my rock, I love you all. Thank you for seeing me, Broadway. I should not be up here as a queer, nonbinary, fat, black, lil baby from Massachusetts. And to anyone that thinks that they can’t do it, I am going to look you dead in your face that you can do anything you put your mind to.
David Lindsay-Abaire, Kimberly Akimbo
Best Book of a Musical
Thank you to the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. I want to first say what an honor it is to be in a category with all of these amazing writers and also how special it is that we’re all here tonight supporting the theatre community, which we all adore so much. And that tomorrow we’re all going to be on the picket lines supporting the beloved other industry, TV and Film. Please support the WGA. We just want to be treated fairly. Thank you so much.
I want to thank my Kimberly Akimbo family, in particular David Stone and LaChanze, the producers. The amazing cast and crew, and I won’t name everybody that we named earlier, just to say these are the most astounding group of collaborators anyone could work for–or with. Sometimes for.
I want to thank my family, my sons Cooper and Nicholas, my sister Janet. My wife Chris, whose heart and breath and fingerprints are on every word that I write.
And I want to thank my parents, who are no longer with us, but whose good intentions, and bad habits, and hopes and fears, and weird thoughts, and strange bits, and broken parts, all got funneled into me to make me the writer that I am.
Parade
Best Revival of a Musical
Producer Greg Nobile: Thank you to the Tony Awards and the American Theatre Wing for this incredible honor. This was an extraordinary year of revivals on Broadway and we are so happy to be in such extraordinary company. On behalf of Seaview and ATG, we want to thank Michael Arden, Tony Award-winner for his extraordinary leadership.
Producer Kristin Caskey: We want to thank City Center and Jenny Gersten who entrusted us with this stunning production and was a great collaborator each and every day. This incredible company, this cast led by the incomparable Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, who eight times a week bring audiences to their feet.
Producer Greg Nobile: There’s 120 people in midtown right now celebrating the success, we represent, shockingly, only a small handful of them.
Producer Kristin Caskey: To The Shuberts, thank you for our beautiful home, and most importantly, none of us would be here tonight if it wasn’t for the trust and generosity of these two creative geniuses, Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown.
Alfred Uhry: Jason and I were here 25 years ago, and won for Parade, and unbelievably, here we are again! We are here this time because of a remarkable company of professionals onstage and offstage. Ben, and Micaela, and there on, wonderful people like Justin, and Tom, they are off stage, they are all miraculous, and we will thank you forever.
J. Harrison Ghee, Some Like It Hot
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Thank you, thank you, thank you. My mother raised me to understand that my gifts that god gave me were not about me. To use them to be effective in the world. To help someone else’s journey. So thank you for teaching me how to live, how to love, how to give. For every trans, non-binary, gender non-confirming human who ever was told you couldn’t be seen, this is for you.
Thank you to Casey Nicholaw, thank you to our producers, thank you to Marc and Scott, thank you to Amber and Matthew for letting me lead. For letting me bring myself to the work. For letting me be representation. For letting lives be seen. Thank you for the humanity. Thank you for my incredible company who raise me up every single day, who love me, support me, and help me do the work that I do and we do it together.
And as we say in the show, “Some like it hot, and that ain’t bad,” and honey, that’s the gospel according to J.
Jodie Comer, Prima Facie
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Sorry I’m so overwhelmed. Prima Facie, Tessa Ensler, this woman in this play has been my greatest teacher, and I have to thank Suzie Miller for that, who wrote this magnificent piece, for without her my performance would not be here. So, this feels just as much Suzie’s as it is mine. I want to thank Justin Martin, my director, for his relentless pursuit for discovery, for instilling me a trust within myself, and constantly reminding me to trust myself. To James Bierman our wonderful producer who can’t be here, and we’re all devastated, which is a testament to the man he is, and the producer that he is.
To the entire crew and team at the Golden Theatre, to the stage management, to Diane, to Georgia, for making that backstage a home, for dancing the nerves out with me behind the that curtain before I go onstage. To my amazing agent, for always listening and encouraging me to follow my heart. To my gorgeous brother who is with me, to my family and friends, who I feel like I’ve been so absent in their lives for the past year, I love you. And to every person who feels represented by Tessa, this has been my greatest honor, and it continues to be, there’s three weeks left! And to the Theatre Wing, thank you so much. Thank you.
Leopoldstadt
Author: Tom Stoppard
Best Play
Sonia Friedman: Thank you so much to the American Theatre Wing and the League for this extraordinary honor. To be nominated alongside such exceptional work and to be a part of a Broadway season where there are 18 new plays is something we should all be proud of and must never take for granted. Thank you, Tom. Where are you? Thank you, Tom for trusting me with your most personal masterwork of identity, loss, family, survival, and endurance. Thank you to the co-producers, the investors, all of whom make this possible. You allow us to do this bold, big new work. Thank you to Patrick Marber, the creative team, the associates, Ros Brooke-Taylor, the SFP team, and I’m going to hand you over to Tom.
Tom Stoppard: I feel very proud and grateful. Thank you so much. But listen, you know, I actually won a Tony Award in 1968, so I know about not having a script. I’m full of–I’m teeming with emotions, which a chatbox wouldn’t begin to understand. Naturally, they include gratitude and pride in the Leopold ensemble. Sonia works harder than anybody else. Patrick, I adore, did an impeccable job directing this, and here we all are. I’m very pleased for us, and for you all.
I should mention, if I may, that during those 55 years, I have witnessed the theatre writer getting progressively devalued in the food chain. It’s just something I thought I’d mention. But here we are. I find this strange because writers are the sharp end of the inverted pyramid, and without a script, with the possible exception of ballet and arts evenings–award evenings, without a script, we’re all basically flummoxed.
And finally I would just like to say thank you to a member of the audience who feels I’m always right, and that’s my beloved wife Sabrina. Thank you so much.
Victoria Clark, Kimberly Akimbo
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Thank you so much. First of all, I want to celebrate the performances of Micaela and Sara and Annaleigh and Lorna, you guys have inspired me so much and the entire world, so thank you so much for your work. Secondly, we are nothing without our writers, and I support the WGA in their struggle for the contract they deserve. Thank Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire for creating Kimberly Levaco, the death-defying role of a lifetime. I was so sure I knew who I was and who I wasn’t, and you proved me completely wrong. To collaborate with you, Jessica Stone, Danny Medford, Chris Fenwick is more joy than my wildest imagining. This award belongs to every person in the Booth Theatre, our designers, company managers, band, understudies, stage managers, ushers, and crew. In particular Amanda Zane and Eric Miralles who push me on stage with the right costumes, wigs, props, and tiny ziplock bags full of Ricolas.
To the astonishing cast, Allie, Steve, Olivia, Fernell Michael, Nina, Bonnie, and Justin, you are my roots, and my heart. I can’t wait to see your gorgeous careers unfold, but of course by the time you’re my age, I’ll be dead, sadly. Thanks to David Stone, LaChanze, our producers, the GMs at 321, and my team, Brian Davidson, Danielle Thomas, James Adams, David Berlin, and Judy Katz.
To my superhero husband, Tom, my son, T.L, and my dear friends, I love you so much. I dedicate this to my mom, Lorraine, who died four years ago, she is the reason I fell in love with theatre. She always said her most inspiring work happened after she turned 60, she didn’t believe in limits, and neither should we. Thank you.
Sean Hayes, Good Night, Oscar
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
By the way, terrible blocking, we should be facing this way. But anyway… Oh my God, this has gotta be the first time an Oscar won a Tony. But I wanna thank–I’m shaking. I can’t believe…this is so surreal. First of all, my husband, Scotty. It’s Scotty, right? Yeah. I never can get it right. You are my purpose every single day of my life. And the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League for for putting me in the same category as Corey and Yahya and Stephen and Wendell. You guys are just unbelievably talented. Brilliant actors. Unbelievable.
Beth Williams–we did it! Beth Williams, Barbara Whitman, Mindy Rich, Frank Marshall, all of the producers, thank you for believing in me and it. And half of my performance… by the way the cast and the crew I love you guys so much, we get to laugh so hard backstage. Half of my performance, I owe to Lisa Peterson, the director. She’s phenomenal. And the other half to the greatest playwright ever Doug Wright. I’m only standing here because of you, Doug, because of the words you wrote for me, for this part you created for me. It’s a life changer for me.
And finally I’d like to acknowledge Oscar Levant, whose wit and irascibility and virtuosity is not only inspirational, but a true original. And thank you Oscar Levant wherever you are. Thank you so much.
Kimberly Akimbo
Best Musical
Producer David Stone: Thank you. We are so grateful to the League, the Wing, and all of you for this acknowledgement. We are also grateful to be part of a theatre community in which writers own their own work, and are at the very center of everything that we do. We are grateful to our brilliant director, Jessica Stone, our tireless choreographer, Danny Medford, our amazing design team, management, and the funnest, most soulful cast I’ve ever worked with. But mostly we are grateful to our writers, David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori, who have essentially written a magic trick; a musical comedy about the fragility of life that is so healing, and so profoundly joyous that it is almost impossible. On a personal note, I would like to express my gratitude to my mother, who inspired me and encouraged all of my crazy dreams. Like Kimberly Levaco, she lived every moment of her life fully, and completely, and I wish that for us all. Thank you so much.
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