75th Tony Awards explained

75th Tony Awards
Date:June 12, 2022
Location:New York City, New York
Hosts:Ariana DeBose
Darren Criss and Julianne Hough (preshow)
Most Wins:Company and The Lehman Trilogy (5)
Most Nominations:A Strange Loop (11)
Network:CBS
Paramount+
Ratings:3.9 million
Producer:Ricky Kirshner
Glenn Weiss
Director:Glenn Weiss
Previous:74th
Main:Tony Awards
Next:76th
Venue:Radio City Music Hall

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

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

Act One:

Main Show:

Performances

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

Act One:

Main Show:

Eligibility

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]

Original plays
Original musicals
Play revivals
Musical revivals

Winners and nominees

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

width:50%" Best Playwidth:50%" Best Musical
Best Revival of a PlayBest Revival of a Musical
Best Actor in a PlayBest Actress in a Play
Best Actor in a MusicalBest Actress in a Musical
Best Featured Actor in a PlayBest Featured Actress in a Play
Best Featured Actor in a MusicalBest Featured Actress in a Musical
Best Direction of a PlayBest Direction of a Musical
Best Book of a MusicalBest Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Best Scenic Design of a PlayBest Scenic Design of a Musical
Best Costume Design of a PlayBest Costume Design of a Musical
Best Lighting Design of a PlayBest Lighting Design of a Musical
Best Sound Design of a PlayBest Sound Design of a Musical
Best ChoreographyBest Orchestrations

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

Productions with multiple nominations and awards

Productions with multiple nominations
NominationsProduction
11A Strange Loop
10MJ
Paradise Square
9Company
8The Lehman Trilogy
Six
7for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf
Girl from the North Country
6The Music Man
The Skin of Our Teeth
5Clyde's
Hangmen
Mr. Saturday Night
4American Buffalo
Flying Over Sunset
Take Me Out
Trouble in Mind
3Caroline, or Change
Dana H.
How I Learned to Drive
Macbeth
Skeleton Crew
Productions with multiple wins
AwardsProduction
5Company
The Lehman Trilogy
4MJ
2Dana H.
Six
A Strange Loop
Take Me Out

Non-competitive awards

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

Reviews

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

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

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Moynihan . Caitlin . May 9, 2022 . L Morgan Lee Makes History as First Transgender Performer Nominated for a Tony Award . May 9, 2022 . Broadway.com.
  2. Web site: Nordyke. Kimberly. Jennifer Hudson EGOTs With Tony Win for Producing 'A Strange Loop'. June 12, 2022. Variety. June 13, 2022.
  3. Web site: Evans . Greg . May 11, 2022 . Darren Criss & Julianne Hough To Host Tony Awards Pre-Show On Paramount+ . Deadline . May 11, 2022.
  4. Web site: Greg Evans . May 4, 2022 . Ariana DeBose To Host 2022 Tony Awards . May 4, 2022 . Deadline Hollywood.
  5. Web site: March 9, 2022 . The 75th Tony Awards to Air Coast to Coast on CBS, Sunday, June 12 . . March 12, 2022.
  6. Web site: March 9, 2022 . The Tony Awards to Return in June as a Live Coast-to-Coast, Two-Network Event . . March 12, 2022.
  7. News: Watch All of This Year's Tony Awards Performances. June 13, 2022. June 13, 2022. Playbill. Putnam. Leah.
  8. Web site: Rules and Regulations . . April 30, 2022.
  9. Web site: Tony Awards Eligibility for 2022 – Part 1 . . December 9, 2021 . December 9, 2021.
  10. Web site: Tony Awards Eligibility for 2022 – Part 2 . . March 18, 2022 . March 18, 2022.
  11. Web site: Tony Awards Administration Committee Meets For Final Time To Determine Eligibility For the 2021-2022 Season . . May 5, 2022 . May 5, 2022.
  12. Web site: Tony Award Nominations Announcement Delayed, Eligibility Window Extended Due to Broadway's Recent "Challenges" . . Greg Evans . April 22, 2022 . April 24, 2022.
  13. Web site: A Look at All the Broadway Shows Eligible for 2022 Tony Awards . March 11, 2022 . April 30, 2022 . Gillia . Russo . New York Theatre Guide.
  14. News: 2022 Tony Award Winners: A Strange Loop, The Lehman Trilogy, Company, Take Me Out Win Top Honors. Playbill. June 12, 2022. June 13, 2022. Gans. Andrew.
  15. Web site: Robert E. Wankel to Be Honored with 2022 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award . April 28, 2022 . April 29, 2022 . Logan . Culwell-Block . Playbill.
  16. Web site: Tony Awards Will Bring Back Excellence in Theatre Education Honor in 2022 . November 8, 2021 . April 29, 2022 . Logan . Culwell-Block . Playbill.
  17. Web site: Asian American Performers Action Coalition, Feinstein's/54 Below, More to Receive 2022 Tony Honors. Logan. Culwell-Block. Playbill. May 6, 2022. May 6, 2022.
  18. Web site: Angela Lansbury Will Receive Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. Michael. Paulson. The New York Times. May 23, 2022. May 23, 2022.
  19. Web site: Court Theatre Receives 2022 Regional Theatre Tony Award . June 14, 2022 . . May 18, 2022.
  20. Web site: The 2022 Tony Awards Showcased Plenty of Local Talent. Which Actors Have Performed in CT? . June 13, 2022 . June 14, 2022 . . Christopher . Arnott.
  21. tony_awards/s75. tv. 75th Tony Awards. June 13, 2022.
  22. News: The Tony Awards Were So Good: 6 of the Most Memorable Moments from Broadway's Biggest Night. Cox. Gordon. Variety. June 13, 2022. June 13, 2022.
  23. News: 6 takeaways from the 2022 Tony Awards. Vanasco. Jennifer. NPR. June 13, 2022. June 13, 2022.
  24. News: Tony Moments: A night for Broadway to reclaim its groove. Noveck. Jocelyn. June 13, 2022. June 13, 2022. Associated Press.
  25. News: The lousy 2022 Tony Awards dissed Stephen Sondheim. Oleksinski. Johnny. June 12, 2022. June 13, 2022. New York Post.
  26. News: Tony Awards Viewership Up From 2021, Down From Pre-Pandemic Levels. Deadline Hollywood. June 13, 2022. June 13, 2022. Andreeva. Nellie.