We all know what you’re most likely considering. It’s the Tony Awards—isn’t your complete factor queer? Just about. However that doesn’t imply we will tip our glittery prime hats to our favourite LGBTQ+ theatermakers in celebration of their accomplishments.
Theater queens took over Radio Metropolis Music Corridor for an epic evening of speeches and performances, and with a brand new wave of nominees, the purple carpet acquired the style jolt we had been hoping for. Was it as couture as the Oscars? Not fairly, however these eight-show-per-week contracts pay a fraction of a movie wage, so who’re we to guage?
As Mama Rose says, “Curtain up, mild the lights…”
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Cynthia Erivo hosts, however her dresser deserves an award
Cynthia Erivo has had every week, honies. Her new album, I Forgive You, dropped. Common Footage launched the primary trailer for Depraved: For Good. And in some way, Erivo discovered time to shut out a free concert at WorldPride Saturday evening earlier than dashing off to New York Metropolis for Tony Award internet hosting duties.
Erivo didn’t fake to be a comic (gone was the overly witty and choreographed opening quantity a la Neil Patrick Harris). However she did ship vocal gold and sufficient wardrobe modifications worthy of her personal vogue present.
In complete, Erivo wore 10 show-stopping outfits, together with what we predict was an Annie-inspired purple paillette and crystal overlay robe with a white satin collar and belt. GapStudio artistic director Zac Posen and Erivo’s stylist Jason Bolden co-designed the look. However the place was Sandy?
Cole Escola channels Bernadette Peters and wins Finest Actor
Escola’s Oh, Mary! received two awards: Finest Course of a Play (Sam Pinkleton) and Finest Efficiency by an Actor in a Main Position in a Play. Escola’s win marks the primary time a nonbinary actor has received the class. (In 2023, Alex Newell received Finest Efficiency by an Actor in a Featured Position in a Musical for Shucked, and J. Harrison Ghee received Finest Efficiency by an Actor in a Main Position in a Musical for Some Like It Scorching.)
Escola’s dry humorousness has dominated their Tony marketing campaign interviews, nevertheless it was obvious final evening how extremely moved the multi-hyphenate artist was by the popularity. Nevertheless, Escola did thank a latest Grindr date of their acceptance speech for a basic Cole second.
“For the Gaze” could be the gayest quantity in Broadway historical past
Viewers had been handled to performances from almost all of this 12 months’s nominated musicals. (Sadly, regardless of a petition, Jerry Mitchell’s BOOP! The Musical didn’t make the reduce.) However none was as fabulously queer as Dying Turns into Her‘s opening quantity, “For the Gaze.” The quantity, choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, options Madeline Ashton in her show-within-a-show, with a Liza Minnelli tribute, a number of fast costume modifications, and rainbow-clad refrain boys. It doesn’t get any extra Broadway or homosexual than that. Oh, aside from the ultimate tableau, however you’ll have to look at till the tip to seek out out.
Harvey Fierstein isn’t brief on phrases, nevertheless it’s been a lifetime coming
Fierstein already had 4 Tony Awards on his shelf. Quantity 5, the Particular Award for Lifetime Achievement, honored Fierstein’s 40-plus-year theatrical profession as a playwright, actor, and homosexual pressure to be reckoned with. His uncompromising embrace of his personal queerness has paved the way in which for a brand new technology of LGBTQ+ theatermakers. The popularity moved Fierstein to tears, as he recalled his life within the theater and thanked audiences for his or her assist.
We see you, Jinkx Monsoon!
Jinkx Monsoon made a splash a number of years again, moving into the long-running hit Chicago. (She additionally had a quick run in Off-Broadway’s Little Store of Horrors.) However this season supplied Monsoon the possibility to originate a job within the Broadway revival of Pirates! A Penanze Musical, co-starring David Hyde Pierce. Though the musical did not win any Tonys, it did afford us the possibility to see Monsoon enjoying a washboard dressed like a pirate wench.
Jonathan Groff retains his cool as Bobby Darin
Groff earned consecutive Tony Award nominations, profitable final 12 months for Merrily We Roll Alongside (and dropping this 12 months to Darren Criss in Possibly Joyful Ending). However the comfort prize wasn’t too shabby. We nonetheless witnessed Groff’s high-energy efficiency as Bobby Darrin in Simply in Time. The Tony efficiency was transient sufficient that Groff, recognized for his sweat-soaked and spitting efficiency type, stored the viewers dry, together with Keanu Reeves, whom he straddled throughout the tune.
Hue Park is single, and everybody seen
Possibly Joyful Ending, a musical about two retired Helperbots who discover a connection earlier than their batteries run out, was the massive winner, incomes six Tony Awards, together with Finest Musical. The homosexual (platonic) writing group of Will Aronson and Hue Park had loads of stage time, profitable Finest Authentic Rating and Finest Ebook of a Musical. (Director Michael Arden additionally received.) Park took the chance to let viewers know he’s single, and the working joke made it to the night’s closing moments when the musical took prime honors.
We’ve a sense Park’s social calendar could quickly be filling up.
Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins: the playwright of our technology
Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins, whose play Acceptable (starring Sarah Paulson) received final 12 months’s Tony for Finest Revival of a Play, was again this season with Function. The play, in regards to the unraveling of the affluent Jenkins household, received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and now the Tony for Finest Play.
Francis Jue will get his due
A revival of David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face acquired a lot of buzz due to star Daniel Dae Kim, however wouldn’t you understand there was some queer brilliance gluing that efficiency collectively, together with out director Leigh Silverman and overtly homosexual actor Francis Jue, whose Broadway profession dates again to 1988’s M. Butterfly starring B.D. Wong. Jue is a part of a wave of Tony winners of Asian descent this 12 months, together with Darren Criss, Hue Park, and Nicole Scherzinger.
Paul Tazewell retains turning lewks
Paul Tazewell higher nudge that Oscar for Depraved over just a few inches to make room for a Tony. The costume designer’s tenth Tony nomination and second win for Dying Turns into Her mark one other feather in his cap for a celebrated profession spanning greater than 30 years.
Queer adjoining moments
‘Hamilton’ reunites
Marking the manufacturing’s tenth anniversary, the unique forged of Hamilton reunited for a medley from the hit musical. Whereas the trendy tackle our founding fathers doesn’t essentially have overtly queer overtones, the unique firm did, together with Ariana DeBose, Sydney Harcourt James, and Jonathan Groff, who had been available to momentarily step again into the present.
Broadway diva battle: Nicole Scherzinger 1, Audra McDonald 0
Patti LuPone was markedly absent from this 12 months’s Tony Awards for her controversial feedback that prompted an open letter signed by over 500 Broadway artists calling for an apology, which she delivered. Whereas the three-time Tony winner sat this spherical out, the largest contest of the evening got here all the way down to Nicole Scherzinger in Sundown Blvd. and Audra McDonald in Gypsy. Each had been available to ship powerhouse performances, nevertheless it was Scherzinger who took house the win for Finest Efficiency by an Actress in a Main Position in a Musical. What do you assume?
2025 Tony tally
Tally:
Possibly Joyful Ending: 6
Buena Vista Social Membership: 4
Stranger Issues: 3
Sundown Blvd: 3
Oh, Mary!: 2
The Image of Dorian Grey: 2
Function: 2
Dying Turns into Her: 1
Eureka Day: 1
Operation Mincemeat: 1
Yellow Face: 1
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