Broadway's biggest night, the Tony Awards, is almost here. It all starts on Sunday, June 16, at 6:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. This 90-minute pre-show, where many of the technical awards are presented, is broadcast on Pluto TV (click on channel “ET”).
Immediately after, at 8:00 p.m. PT/5 p.m. PT, CBS will air the 77th Annual Tony Awards, with Ariana DeBose hosting for the third year in a row. The three-hour show will also be broadcast on Paramount+ in the U.S. Both shows will take place at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York.
The Tony telecast is set to include performances from all five Best Musical nominees (Hell's Kitchen, Illinoise, The Outsiders, Suffs and Water for elephants) and from three of the four nominations for Best Revival of a Musical (Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, Merrily We Roll Along and The Who's Tommy). The Tonys will not include a performance by the fourth nominee for Best Revival of a Musical, Gutenbergian! The Musical!, which closed on January 28.
The TV show is also set to feature a performance by Stereothe 'play with music' written by Will Butler, formerly of Arcade Fire; Stereo tied with Hell's Kitchena musical based on the music of Alicia Keys, for the most nominations of any production this year (13).
To get you ready for Sunday's show, here's a list of the 25 Tony Awards record holders.
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Production with the most nominations
Hamilton: An American Musical (2016) — 16. Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical won 11 awards. The project with the most nominations is Stereo (2024) – 13.
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Production with the most awards
The Producers, the new Mel Brooks musical (2001) – 12.
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Most award-winning musical, counting all of its Broadway productions
Rodgers and Hammerstein's south pacific — 17. The original 1949 production won 10 Tonys. The 2008 revival won seven. (Bonus info: The original is the only show in Broadway history to sweep all four acting categories. The 2008 production won more Tonys than any other musical revival in history.)
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Musicals with the most nominations that did not win any awards
The Scottsboro Boys (2011) and Bad Girls (2018). Additionally, one game went 0-12 on Tony's night: Slave Play (2020).
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Most wins in one night by one person
Trey Parker for The Book of Mormon (2011). Parker won best book of a musical, best score, best direction and (under the name Important Musicals LLC, a company he led with his partner Matt Stone) best musical.
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First Best Musician winner where one person wrote the book, music and lyrics themselves
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1986, Rupert Holmes). Holmes is known to music fans for topping the Billboard Hot 100 as both an artist and a songwriter in 1979 with “Escape (The Pina Colada Song). Four consecutive Best Artist winners have equaled this feat: Rent (1996, Jonathan Larson); Hamilton: An American Musical (2016, Lin-Manuel Miranda); Hadestown (2019, Anaïs Mitchell) and A strange loop (2022, Michael R. Jackson).
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First show to win Best Musical where the book, music and lyrics were written by women
Fun House (2015). Lisa Kron wrote the book and lyrics. Jeanine Tesori composed the music.
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Only a tie for best musical
The sound of music and Fiorello! (1960). The sound of music he is much more famous today, but Fiorello!about Fiorello La Guardia, mayor of New York from 1934-46, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
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Winner of Best Shortest-Running Broadway Musical
Passion (1994), with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, closed after just 280 performances.
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Show to win best musical only after closing
Hallelujah, baby! (1968). The show, which starred Leslie Uggams, won the Tony on April 21. It was closed on January 13th.
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The youngest and oldest winners for Best Actress in a Musical
Liza Minnelli was the youngest. The second-generation star was just 19 in 1965 when she won her first Tony Flora, the Red Menace. Bette Midler was the oldest. He was 71 in 2017 when he won for his revival Hello, Dolly!
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Performer with the most awards won in competition
Audra McDonald (six). The McDonald's Awards are split evenly between plays and musicals.
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Most wins for Best Actress in a Musical
Angela Lansbury (four). He won for Mum (1966), Dear World (1969), Gypsy (1975) and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979). Additionally, Lansbury has hosted more Tony telecasts than anyone else – five between 1968-89.
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The youngest winner for the best score
Lin-Manuel Miranda was just 28 when he won On high level.
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First black composer to win best original score
Charlie Smalls for The Wiz (1975). The score yielded such enduring hits as “Ease on Down the Road” and “Home.” The only previous black winner in the category was poet Langston Hughes, who wrote the lyrics for the first winner. Street scene (1947), composed by Kurt Weill.
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First Black Performers to Win Best Actress and Best Actor in a Musical
Diahann Carroll enters No strings (1962) and Cleavon Little in Baby foal (1970), respectively.
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The first Asian performer to win Best Actress in a Musical
Lea Salonga at Miss Saigon (1991). Salonga was born in the Philippines.
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First actor to win Best Actor in a Musical for a female character
Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad Hair spray (2003).
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First actor to win Best Actor in a Musical for playing a transgender character
Neil Patrick Harris for the role of Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2014). Harris has hosted the Tonys four times, winning a Primetime Emmy each time.
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The most wins for the best score
Stephen Sondheim (six). The Tonys did not have a Best Score category in 1971, but Sondheim won both Best Score and Best Lyrics for Company, so we measure it. Most by a woman: Betty Comden (three).
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Only tie for best score
John Kander and Fred Ebb for The kiss of the spider woman and Pete Townshend for The Who's Tommy (1993).
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Only posthumous winners for best score
TS Eliot for Cats (1983) and Jonathan Larson for Rent (1996). Eliot had died in 1965. Larson, earlier in 1996.
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The first woman to win the top score without a male partner
Cyndi Lauper for Kinky Boots (2013). Lauper topped the Hot 100 twice as an artist and as a songwriter, with “Time After Time” (1984) and “True Colors” (1986).
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Most wins for Best Direction of a Musical
Harold Prince (eight). The first woman to win in this category — Julie Taymor for The Lion King (1998).
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Most wins for best choreography
Bob Fosse (eight). Most by a woman: Susan Stroman (four).
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/tony-awards-record-holders/
