Tony Awards: ‘The Outsiders,’ ‘Stereophonic’ Take Home Top Prizes
The Outsiders and Stereophonic took home the top prizes of best musical and best play at the 77th Annual Tony Awards on Sunday.
The best musical race had been one of the closest categories heading into Sunday’s ceremony, with The Outsiders, a story about young boys growing up in a rough setting, based on S.E. Hinton’s best-selling novel, and Hell’s Kitchen, featuring a score by Alicia Keys, seen as the top contenders, amid other contenders including Water for Elephants, Illinoise and Suffs. The two battled for awards throughout the night, with The Outsiders picking up a key win for director Danya Taymor and Hell’s Kitchen earning first-time acting wins for Maleah Joi Moon and Kecia Lewis.
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Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along took home the prize for best revival of a musical, while Branden Jacobs-Jenkins family drama Appropriate won the Tony Award for best revival of a play.
Going into the night, Stereophonic was the most nominated play in Tony Awards history and had the chance to win 13 possible Tony Awards. It still had a strong showing, winning five Tony Awards, including an acting nod for Will Brill and for director Daniel Aukin, but fell just short of winning the most Tonys for a play in history.
It was also a night of first Tony Award wins for such Hollywood names as Jeremy Strong, for his role of the steadfast small town doctor in the revival of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People; Sarah Paulson, for her role as the fiery oldest sister in Jacobs-Jenkins’ Appropriate; and Daniel Radcliffe, for his role as neurotic composer Charley Kringas in the revival of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along.
“This play is a cry from the heart and an exhortation to face up to the difficult truths that are staring us all down right now,” Strong said as he accepted the Tony Award.
Jonathan Groff also won his first Tony Award, after having been nominated three times, for his lead role as hot-shot producer Franklin Shepard in Merrily We Roll Along. Groff spoke about his strong friendship with Radcliffe and co-star Lindsay Mendez, forged across the production, as well as a lifetime of love for the musical theater community, including recording the Tony Awards on VHS as a child.
“To actually be able to be a part of making theater in the city, and just as much to watch the work of this incredible, incredible community has been the greatest gift and pleasure of my life,” Groff said.
While Merrily had been expected to win, the award held particular importance, as the musical was initially a flop when it first came to Broadway in 1981 and now has won after the death of its composer, Stephen Sondheim.
Merrily producer Sonia Friedman handed the Tony Award to her sister, Maria Friedman, who directed and created this new vision of the revival, but had lost the best director Tony Award to The Outsiders’ Danya Taymor earlier in the night.
“Maria found this unconventional masterpiece, found the raw emotion in the center of it and turned it into absolute gold,” Sonia Friedman said.
Kara Young, who has been nominated for three years in a row and also won her first Tony Award Sunday for her comedic role in the revival of the play Purlie Victorious, opposite Leslie Odom Jr.
The Tony Awards ceremony took place at the Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater, hosted by Ariana DeBose, who kicked off the ceremony with an opening number highlighting the numerous shows up for awards this season.
In addition to the number of first timers winning awards Sunday, this Tony Awards was also notable for the number of female directors who were nominated, with four in the category of best direction of a musical, including winner Danya Taymor, which has typically been dominated by men.
Adding on to its big win and win for Taymor, The Outsiders musical, also took home Tony Awards for sound and lighting design. However, Shaina Taub took home the award for best score and best book for the Suffragette musical Suffs.
During the Tonys preshow, Justin Peck won the best choreography Tony Award for Illinoise, a dance-based musical, which is a genre that has not always been well received on Broadway.
“I love theater with all my heart, and I’m thankful to this community for embracing a musical that harnesses the profound power of dance on Broadway,” Peck said.
Earlier in the night, Audra McDonald presented the Special Tony Award for lifetime achievement to five-time Tony Award winner, director and writer George C. Wolfe, whose credits include Caroline, or Change and Angels in America, who she will soon be working with again in Gypsy. Wolfe, whose work often deals with themes of race and identity and social justice, spoke about harnessing the power of theater to meet the moment, adding “it needn’t look like you to be about you.”
“As we go through this incredibly complicated time, it’s very important that we approach it not with fear and not with trepidation, but with knowing that we work with the dynamic of celebrating, exploring the powerful, fragile dynamic that is the human heart,” Wolfe said.
Billy Porter received the 2024 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award for his dedication and contributions as an activist and spokesperson for the LGBTQ+ communities.
Jack O’Brien, a three-time Tony Award-winning director for shows such as Hairspray, was also a recipient of the lifetime achievement award, presented by Harvey Fierstein, and called working in theater more of a calling than a job.
“No one ever asked us to do this,” O’Brien said. “We didn’t answer an ad in The New York Times that said, ‘Glittering theatrical types needed to save a moribund industry’ … but we couldn’t help it, could we?”
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