74th Tony Awards


The 74th Tony Awards were held on September 26, 2021, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2019–20 season. After being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the ceremony was held at the Winter Garden Theatre and was broadcast in two separate parts on CBS and Paramount+. Audra McDonald and Leslie Odom Jr. served as hosts.
The musical Jagged Little Pill led the nominations with 15, while the play with the most nominations was Slave Play, with 12. At the ceremony, Moulin Rouge! won ten awards, including Best Musical, becoming the production with the most wins of the season. The Old Vic production of A Christmas Carol won five awards, and The Inheritance won four, including Best Play. At 90 years old, Lois Smith became the oldest performer to win a Tony Award for acting, receiving the award for Featured Actress in a Play.

Background

Originally scheduled to be held on June 7, 2020, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and televised by CBS, the ceremony was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nominations were originally scheduled to be announced on April 28, 2020. Various receptions were scheduled to be held, including the Meet the Nominees Press reception and Tony Nominees luncheon. At the Tony Honors reception, the Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre award was to be presented. On March 25, 2020, it was announced that the ceremony and all associated events had been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. New York had ordered the closure of all Broadway theatres on March 12 due to restrictions on gatherings. The ceremony's broadcaster CBS aired a sing-along version of the film adaptation of Grease on the Tony Awards' originally-scheduled night.
On August 21, 2020, it was announced that the ceremony would be held virtually later in the year, with further details to be announced at a later date. No subsequent date in the year was ever set. The nominations were announced on October 15, 2020, by James Monroe Iglehart. Voting for the Tony Awards was held from March 1–15, 2021, and the ceremony was announced to be held in conjunction with the reopening of Broadway. Jagged Little Pill led the nominations with fifteen, and Slave Plays twelve nominations broke the record for most nominations for a non-musical play set by Angels in America at the 2018 ceremony.

Ceremony information

On May 26, 2021, it was announced that the ceremony would be held on September 26 of that year in a format that differed from previous years. Paramount+ first streamed a two-hour ceremony at 7:00 p.m. ET with presentations of the awards for individual categories. CBS then aired a two-hour primetime special, The Tony Awards Present: Broadway's Back!, presented as a concert to "celebrate the joy and magic of live theatre". The special included performances of "beloved classics" and the three Best Musical nominees, and the presentation of the awards for Best Musical, Best Revival of a Play, and Best Play. On September 13, Audra McDonald and Leslie Odom Jr. were announced as hosts of the Tony Awards ceremony and Broadway's Back! special respectively.
In explaining the decision to split the ceremony between two platforms, producers Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss said that allowed for a four-hour ceremony in total, as opposed to the typical three-hour limit imposed on a television-exclusive broadcast. Kirshner said that this also gave the chance to air complete acceptance speeches for winners in all categories, saying "In the past, a lot of these awards have been in a pre-show where they got a 10 second blurb on the air. Now they get their full award on the air."

Performances

Tony Awards

Source:
The official eligibility cut-off date for Broadway productions opening in the 2019–20 season was originally to have been April 23, 2020. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic cutting the 2019–20 theatre season short, on August 21, 2020, it was announced that only the 18 shows that opened before February 19, 2020, would be considered eligible. A revival of West Side Story that opened February 20, 2020 and the new musical Girl from the North Country, which opened March 5, 2020, were thus not considered eligible because too few nominators and voters saw them before Broadway shut down on March 12, 2020. This meant that for the first time since 1993, there was no award for Best Revival of a Musical given out, as there were no eligible productions. Girl From the North Country was nominated the following year.
;Original Plays
;Original Musicals
;Play Revivals
Special Tony Awards were given to the following:
The award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre was given to Graciela Daniele. Julie Halston received the Isabelle Stevenson Award.

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first, and are highlighted in boldface:
Best Play ‡Best Musical ‡

  • Moulin Rouge!
  • * Jagged Little Pill
  • * Tina
    • Best Revival of a Play ‡Best Book of a Musical
  • A Soldier's Play
  • *Betrayal
  • *Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
  • Diablo Cody – Jagged Little Pill
  • *John Logan – Moulin Rouge!
  • *Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar, and Kees Prins – Tina
    • Tony [Award for Best Actor in a Play|Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play]Tony [Award for Best Actress in a Play|Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play]
  • Andrew Burnap – The Inheritance as Toby Darling
  • *Ian Barford – Linda Vista as Wheeler
  • *Jake Gyllenhaal – Sea Wall/A Life as Abe
  • *Tom Hiddleston – Betrayal as Robert
  • *Tom Sturridge – Sea Wall/A Life as Alex
  • *Blair Underwood – A Soldier's Play as Captain Richard Davenport
  • Mary-Louise Parker – The Sound Inside as Bella
  • *Joaquina Kalukango – Slave Play as Kaneisha
  • *Laura Linney – My Name Is Lucy Barton as Lucy Barton
  • *Audra McDonald – Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune as Frankie
    • Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a MusicalBest Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
  • Aaron Tveit – Moulin Rouge! as Christian
  • Adrienne Warren – Tina as Tina Turner
  • *Karen Olivo – Moulin Rouge! as Satine
  • *Elizabeth Stanley – Jagged Little Pill as Mary Jane "M.J." Healy
    • Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a PlayBest Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
  • David Alan Grier – A Soldier's Play as Sergeant Vernon C. Waters
  • *Ato Blankson-Wood – Slave Play as Gary
  • *James Cusati-Moyer – Slave Play as Dustin
  • *John Benjamin Hickey – The Inheritance as Henry Wilcox
  • *Paul Hilton – The Inheritance as Morgan/Walter Poole
  • Lois Smith – The Inheritance as Margaret
  • *Jane Alexander – Grand Horizons as Nancy
  • *Chalia La Tour – Slave Play as Teá
  • *Annie McNamara – Slave Play as Alana
  • *Cora Vander Broek – Linda Vista as Jules
    • Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a MusicalBest Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
  • Danny Burstein – Moulin Rouge! as Harold Zidler
  • *Derek Klena – Jagged Little Pill as Nicholas "Nick" Healy
  • *Sean Allan Krill – Jagged Little Pill as Steve Healy
  • *Sahr Ngaujah – Moulin Rouge! as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
  • *Daniel J. Watts – Tina as Ike Turner
  • Lauren Patten – Jagged Little Pill as Joanne "Jo" Taylor
  • *Kathryn Gallagher – Jagged Little Pill as Bella Fox
  • *Celia Rose Gooding – Jagged Little Pill as Mary Frances "Frankie" Healy
  • *Robyn Hurder – Moulin Rouge! as Nini
  • *Myra Lucretia Taylor – Tina as Gran Georgeanna
    • Best Direction of a PlayBest Direction of a Musical
  • Stephen Daldry – The Inheritance
  • *David Cromer – The Sound Inside
  • *Kenny Leon – A Soldier's Play
  • *Jamie Lloyd – Betrayal
  • *Robert O'Hara – Slave Play
  • Alex Timbers – Moulin Rouge!
  • *Phyllida Lloyd – Tina
  • *Diane Paulus – Jagged Little Pill
    • Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics Written for the Theatre)Best Choreography
  • Christopher Nightingale – A Christmas Carol
  • *Paul Englishby – The Inheritance
  • *Fitz Patton and Jason Michael Webb – The Rose Tattoo
  • *Lindsay Jones – Slave Play
  • *Daniel Kluger – The Sound Inside
  • Sonya Tayeh – Moulin Rouge!
  • *Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui – Jagged Little Pill
  • *Anthony Van Laast – Tina
    • Best Scenic Design in a PlayBest Scenic Design in a Musical
  • Rob Howell – A Christmas Carol
  • *Bob Crowley – The Inheritance
  • *Soutra Gilmour – Betrayal
  • *Derek McLane – A Soldier's Play
  • *Clint Ramos – Slave Play
  • Derek McLane – Moulin Rouge!
  • *Riccardo Hernández and Lucy MacKinnon – Jagged Little Pill
  • *Mark Thompson and Jeff Sugg – Tina
    • Tony Award for [Best Costume Design in a Play|Best Costume Design in a Play]Best Costume Design in a Musical
  • Rob Howell – A Christmas Carol
  • *Dede Ayite – Slave Play
  • *Dede Ayite – A Soldier's Play
  • *Bob Crowley – The Inheritance
  • *Clint Ramos – The Rose Tattoo
  • Catherine Zuber – Moulin Rouge!
  • *Emily Rebholz – Jagged Little Pill
  • *Mark Thompson – Tina
    • Best Lighting Design in a PlayBest Lighting Design in a Musical
  • Hugh Vanstone – A Christmas Carol
  • *Jiyoun Chang – Slave Play
  • *Jon Clark – The Inheritance
  • *Heather Gilbert – The Sound Inside
  • *Allen Lee Hughes – A Soldier's Play
  • Justin Townsend – Moulin Rouge!
  • *Bruno Poet – Tina
  • *Justin Townsend – Jagged Little Pill
    • Best Sound Design of a PlayBest Sound Design of a Musical
  • Simon Baker – A Christmas Carol
  • *Paul Arditti and Christopher Reid – The Inheritance
  • *Lindsay Jones – Slave Play
  • *Daniel Kluger – Sea Wall/A Life
  • *Daniel Kluger – The Sound Inside
  • Peter Hylenski – Moulin Rouge!
  • *Jonathan Deans – Jagged Little Pill
  • *Nevin Steinberg – Tina
    • Best Orchestrations-
  • Katie Kresek, Charlie Rosen, Matt Stine and Justin Levine – Moulin Rouge!
  • *Tom Kitt – Jagged Little Pill
  • *Ethan Popp – Tina
    		• -
    ‡ The award is presented to the producer of the musical or play.

    Productions with multiple nominations and awards

    NominationsProduction
    15Jagged Little Pill
    14Moulin Rouge!
    12Slave Play
    12Tina
    11The Inheritance
    7A Soldier's Play
    6The Sound Inside
    5A Christmas Carol
    4Betrayal
    4Sea Wall/A Life
    2Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
    2Grand Horizons
    2Linda Vista
    2The Rose Tattoo

    AwardsProduction
    10Moulin Rouge!
    5A Christmas Carol
    4The Inheritance
    2Jagged Little Pill
    2A Soldier's Play

    Reception

    Critical reviews

    Greg Evans of Deadline Hollywood called the show "truly excellent television", and praised the two-part format, writing "The no-nonsense presentation of award announcements and acceptance speeches was followed by a lively special that impressively showcased contemporary Broadway musicals on their home turfs and classic reunions that felt fresh and welcome." However, he criticized the program's emphasis on musicals, commenting, "the non-musical plays got unforgivably short shrift." In Variety, Clayton Davis praised it as "a sensational awards ceremony" and described the show as "a near flawless and detailed blueprint on how should assemble their future ceremonies to bring forth an inviting place for people of all backgrounds, and an impeccable pace to keep your attention." He also commended the show's tone, concluding, "The Tonys were pure, not shy about the times we were in — and they sent a signal of hope for our futures."
    Conversely, however, Tim Teeman of The Daily Beast dismissed the Broadway's Back! portion of the show as "a purely commercial exercise based on telling people who kind of like theater that Broadway was back, and needs their financial support" and accused the ceremony at large of sending "mixed messages" about its industry, contrasting calls for diversity from winners and presenters with Slave Play, a work which addresses racism as a central theme, failing to win a single award. He also criticized the decision to present the vast majority of awards on the Paramount+ livestream, instead of on the CBS telecast, writing "A Tonys-themed song and dance show may suit ratings-counters at the network But if you're going to show an awards show, show an awards show."

    Ratings

    The Broadway's Back! special received 2.8 million viewers during its CBS telecast, an approximate 50% decline in viewership from the 73rd Tony Awards in 2019. Rick Porter of The Hollywood Reporter said that the loss may have been attributable to certain mitigating factors, such as most awards being handed out during the Paramount+ portion of the program, and the ceremony taking place in September, as opposed to its usual June date, putting it in conflict with the fall television season.

    ''In Memoriam''

    performed the song The Impossible Dream (The Quest) from The musical Man Of La Mancha and Norm Lewis And
    Kelli O’Hara performed Somewhere from the musical West Side Story.