Queers clean up at 77th annual Tony Awards

NEW YORK – It was a banner night for queer theatre artists at the 77^th annual Tony Awards, honoring the best in Broadway theatre at the Lincoln Centre in New York June 16. Some of the biggest honors of the night went to the revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical Merrily We Roll Along and the dance-musical based on Sufjan Stephens’ album Illinoise.

Merrily We Roll Along, which follows three friends as their lives change over the course of 20 years, told in reverse chronological order, picked up the awards for Best Revival of a Musical and Best Orchestrations. 

Out actor Jonathan Groff picked up his first Tony Award for his leading role as Franklin Shepard in the show, while his costar Daniel Radcliffe earned his first Tony Award for featured performance as Charley Kringas. 

Groff gave a heartfelt and teary acceptance speech about how he used to watch the Tony Awards as a child in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

“Thank you for letting me dress up like Mary Poppins when I was three,” he said to his parents in the audience. “Even if they didn’t understand me, my family knew the life-saving power of fanning the flame of a young person’s passions without judgment.”

Groff also thanked the everyone in the production of Spring Awakening, where he made his Broadway debut in 2006, for inspiring him to come out at the age of 23.

“To actually be able to be a part of making theatre in this city, and just as much to be able to watch the work of this incredible community has been the greatest pleasure of my life,” he said. 

This was Groff’s third Tony nomination, having been previously nominated for his leading role in Spring Awakening and for his featured performance as King George III in Hamilton. 

Radcliffe, who is best known for starring in the Harry Potter series of movies, has long been an ally of the LGBTQ community, and has recently been known to spar with Harry Potter creator JK Rowling over her extreme opposition to trans rights on social media and in interviews. It was Radcliffe’s first Tony nomination and win.

Lesbian icon Sarah Paulson won her first Tony Award for her starring role in the play Appropriate, about a family coming to terms with the legacy of their slave-owning ancestors as they attempt to sell their late father’s estate. It was her first nomination and win.

In her acceptance speech, she thanked her partner Holland Taylor “for loving me.” Along with Paulson’s Emmy win for American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson, she is halfway to EGOT status.

The Sufjan Stephens dance-musical Illinoise, based on his album of the same name, took home the award for Best Choreography for choreographer Justin Peck. It was his second win.

During the ceremony, the cast of Illinoise performed “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us!”, a moving dance number about a queer romance.

A big winner of the night was the adaptation of the S.E. Hinton novel The Outsiders, which dominated the musical categories, earning Best Director, Sound Design, Lighting Design, and Best Musical, which earned LGBTQ ally Angelina Jolie her first Tony Award.

Also a big winner was Stereophonic, which dominated the play categories, winning the awards for Best Play, Featured Actor, Director, Sound Design, and Scenic Design.

Suffs, a musical about the fight for women’s suffrage in the United States, which acknowledges the lesbian relationship that suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt had in song called “If We Were Married,” took home awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Score, both for creator Shaina Taub. 

Had Suffs also won for Best Musical, producers Hilary Clinton and Malala Yousafzai would have won their first Tony Awards. 

Other winners include Maleah Joi Moon for her lead role and Kecia Lewis for her featured role in the Alicia Keys musical Hell’s Kitchen, Jeremy Strong for his lead role in An Enemy of the People, and Kara Young for her featured role in Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch.