Tony Awards 2023: The 5 biggest talking points
Ariana DeBose hosted night, which saw big wins for non-binary representation and British shows
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Broadway’s biggest night took place on Sunday (11 June), as the 2023 Tony Awards celebrated the best of New York theatre.
The annual ceremony has recognised the biggest achievements in Broadway theatre since 1947.
This year’s Tony Awards took place at New York’s United Palace, led by Oscar-winning performer Ariana DeBose.
The new musical Some Like It Hot, based on the 1959 feature film of the same name, led the pack with 13 nominations. In the plays category, Ain’t No Mo’, A Doll’s House, and Leopoldstadt were the most nominated, with six nods apiece.
The two biggest awards on the night went to Leopoldstadt for Best New Play, while Kimberly Akimbo was named Best New Musical.
Throughout the night, the audience enjoyed performances from the Tony-nominated casts of Camelot, Into the Woods, & Juliet, Kimberly Akimbo, New York, New York, Parade, Shucked, Some Like It Hot and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Lea Michele also returned to perform with the cast of Funny Girl.
You can read the full list of winners here.
Brit shows win big
Three years after it first opened in London’s West End, Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt took home one of the night’s biggest awards for Best New Play.
The epic production also won for Best Director of a Play for Patrick Marber, Best Featured Actor in a Play for Brandon Uranowitz, and Best Costume Design of a Play for Brigitte Reiffenstuel.
Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie, which also began life in London, took home one of its four nominations, while the Broadway production of Life of Pi won in three design categories.
Ariana DeBose goes off script
Host Ariana DeBose may not have achieved a moment quite as viral as her Bafta rap and “Angela Bassett did the thing”, the actor still made a statement as she opened Sunday’s show.
With the Tony Awards impacted by the ongoing writers’ strike in the US, the West Side Story star opened the show from inside her dressing room, holding a binder labelled “script” filled with blank pages.
In her following speech, DeBose explained that there was a “good reason” for the blank script, saying: “Our siblings over at the WGA [Writers Guild of America] are currently on strike in pursuit of a fair deal – and how many of us know what that is?”
While striking members of the Writers Guild of America agreed not to picket the awards show, its writers were not permitted to work on the broadcast as part of the strike.
Jodie Comer declares Prima Facie role her “greatest honour”
Just days after she was forced to bring a Broadway performance to an end due to poor air quality in New York, Brit actor Jodie Comer took home her first Tony.
The Killing Eve star received the award for her role in one-woman sexual assault drama Prima Facie, beating fierce competition from Jessica Chastain, Audra McDonald and Jessica Hecht.
Speaking to the crowd about her Broadway debut, Comer said: “This has been my greatest honour, and it continues to be these three weeks left.”
The actor, who hails from Liverpool, also won the Best Actress in a Play award at the Oliviers earlier this year for the London production.
You can read The Independent’s review of Prima Facie here.
Lea Michele gets her Funny Girl flowers
Thirteen years after Lea Michele first performed “Don’t Rain on My Parade” at the Tony Awards as part of the Glee cast, the actor returned to the stage.
This time, however, she was there in the role of Funny Girl’s Fanny Brice, after taking over the role from Beanie Feldstein in the Broadway production this year.
While Michele wasn’t eligible in this year’s Tonys – the show debuted on Broadway last year, when it picked up just one nomination – she performed once again at the 2023 ceremony, in a moment seen as symbolic for the actor.
Non-binary actors make history
It was a historic night for the LGBT+ community, as both Alex Newell and J Harrison Ghee became the first openly non-binary actors to win Tony Awards.
Newell, who appears in the Broadway musical Shucked, took home the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical.
In their speech, Newell told the audience: “Thank you for seeing me, Broadway. I should not be up here as a queer non-binary, fat, Black lil baby from Massachusetts.”
Ghee, meanwhile, won the gong for Best Lead Actor in a Musical for their portrayal of a gender-questioning musician in Some Like It Hot.
“For every trans, non-binary, gender nonconforming human who was ever told you couldn’t be seen, this is for you,” they said in their acceptance speech.
How to watch the Tony Awards
This year’s Tonys will kick off at 8pm ET at New York’s United Palace.
Viewers in the US will be able to watch the ceremony as it happens on CBS and Paramount Plus.
Isobel Lewis has the full details of how to enjoy the awards from afar:
Everything you need to know about the 2023 Tony Awards
British exports ‘Prima Facie’, ‘Leopoldstadt’ and ‘& Juliet’ are among the nominees
This year’s nominations – in full
Funny Girl star Lea Michele and 2022 Lead Actor in a Musical winner Myles Frost announced the nominees in a ceremony on Tuesday 2 May.
New musical Some Like it Hot leads the pack with 13 nominations. For the plays, it’s currently a three-way tie between Ain’t No Mo’, A Doll’s House and Leopoldstadt, with six nominations each.
Here’s the full list of nominees:
See the full list of nominations for this year’s Tony Awards
Find out who’s vying for the top theatre prizes at the 76th edition of the event
How is the writers’ strike affecting the Tony Awards?
Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have been on strike since Tuesday 2 May, with more than 11,500 writers across film, television and other entertainment forms downing pens until their terms are met by Hollywood executives.
This means that, in contrast to other years, no writers in the union were on hand to write a script for tonight’s show.
Lead host Ariana DeBose, and other presenters for the night, will be forced to use their improvisational skills to entertain the viewers and keep the show moving, with no scripted teleprompter.
At one point, the show itself was up in the air, before the WGA confirmed that they would not be picketing at the ceremony.
Who and what won at last year’s Tonys?
For the 2022 season, 29 of the 34 productions on Broadway stages received nominations.
Michael R Jackson’s A Strange Loop won Best Musical, while Stefano Massini’s The Lehman Trilogy bagged the coveted award for Best Play.
In terms of individual performers, Myles Frost, Joaquina Kalukango, Deirdre O’Connell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Phylicia Rashad were among those to take home some of the night’s top acting prizes.
Here’s a look back at the full list of last year’s winners:
See the full list of winners at the Tony Awards 2022
Approximately 34 shows premiered on Broadway this season, out of which 29 received at least one Tony nomination
WATCH: Ariana DeBose performs from Andrew Garfield’s lap in 2022
How did Jodie Comer’s performance in Prima Facie go down in the UK?
Before its Broadway transfer, Prima Facie ran at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre from April to June 2022.
Killing Eve star Jodie Comer takes on the show alone as a lawyer who frequently defends rapists, but is forced to call her whole belief system into question when she is raped by a fellow lawyer.
The play has four nominations at tonight’s awards: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Jodie Comer), Best Sound Design, Best Lighting Design and Best Scenic Design for a Play.
Last year, The Independent gave the show four stars, with particular praise going to Comer’s performance.
Here’s Ava Wong Davies’ review in full:
Jodie Comer is extraordinary in the striking if tidy Prima Facie – review
In her West End debut, the ‘Killing Eve’ star is steely, agile and remarkable
WATCH: Alex Newell’s performance of ‘Independently Owned’ from Shucked
Alex Newell is nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for their portrayal of whiskey entrepreneur Lulu in the new Broadway musical, Shucked.
The former Glee actor makes history as the first non-binary performer to be nominated for a Tony Award.
Their performance of the song “Independently Owned” is frequently highlighted as a standout moment from the show and reliably receives standing ovations from the audience.
Watch the performance that continuously has crowds on their feet below.
The show must go on: Putting on a Tony Awards telecast during a writers' strike
Putting on a live telecast with no writers, no script and no rehearsal is no easy feat.
Due to the Writers Guild of America strike, no writers in the union were permitted to write material for this year’s Tony Awards.
Mark Kennedy looks into how the show will come together below:
WATCH: Ariana DeBose performs musical monologue at the Baftas
Effervescent performer Ariana DeBose will provide hosting duties for tonight’s show for the second year in a row.
Earlier this year, she created a viral moment with her musical monologue for the Baftas, in which she uttered the timeless words: “Angela Bassett did the thing.”
Here is a look back at the host’s unforgettable performance:
What does a Tony Award look like?
The Tony Award trophy consists of a spinnable medallion, with faces portraying an adaptation of the comedy and tragedy masks. It is mounted on a black base with a pewter swivel.
It stands at around 24cm tall (9.5 inches) and weighs 1.6kg (3.5 lbs).
Here’s Cynthia Nixon displaying hers proudly in 2006, after her Best Actress in a Play win for Rabbit Hole.
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