Sunday night was a glorious moment for costume designer Paul Tazewell and playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins as they added Tony Awards to their extensive collection of accomplishments they have achieved this year.
Tazewell won the Tony Award for Best Costume Design in a Musical for his work on the musical Death Becomes Her — which was nominated for 10 Tony Awards this year. This made for Tazewell’s second Tony win, after he picked up the Tony for Best Costume Design in a Musical in 2016 for his costume work on Hamilton.
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Jacobs-Jenkins earned his Tony Award for Best Play for Purpose. This makes for Jacobs Jenkins second Tony win after he earned his first Tony Award in 2024 for Appropriate — which won for Best Revival of a Play. With his win on Sunday night, Jacobs-Jenkins has become the first Black playwright to win the Tony for Best Play since August Wilson won the category in 1987 for Fences.
Along with Best Play, Purpose won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Kara Young’s highly lauded performance in the work.
Tazewell’s night at the Tonys wrapped up a history-making awards season run for the costume designer — who became the first Black man to win an Oscar for Best Costume Design in March for his stunning work in the movie musical Wicked. He also won the BAFTA and Golden Globe for his Wicked designs.
Jacobs-Jenkins has also had a stellar year of accomplishments so far. Purpose earned Jacobs-Jenkins a history-making Pulitzer Prize win for Drama and landed him on the TIME100 list of the most influential people of 2025.
Purpose has received sweeping acclaim since its Broadway debut in May — with the play first premiering at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre in March 2024.
Saheem Ali, who was nominated for Best Direction of a Musical for the hit new musical Buena Vista Social Club, also had an exciting night at the Tonys. Though he didn’t win in his category, the musical still picked up four wins out of its 10 nominations this year — including Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Natalie Venetia Belcon), Best Sound Design of a Musical, Best Choreography, and Best Orchestrations.
All three of these theater inspirations have received celebratory messages on social media from their friends, fans, family, and numerous members of the teams they have worked with on their standout stage productions. And they can be certain we will be rooting them on as they continue to make Black queer history and bring artistic innovation to the theater stage through their trailblazing creative excellence.
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