Razzle dazzle returned to Broadway for the Tony Awards 2022.
The much-heralded “A Strange Loop” landed the top award for Best Musical, while Best Play went to the big banking drama and British import “The Lehman Trilogy.”
Of note: Multi-hyphenate Jennifer Hudson, a co-producer on “A Strange Loop,” reached rare EGOT status with that show’s win. The 40-year-old performer previously won a 2021 Daytime Emmy for “Baba Yaga,” two Grammy Awards (in 2017 and 2015) and a 2007 Oscar for her role in the film “Dreamgirls.” She became one of only 17 artists who can claim that title.
Joaquina Kalukango, who earlier wowed the Tony Awards audience with a rousing, tear-filled performance with the company of “Paradise Square,” nabbed the trophy for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical. Myles Frost, meanwhile, landed his first Tony nomination and win for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical with the Michael Jackson story “MJ.”
Theater fave and eight-time nominee Patti LuPone won her third Tony Award — this time for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, for “Company,” which also won for Best Revival of a Musical.
In her acceptance speech, LuPone noted that she started pondering the revival way back in 2018 and expressed relief for the theater community somehow making it through the “endless and vulnerable lockdown” started by the coronavirus pandemic. LuPone, 73, specifically offered “huge gratitude” to both Broadway understudies and “COVID safety people.”
After the coronavirus pandemic pushed the 2021 ceremony to the Winter Garden Theatre last fall, the red carpet and glittery statuettes were at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
Meanwhile, the Tonys bestowed Best Revival of a Play on “Take Me Out” — which featured some steamy, full-frontal nudity that shone a particular spotlight on its 40-year-old star, Jesse Williams.
Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster’s big, high-profile revival of “The Music Man,” however, was shut out, despite six nominations.
Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”) hosted the 75th main ceremony on CBS.
“A Strange Loop” led the nominations with 11 total, while the Michael Jackson musical “MJ” and the play “Paradise Square” each had 10 nods. “Company” and “The Lehman Trilogy” follow with nine and eight nods, respectively, while “for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf” garnered five.
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See below for the complete list of winners.