Tony Awards laud android rom-com 'Maybe Happy Ending' and history-making 'Purpose'

NEW YORK — "Maybe Happy Ending," a rom-com about androids that crackles with humanity, had a definite happy ending at Sunday's Tony Awards. It won best new musical on a night when Kara Young made history as the first Black person to win two Tonys consecutively for "Purpose," which also won best new play. Starring Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen, "Maybe Happy Ending" charts the relationship between two decommissioned robots, becoming a commentary on human themes and the passage of time. It won a leading six Tonys. With "Purpose," a drawing-room drama about an accomplished Black family exposing hypocrisy and pressures during a snowed-in gathering, playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins caps a remarkable year: In addition to winning back-to-back Tonys — his "Appropriate" won best play revival last year — he earned the Pulitzer Prize for "Purpose." (That win came the day of the Met Gala, where he served on the host committee.) Jacobs-Jenkins is the first Black playwright to win the category since August Wilson for "Fences" in 1987. He urged viewers to support regional theaters; "Purpose" was nurtured in Chicago. "Theater is a sacred space that we have to honor and treasure, and it makes us united," Young said in her own acceptance speech. Notable Tony moments "Sunset Blvd.," with Nicole Scherzinger as a fallen screen idol desperate to reclaim her fame, won best musical revival, handing composer Andrew Lloyd Webber his first competitive Tony since 1995 — when the original show won. The current version is a stripped-down, minimalist production. Scherzinger also won for best lead actress in a musical, muscling aside a considerable challenge from Audra McDonald in a remarkable career pivot for the former lead singer of pop group Pussycat Dolls and TV talent show judge. "Growing up, I always felt like I didn't belong, but you all have made me feel like I belong and I have come home at last," she said. "So if there's anyone out there who feels like they don't belong, or your time hasn't come, don't give up. Just keep on giving and giving because the world needs your love and your light now more than ever." Criss, who has starred in everything from "Glee" to "The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story," won his first Tony for "Maybe Happy Ending," which he also co-produced. He said he shared it with Shen, who was not nominated. Sarah Snook won leading actress in a play for her tireless work in "The Picture of Dorian Gray," where she plays all 26 roles. "I don't feel alone any night that I do this show," Snook said, dismissing the idea of it as a one-woman show. "There are so many people onstage making it work and behind the stage making it work." Downtown cabaret star Cole Escola won best actor in a play for their deranged, repressed and over-the-top ahistorical version of Mary Todd Lincoln in "Oh Mary!," beating such Hollywood stars as George Clooney and Daniel Dae Kim. Sam Pinkleton won best director for "Oh, Mary!" and thanked Escola, saying they taught him, "Do what you love, not what you think people want to see." Francis Jue won best featured actor in a play for the revival of "Yellow Face." He said he was gifted his tuxedo from another Asian actor who wanted him to wear it to the Tonys. "I'm only here because of the encouragement and inspiration of generations of wonderful deserving Asian artists who came before me," he said. Jak Malone won best featured actor in a musical for the British import "Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical," playing a woman every performance. He hoped his win could be powerful advocacy for trans rights. "Eureka Day," Jonathan Spector's social satire about well-meaning liberals debating a school's vaccine policy, won best play revival. The original cast of "Hamilton," including creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, did a victory lap dressed in black to mark the show's 10th anniversary on Broadway, with a medley including "My Shot," "The Schuyler Sisters," "History Has Its Eyes on You" and "The Room Where It Happens." The host with the most First-time host Cynthia Erivo kicked off the show from her Radio City Music Hall dressing room, unsure of her opening number. As she made her way through the backstage warren, she ran into various people offering advice until she reached Oprah Winfrey, who advised, "The only thing you need to do is just be yourself." Erivo then appeared at the stage in a red, spangly gown with white accents, hip cocked, as she launched into the slow-burning original "Sometimes All You Need Is a Song," written by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Initially alone with a pianist, Erivo's soaring voice was soon joined by members of the Broadway Inspirational Voices choir, all dressed in white, making her look like a powerful strawberry in a bowl of whipped cream. In her opening comments, she singled out first-time nominees Escola, Louis McCartney, Sadie Sink, and "an up-and-comer that I think you're going to really be hearing quite a bit about — George Clooney." She noted that the 2024-2025 season took in $1.9 billion, making it the highest-grossing ever and signaling Broadway has finally emerged from the COVID-19 blues. "Broadway is officially back," Erivo said. "Provided we don't run out of cast members from 'Succession,'" a nod to appearances this season by former co-stars Snook and Kieran Culkin and last season by Jeremy Strong. She and Sara Bareilles dueted for a moving in memoriam, singing "The Sun Will Come Out" from "Annie," and honoring its composer Charles Strouse as well as George Wendt, Richard Chamberlain, Athol Fugard,Joan Plowright, Quincy Jones, Linda Lavin, James Earl Jones and Gavin Creel. Erivo was an amiable host, at one point appearing in the second mezzanine to comment that everyone likes the view from theater balconies — except perhaps Abraham Lincoln. She had fun with Winfrey later on, telling her to check under her chair, where she found a gift bag with a toy automobile. "You get a car!" Erivo cracked. Pre-show results The best book and best score awards went to "Maybe Happy Ending," with lyrics written by Hue Park and music composed by Will Aronson. Its director, Michael Arden, won — "Happy Pride!" he said — and it also picked up best scenic design. Justin Peck and Patricia Delgado won for choreographing "Buena Vista Social Club" and Peck noted a song from the renowned original album was played at their wedding. The musical takes its inspiration from Wim Wenders' 1999 Oscar-nominated documentary on the making of the Cuban album. It won four Tonys. Best costumes in a play went to Marg Hornwell for "The Picture of Dorian Gray," while "Death Becomes Her" won the musical counterpart for Paul Tazewell months after he became the first Black man to win an Oscar for designing costumes. Harvey Fierstein, the four-time Tony winner behind "Torch Song Trilogy" and "Kinky Boots," was honored with a lifetime achievement Tony and became emotional during his speech. "There is nothing quite like bathing in the applause of a curtain call, but when I bow, I bow to the audience, with gratitude, knowing that without them I might as well be lip-syncing showtunes in my bedroom mirror," he said. "And so I dedicate this award to the people in the dark."