New York - The Tony Awards sank deep into underworld Sunday
as "Hadestown" took home a leading eight statues and made Broadway
history as the first production written and directed by women to win best
musical.
"The Ferryman" picked up four awards including best play, but it was
Anais Mitchell's folk-operatic reimagining of the Orpheus and
Eurydice myth that led the night. Mitchell took home the Tony for
score, while Rachel Chavkin, the lone woman in her category, won for
direction of a musical.
"It's about keeping faith when you are made to feel alone, and that
is how the power structures try to maintain control - by trying to
make you feel like you're walking in the darkness, even when your
partner is right behind you," she said, holding back tears. Chavkin
called for more inclusion among Broadway's ranks of stage directors
and critics, adding: "There are so many women who are ready to go,
there are so many artists of color who are ready to go. ... It is a
failure of imagination by a field whose job it is to imagine how the
world could be."
Ali Stroker made history as the first performer who uses a wheelchair
to win a Tony, taking home honors for featured actress in the
reimagining of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" - which also took
home the prize for musical revival.
"This award is for every kid who is watching tonight, who has a
limitation or a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves
represented in this arena," Stroker said after a standing ovation.
The cast and crew of "Hadestown" accept the award for Best Musical. Picture: Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Despite speculation that Tonys producers would build a ramp from the
Radio City Music Hall audience area to the stage for Stroker, the
actress was positioned offstage when her category was announced. She
rolled to the stage to give her acceptance speech, then headed to the
media room where she said she hoped theater owners and producers
would look into making their backstages more accessible for
performers with disabilities.
Broadway veteran and sentimental favorite Andre De Shields, 73, won
his first Tony for his featured performance in "Hadestown."
Channeling his wise and godly character Hermes, the actor shared
three pieces of advice in his acceptance speech: "One, surround
yourself with people whose eyes light up when they see you coming.
Two, slowly is the fastest way to get to where you want to be. And
three, the top of one mountain is the bottom of the next, so keep
climbing."
"Network" star Bryan Cranston beat Jeff Daniels and Adam Driver,
among others, to win lead actor in a play.
"Finally, a straight old white man gets a break!" joked Cranston in
his acceptance speech.
He dedicated his win "to all the real journalists around the world,
in the print media and also broadcast media, who are actually in the
line of fire in pursuit of the truth. The media is not the enemy of
the people. Demagoguery is the enemy of the people."
In the best play race, Jez Butterworth'sIreland-set epic "The
Ferryman" beat out Heidi Schreck's dark horse "What the Constitution
Means to Me," which ended the night empty-handed.
"The Ferryman" also picked up the award for direction. Sam Mendes,
who is filming the next James Bond movie, shared his acceptance
remarks via email: "It's a little bit bonkers trying to make theater
on Broadway - to be dealing with something so fragile in such a
rough-and-tumble environment," he said. "But when it works, it's like
nowhere else in the world."
The star-studded staging of "The Boys in the Band," which producer
Ryan Murphy is adapting for Netflix, won the award for play revival.
"I remember being a very, very young guy - 6 or 7, seeing 'Boys in
the Band' on television - and it was the only thing that I had, the
only group of gay men I had ever seen," he told reporters backstage.
"I'm just excited about the evolution of that idea and bringing it to
a new audience."
Elaine May scored a victory for lead actress for her performance in
"The Waverly Garden," beating a packed field that included Annette
Bening, Janet McTeer and Laurie Metcalf. "Ink" actor Bertie Carvel
and "To Kill a Mockingbird" actress Celia Keenan-Bolger won for their
featured performances.
James Corden, hosting the Tonys for the second time, sprinkled in
crowd-pleasing pokes at how annoying it is when phones ring during
shows, how expensive Broadway tickets have become and how low the
industry's paychecks and the CBS telecast's ratings tend to be.
Performances are the center of any Tonys telecast, which doubles as a
three-hour commercial for current Broadway offerings. Highlights this
year included a hit parade by the cast of the jukebox musical "Ain't
Too Proud," who showcased a bit of the Temptations catalog and Sergio
Trujillo's Tony-winning choreography; a spirited performance of
"Believe" from "The Cher Show," spotlighting a slew of Bob Mackie's
Tony-winning costumes; and a "Tootsie" musical performance by lead
actor Tony winner Santino Fontana, which featured lines from Robert
Horn's Tony-winning book and a skilled quick-change for Fontana into
the sparkling red gown made famous from the 1982 Dustin Hoffman
movie.
The cast of "The Prom" drove home the show's themes of acceptance and
inclusion with a same-sex kiss.
"When you love someone, you kiss them - it's not a big deal," actress
Caitlin Kinnunen told the Los Angeles Times before onscreen moment.
"Yes, there's always backlash from the people who think it's wrong
and unacceptable, but there's also always 10 times the amount of
people who say, 'Thank you, we feel seen and represented; this should
be the norm.' It's been amazing the amount of love and support we
get."