A night for Broadway to reclaim its groove
NEW YORK » Surely many in the audience were thinking it, but “Company” director Marianne Elliott said it most directly at Sunday’s Tony awards: In the devastating two years since the pandemic hit, it “felt at times that live theater was endangered.”
As in, the industry might never recover.
The exuberant ceremony Sunday night was designed to answer that unthinkable possibility with an emphatic “No” — to make clear that whatever the ongoing difficulties, Broadway is back, with verve and creativity, and it is here to stay. It just needs even more people filling the seats.
But if the ceremony was meant to recapture the razzle-dazzle of Broadway seasons past, marking the 75th anniversary of the Tonys with a dollop of nostalgia, it was also a celebration of groundbreaking work by a hugely diverse group of artists. The marquee award, best new musical, went to the highly innovative “A Strange Loop,” Michael R. Jackson’s 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner about a Black gay man writing a show about a Black gay man. “A Strange Loop” beat out crowd-pleasing fare like “Six: The Musical,” a pop reimagining of the six wives of Henry VIII, and “MJ,” about the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
The night was hosted by a supremely confident and versatile (and recent Oscar winner) Ariana DeBose, who declared at the beginning that Broadway had gotten its groove back.
But a quick glance around the room at Radio City Music Hall showed that challenges remain. While nominees and guests in the orchestra were maskless (having submitted COVID-19 tests), those in the balconies were all masked — including a group of COVID-19 safety managers being honored — just as Broadway theater audiences are still required to be. The somewhat jarring juxtaposition showed this is still by far not a “normal” Broadway season.
Some key moments:
Understudies get some love
With Broadway casts sometimes decimated by virus cases, hardworking understudies and swings have been recognized all season as saviors, and heralded by stars like Hugh Jackman, who has praised them as “superheroes.” Host DeBose noted that she herself was an understudy early in her career, and some winners also made sure to pay respect: “I bow to you,” said “MJ” director and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. Later in the show after a number from “Six,” DeBose made sure to mention that Mallory Maedke, the show’s dance captain and alternate, “was put into this number 12 hours ago,” drawing cheers from the crowd.