75th Tony Awards

75th Tony Awards
DateJune 12, 2022
VenueRadio City Music Hall
Hosted byAriana DeBose
Darren Criss and Julianne Hough (preshow)
Most awardsCompany and The Lehman Trilogy (5)
Most nominationsA Strange Loop (11)
Websitetonyawards.com
Television/radio coverage
NetworkCBS
Paramount+
Viewership3.9 million
Produced byRicky Kirshner
Glenn Weiss
Directed byGlenn Weiss
← 74th · Tony Awards · 76th →

The 75th Tony Awards were held on June 12, 2022, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2021–22 season. The ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with Ariana DeBose serving as host of the main ceremony, and Darren Criss and Julianne Hough co-hosting a streaming pre-show.

The most-awarded productions of the season were the new play The Lehman Trilogy, which won five awards, including Best Play, and the revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company, which also won five awards, including Best Revival of a Musical. The Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Strange Loop was the most-nominated show of the season, with 11 nominations, and won Best Musical, becoming the first Best Musical winner to win only two awards total since 42nd Street (1981).

With her nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in A Strange Loop, L Morgan Lee became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for a Tony.[1] Additionally, with her win as a lead producer of A Strange Loop, Jennifer Hudson became the 17th person to win Emmy, Grammy, Academy, and Tony awards in their entertainment career.[2]

Ceremony information

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Ariana DeBose hosted the ceremony.

Returning to its usual June scheduling, the ceremony's telecast was split between Paramount+ and CBS. Paramount+ streamed an hour-long pre-show, The Tony Awards: Act One, which was hosted by Darren Criss and Julianne Hough and featured "special performances" and the presentation of selected awards.[3] It was followed by the main ceremony telecast on CBS and Paramount+, which was hosted by Ariana DeBose. For the first time, the ceremony was televised live nationally.[4][5][6]

Presenters

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Act One:

Main Show:

Performances

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The following shows and performers performed on the ceremony's telecast:[7]

Act One:

Main Show:

Eligibility

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The Tony Awards eligibility cut-off date for the 2021–22 season was May 4, 2022 for all Broadway productions which meet all other eligibility requirements.[8] Nominations for the 2022 Tony Awards were announced by Adrienne Warren and Joshua Henry on May 9, 2022. They were initially going to be announced on May 3, but were extended a week to accommodate possible COVID-19 outbreaks.[9][10][11][12] A revival of West Side Story that opened on February 20, 2020 was considered ineligible for the 74th Tony Awards because too few nominators and voters had seen it before Broadway shut down on March 12, 2020 due to the pandemic, and it did not resume when Broadway reopened in September 2021.

34 shows were eligible. All eligible shows are below.[13]

Winners and nominees

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Simon Russell Beale, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play winner
Deirdre O'Connell, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play winner
Joaquina Kalukango, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical winner
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play winner
Phylicia Rashad, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play winner
Matt Doyle, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical winner
Patti LuPone, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical winner
Sam Mendes, Best Direction of a Play winner
Marianne Elliott, Best Direction of a Musical winner
Michael R. Jackson, Best Book of a Musical winner
Toby Marlow, Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre co-winner
Lucy Moss, Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre co-winner
Es Devlin, Best Scenic Design of a Play winner
Bunny Christie, Best Scenic Design of a Musical winner
Montana Levi Blanco, Best Costume Design of a Play winner
Jon Clark, Best Lighting Design of a Play winner
Natasha Katz, Best Lighting Design of a Musical winner
Mikhail Fiksel, Best Sound Design of a Play winner
Gareth Owen, Best Sound Design of a Musical winner
Christopher Wheeldon, Best Choreography winner
Simon Hale, Best Orchestrations winner

Winners are listed first, and are highlighted in boldface:[14]

‡ The award is presented to the producer(s) of the musical or play.

Productions with multiple nominations and awards

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Non-competitive awards

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Robert E. Wankel was awarded the Isabelle Stevenson Award for "his generosity and service to the welfare of our Broadway community, over the past four decades and, especially in the face of a global crisis."[15] The award for Excellence in Theatre Education will also be brought back this year.[16] The recipients of the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre include the Asian American Performers Action Coalition, Broadway for All, music copyist Emily Grishman, Feinstein's/54 Below, and United Scenic Artists (Local USA 829, IATSE).[17] On May 23, 2022, it was announced that Angela Lansbury would be receiving a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.[18] The Regional Tony Award was given to the Court Theatre.[19] James C. Nicola, retiring artistic director of the New York Theatre Workshop after 34 years, also received a Special Tony Award.[20]

Reception

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Reviews

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The ceremony received generally favorable reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the program received six positive and two negative reviews, for an approval rating of 75%.[21]

In Variety, Gordon Cox praised the opening number of the CBS telecast and DeBose's performance as host therein, singling out the performance as "hip and queer and sexy, and it satisfied the old-school avids as much as it made Broadway look like a place the cool kids might want to check out, too".[22] Jennifer Vanasco of NPR also praised DeBose, writing "Let Ariana DeBose host everything [...] She was funny and playful, strutting into the audience and sitting on Andrew Garfield's lap. She was poignant, coming to tears as she talked about her theater teacher mentor. She was honest, gently commenting on the racial disparities in the theater industry".[23] Writing for the Associated Press, Jocelyn Noveck called the telecast "exuberant" and said that it showed "Broadway is back, with verve and creativity, and it is here to stay. It just needs even more people filling the seats".[24]

Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post panned the show, describing it as "low-energy, poorly put-on", writing that DeBose's "songs and banter were forced and unfunny", and heavily criticizing the ceremony's tribute to Stephen Sondheim, which he deemed "far too modest [...] a total afterthought".[25]

Ratings

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The CBS telecast was watched by 3.86 million viewers in the United States, marking a 39% increase from the previous year's ceremony, the lowest-rated Tony Awards broadcast since viewership was measured. However, when compared to the 73rd Tony Awards in 2019, which were the last one before the 75th to run three hours and the last one before the COVID-19 pandemic, viewership declined 29% between 2019 and 2022.[26]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Moynihan, Caitlin (May 9, 2022). "L Morgan Lee Makes History as First Transgender Performer Nominated for a Tony Award". Broadway.com. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
  2. ^ Nordyke, Kimberly (June 12, 2022). "Jennifer Hudson EGOTs With Tony Win for Producing 'A Strange Loop'". Variety. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  3. ^ Evans, Greg (May 11, 2022). "Darren Criss & Julianne Hough To Host Tony Awards Pre-Show On Paramount+". Deadline. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  4. ^ Greg Evans (May 4, 2022). "Ariana DeBose To Host 2022 Tony Awards". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  5. ^ "The 75th Tony Awards to Air Coast to Coast on CBS, Sunday, June 12". Tony Awards. March 9, 2022. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  6. ^ "The Tony Awards to Return in June as a Live Coast-to-Coast, Two-Network Event". BroadwayWorld. March 9, 2022. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  7. ^ Putnam, Leah (June 13, 2022). "Watch All of This Year's Tony Awards Performances". Playbill. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  8. ^ "Rules and Regulations". Tony Awards. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
  9. ^ "Tony Awards Eligibility for 2022 – Part 1". Tony Awards. December 9, 2021. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  10. ^ "Tony Awards Eligibility for 2022 – Part 2". Tony Awards. March 18, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  11. ^ "Tony Awards Administration Committee Meets For Final Time To Determine Eligibility For the 2021-2022 Season". Tony Awards. May 5, 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  12. ^ Greg Evans (April 22, 2022). "Tony Award Nominations Announcement Delayed, Eligibility Window Extended Due to Broadway's Recent "Challenges"". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  13. ^ Russo, Gillia (March 11, 2022). "A Look at All the Broadway Shows Eligible for 2022 Tony Awards". New York Theatre Guide. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
  14. ^ Gans, Andrew (June 12, 2022). "2022 Tony Award Winners: A Strange Loop, The Lehman Trilogy, Company, Take Me Out Win Top Honors". Playbill. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  15. ^ Culwell-Block, Logan (April 28, 2022). "Robert E. Wankel to Be Honored with 2022 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award". Playbill. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
  16. ^ Culwell-Block, Logan (November 8, 2021). "Tony Awards Will Bring Back Excellence in Theatre Education Honor in 2022". Playbill. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
  17. ^ Culwell-Block, Logan (May 6, 2022). "Asian American Performers Action Coalition, Feinstein's/54 Below, More to Receive 2022 Tony Honors". Playbill. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  18. ^ Paulson, Michael (May 23, 2022). "Angela Lansbury Will Receive Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement". The New York Times. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  19. ^ "Court Theatre Receives 2022 Regional Theatre Tony Award". University of Chicago. May 18, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  20. ^ Arnott, Christopher (June 13, 2022). "The 2022 Tony Awards Showcased Plenty of Local Talent. Which Actors Have Performed in CT?". Hartford Courant. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  21. ^ "75th Tony Awards". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  22. ^ Cox, Gordon (June 13, 2022). "The Tony Awards Were So Good: 6 of the Most Memorable Moments from Broadway's Biggest Night". Variety. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  23. ^ Vanasco, Jennifer (June 13, 2022). "6 takeaways from the 2022 Tony Awards". NPR. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  24. ^ Noveck, Jocelyn (June 13, 2022). "Tony Moments: A night for Broadway to reclaim its groove". Associated Press. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  25. ^ Oleksinski, Johnny (June 12, 2022). "The lousy 2022 Tony Awards dissed Stephen Sondheim". New York Post. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  26. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (June 13, 2022). "Tony Awards Viewership Up From 2021, Down From Pre-Pandemic Levels". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
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