Midler wins best actress – ‘Oslo’ inspired by ME peace talks named best play
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Agence France-Presse gets a fleeting reference in the production as actress Jennifer Ehle declares at one point: “There is a leak: Agence France-Presse reports about back-channel negotiations in Oslo.”
The play, which garnered a total of seven Tony nominations, also saw Michael Aronov win the Tony Award for featured actor in a play.
The turbulent state of culture and politics in the Trump era were top of mind for many Tony Award winners. A number of those who made the trip to the stage at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday cited the role that theater can play in opening minds, touching hearts, and illuminating universal human truths.
Cynthia Nixon, who won featured actress in a play for “Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes,” said she was grateful to have had the chance to perform in the groundbreaking 1939 play about lesbian relationships at “this specific moment in history.” She called it “eerily prescient” and offered a pointed quote from the playwright.
“There are people who eat the Earth and all the people on it and there are all the people who just stand around and watch them do it,” she said. She expressed her appreciation for “all the people who are refusing to just stand and watch them do it.”
Sally Field, a nominee for “The Glass Menagerie,” delivered a brief history of the service work done since the World War I era by “the women of the Wing” — the American Theater Wing, which administers the Tony Awards. She finished by assuring the crowd that the Wing is going strong in its mission to “illuminate the darkness with the blazing truth of art.”
Kevin Kline, winner for leading actor in a play for “Present Laughter,” called out in his thank-yous the National Endowment for the Arts, which has been threatened with losing its federal funding under the Trump administration. Kline cited the NEA as an organization “without which half the people in this room would not be here.”
Lynne Meadow, artistic director of the Manhattan Theater Club, hailed the legacy of playwright August Wilson as she accepted the trophy for best revival of a play for Wilson’s “Jitney.” The play exemplifies Wilson’s “belief in the importance of coming together in adversity and to celebrate our humanity — our shared humanity,” Meadow said, her voice rising.
Stephen Colbert was on hand to present the trophy for revival of a musical. Not surprisingly, the “Late Show” host took quick aim at Trump. He joked about the revival in Washington, D.C. of a show that started off-Broadway in the 1980s. “This revival is supposed to have a four-year ru* But reviews have not been kind,” Colbert quipped to wild applause. “It could close early — we don’t know.”
Bette Midler, a winner for “Hello, Dolly!,” also hit the prevailing anti-Trump sentiment head on in an unabashed plug for her show. “This thing has the ability to lift your spirits in these terrible, terrible times,” she assured the crowd.
Bette Midler wo* Best actress in a musical while an edgy new tale of millennial angst scooped six awards including best musical at Broadway’s equivalent of the Oscars for US theater.
The glitzy revival of “Hello, Dolly!” starring the 71-year-old Midler and the breakout “Dear Evan Hansen,” about wanting to belong and the might of social media, spotlighted different sides to New York’s famed district, which last season grossed a record $1.45 billion in earnings.
Winners
* Best Musical: Dear Evan Hansen
* Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical: Bette Midler, Hello, Dolly!
* Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical: Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen
* Best Revival of a Musical: Hello, Dolly!
* Best Play: Oslo
* Best Revival of a Play: August Wilson’s Jitney
* Best Direction of a Musical: Christopher Ashley, Come From Away
* Best Direction of a Play: Rebecca Taichman, Indecent
* Best Choreography: Andy Blankenbuehler, Bandstand
* Best Orchestrations: Alex Lacamoire, Dear Evan Hansen
* Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical: Rachel Bay Jones, Dear Evan Hansen
* Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play: Laurie Metcalf, A Doll’s House, Part 2
* Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play: Kevin Kline, Present Laughter
* Best Book of a Musical: Steven Levenson, Dear Evan Hansen
* Best Original Score Written for a Musical: Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, Dear Evan Hansen
* Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Play: Cynthia Nixon, Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes
* Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical: Gavin Creel, Hello, Dolly!
* Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play: Michael Aronov, Oslo
* Best Scenic Design of a Musical: Mimi Lien for Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
* Best Scenic Design of a Play: Nigel Hook, The Play That Goes Wrong
* Best Costume Design of a Musical: Santo Loquasto, Hello, Dolly!
* Best Costume Design of a Play: Jane Greenwood, Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes
* Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Bradley King, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
* Best Lighting Design of a Play: Christopher Akerlind, Indecent
Non-competitive awards
* Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre: James Earl Jones
* Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award: Baayork Lee
* Regional Theatre Tony Award: Dallas Theater Center
* Special Tony Award: Gareth Fry & Pete Malkin, Sound Designers for The Encounter
* Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre: Nina Lannan & Alan Wasser
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