Theater Commentary: The 2025 Tonys Were a Mess — But the Season Was Glorious
By Christopher Caggiano
Once again, Tony voters proved that quality and integrity still matter.
A scene from last night’s Tony Awards ceremony. Photo: Wiki Common
The 2024 to 2025 Broadway season was extraordinary — strong writing, smart direction, and more than one show that could have reasonably taken home top honors. Unlike thinner years when one production clearly dominates, this year brought an embarras de richesses. As for the Tony broadcast … well, more on that later.
Once again, Tony voters proved that quality and integrity still matter. They continued their recent trend of championing what I call the Little Musical That Could: Fun Home, Kimberly Akimbo, The Band’s Visit, A Strange Loop — and now, Maybe Happy Ending. These shows may not be the most commercially splashy, but they’re built to last.
It’s worth noting the high-profile revivals and star vehicles that were completely shut out: Othello, Good Night and Good Luck, Glengarry Glen Ross. The public may have been wowed by the marquee names — including Denzel Washington, Jake Gyllenhaal, George Clooney, Kieran Culkin, and Bob Odenkirk — but the voters weren’t buying it. Sure, the season set box office records, but when you’re riding on the back of $900 tickets, that’s hardly something to brag about.
This year’s Tonys also marked several significant milestones for representation. Darren Criss became the first Asian American actor to win Best Leading Actor in a Musical. Francis Jue, Kara Young, Natalie Venetia Belcon, and others added to a strong showing from actors of color. And Cole Escola made history as the first nonbinary performer to win Best Actor. Hollywood may finally be stepping up in terms of diversity, but this season reinforces that Broadway has been making progress for years.
And despite a few live-TV hiccups, first-time host Cynthia Erivo carried the night by dint of the sheer power of her presence, her charm, and her killer pipes. Highlight: Announcing Jonathan Groff’s Just in Time performance from the balcony because, “The balcony is … the best and safest place to see Jonathan Groff sing… So, please welcome the man who makes everyone wet…”
Tony award-winner Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset Blvd on Broadway. Photo: Marc Brenner
The Musical Numbers – And Why They Rarely Work
Let me be clear: when it comes to showcasing numbers from nominated shows, medleys kill Tony performances. What makes a Tony moment last is one strong number, well-chosen and cleanly staged. What doesn’t work is a mashup of moments to sell, Sell, SELL the show and avoid hurting cast members’ feelings. Unfortunately, most of this year’s musical segments were either poorly selected, poorly shot, or both. It often felt like the show’s producers and the TV director didn’t understand how to frame a musical number for the screen — or at least didn’t understand how to do it on live TV.
Quick hits:
- Death Becomes Her: “For the Gaze” is a number we’ve already seen on late-night TV. Why not showcase Jennifer Simard?
- Maybe Happy Ending: They chose the show’s most magical scene — the lovely “Never Fly Away” — and flattened it by stripping it of context and theatricality.
- Operation Mincemeat: Unfortunately, “Born to Lead” highlighted the biggest problem that people have with the show — the frenetic, difficult-to-decipher lyrics.
- Dead Outlaw: Finally, a good choice, “Dead,” the show’s first big number, is upbeat and works well in isolation. (Yeah, it was technically a medley that started with nominee Andrew Durand singing a quiet ballad, but the bulk of the performance was rocking.)
- Buena Vista Social Club: A transcendent show undersold by a diffuse and unfocused presentation. I can’t even remember which moment they were doing from the show — and I’ve seen it twice.
- Pirates: For a revisal of The Pirates of Penzance, they chose an interpolated number from HMS Pinafore. Why?
- Sunset Blvd.: Easily the best number of the night, and I was no fan of the production nor the leading lady. (More on that later) They chose a single song — the crowd-pleaser “As If We Never Said Goodbye” — and gave it room to breathe.
- Floyd Collins: They wisely chose one of Floyd Collins’s few dynamic numbers — “The Call” — but the broadcast botched it with awkward camera work.
- Gypsy: Hey, when you produce Gypsy, you typically let the lead actress sing “Rose’s Turn” on the broadcast, right? But Audra’s performance seems to have become overly emotive and forced since opening night. Her mannerisms and line readings distracted more than they dazzled.
A scene from Buena Vista Social Club. Photo: Matthew Murphy.
The Awards
Here’s what the voters got right — and what they didn’t (IMHO).
- Best Musical: Maybe Happy Ending. No argument here. The show also won Best Book and Best Score, making it a clear consensus pick in a standout season. It’s telling that Real Women Have Curves, a terrific show, couldn’t even land a nomination.
- Best Play: Purpose. A solid, thoughtful winner. I personally preferred John Proctor Is the Villain — and there was much chatter about Oh, Mary! taking the prize — but Purpose had a gravitas that voters clearly appreciated.
- Best Revival – Musical: Sunset Blvd. I didn’t love it, but the field was weak. Gypsy had Audra, but not much else. Floyd Collins dragged. Pirates was forgettable.
- Best Revival – Play: Eureka Day. A sharp, timely play that managed to make an anti-vaxxer sympathetic — no small feat.
- Best Actress – Musical: Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Blvd. Not my pick. Powerful voice, but a hollow performance.
- Best Actor – Musical: Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending. A subtle, grounded performance. A historic win as well.
- Best Actor – Play: Cole Escola, Oh, Mary! A smart, deserved win. Escola was electric. The wonderful Jon Michael Hill in Purpose might’ve taken it in a different year.
- Best Actress – Play: Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray. I might’ve preferred Sadie Sink in John Proctor, but there’s no question Snook delivered.
- Featured Actress – Musical: Natalie Venetia Belcon, Buena Vista Social Club. A deep, emotionally charged performance. Bang on.
- Featured Actor – Musical: Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat. A well-earned win. That said, Danny Burstein gave the most memorable Herbie I’ve ever seen. When do you ever leave Gypsy raving about Herbie?
- Featured Actress – Play: Kara Young, Purpose. A deserving back-to-back winner after last year’s Purlie Victorious. But I wouldn’t have been disappointed if Jessica Hecht had won for Eureka Day.
- Featured Actor – Play: Francis Jue, Yellow Face. Bravo. Well deserved. His joy and clarity carried the role — and practically the entire show.
- Best Director – Musical: Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending. A relief. I feared that flavor-of-the-month Jamie Lloyd might get it for Sunset, but Arden’s work was far more layered and emotionally precise.
- Best Director – Play: Sam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary! An excellent choice. Pinkleton’s fingerprints are all over that show’s manic brilliance.
- Best Choreography and Best Orchestrations: Buena Vista Social Club took both categories: Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck for choreography, Marco Paguia for orchestrations. Both awards were richly deserved. The movement and musical arrangements are the heart of what makes that show sing.
Again, a great season but an iffy broadcast. Here’s hoping future years deliver shows this rich, and a telecast that figures out how to rise to the moment.
Christopher Caggiano is a freelance writer and editor living in Stamford, CT. He has written about theater for a variety of outlets, including TheaterMania.com, American Theatre, and Dramatics magazine. He also taught musical-theater history for 16 years and is working on numerous book projects based on his research.
I thought that Audra McDonald’s performance as Momma Rose was an embarrassment. It was one of the worse things I have ever seen put on the Tonys. All she did was scream and and go back and forth between head and chest voice very poorly, and singing flat through most of the number. Momma is not a shrill harpy, but a woman who has held something in and finally lets it out, beautifully. She is not supposed to be a belter and a screamer. It was an afront to good theater and to Gypsy.
I agree. But I’ve seen lots of people online talking about how it was the most powerful “Rose’s Turn” they have ever seen. Go figure. I just know it didn’t work for me, for many of the reasons that you cited.
There are people who will rise to their feet when they read Audra McDonald’s name on the program. When she isn’t on stage they are planting wet kisses on their programs. Nothing against McDonald — she is hugely talented, but she’s got a fan base that makes the 300 Spartans look like a daisy chain.
Tom, you honestly made me laugh out loud. I LOVE Audra. I LIVE Audra. But I just tried watching that number again and I just wasn’t buying it. I was repelled. But I will always look forward to seeing her live.
Excellent article.
However: I found the Sunset Blvd diva Nicole Scherzinger’s performance a yawn. Audra McDonald’s performance as Momma Rose was certainly an embarrassment — scratchy and screechy with little or no heart. Operation Mincemeat‘s sequence was not only unrelatable but actually unbearable.
Aside from the confusing pronouns, Cole Escola’s performance was an example of a one-trick pony act. I wonder if there will ever be another major role for this performer.
Maybe Happy Ending may be one of the worst titles ever given to a show.
Hey, Mark. Lots to unpack here.
Hey, it was a lot for me to acknowledge Nicole’s performance. I just didn’t like her live. But the TV performance felt fresh and restrained — which is NOT what she was live.
Mincemeat is a terrific show, but yeah you do need to have the patience to parse the rapid-fire lyrics. But then, I just rewatched Daveed Diggs — whom I adore — in the Hamilton reunion and I didn’t understand ONE WORD he was singing.
I too will be very interested to see what Escola does next. I loved them on the Amy Sedaris show, but it’s pretty much the same persona they adopt in Oh, Mary. We’ll have to wait and see how adaptable Escola can be.
The title of Maybe Happy Ending is awkward, but it makes total sense in context. God, I love that show.
I love theater – not so much Broadway these days as Off Broadway. The Tonys make me uneasy – too darn hyperbolic. I just wanted to see Snook accept a well deserved win which she did with cool elegance. Your concise wrap up of the evening is just right.
Hey, it’s all about marketing, right? And you’re right, some of the best stuff to see is far beyond the Main Stem. Some of the best nights I’ve had in the theater have been in church basements or tiny black boxes. And, of course, the Tonys don’t recognize those shows. But I do think the Tony Awards, regardless of their many flaws and flagrant hoopla, raise the profile of theater in general.
Hey Chris, thanks for the excellent review! Two comments:
First, I think that Audra’s performance of “Rose’s Turn” was one of the most powerful performances I’ve ever seen. She inhabited that character And the way she integrated the acting, movement, singing and even her inner turmoil, to me, was a master class (excuse the pun) performance. I saw one of the first previews and I really did not enjoy the play at all until it came to “Rose’s Turn” and I was blown away. And I don’t think that that performance was as deep or dark is what she did at the Tony’s.
So I saw John Proctor is the Villain at the Huntington in Boston a couple years ago and I was wondering if you saw that one also? I thought it was an excellent play, but I didn’t really think of it as a Broadway Best play nominee. If you did see the Boston production, I’d be curious to know what you thought of it and how it compared to the Broadway production.
Thanks!
Hey, Chuck. Yeah, Audra’s performance seems to have sharply divided people. Nobody is on the fence. I just know that I keep watching it and I don’t come any closer to appreciating it. People keep telling me to go back and watch it again. And I do. And I still feels it’s excessive and mannered.
As for John Proctor, I’m of two minds. On the one hand, I like to think that the true quality of a piece shines out regardless of the production. But then I know that there are certain shows that I just didn’t “get” until I saw the right production. It’s entirely possible that the slick Broadway production spackled o ver some holes that a less polished production might have revealed. But I do know that when I was in the Booth theater watching that play, I was mesmerized.
Hey, Chris, thanks for the reply. I agree that the right production can make a difference, but even more important is when my life and the play (song, painting, etc.) intersect at the perfect moment. I remember watching the movie version of Gypsy and my mother, and remember her strongly identifying with Rose during “Rose’s Turn” (Kids, you give ’em your life and whadaya get?). For 60 years, I thought that Rose as an insensitive and controlling Mother and a bit of a monster. I held onto that view until I saw Audra as Rose have a nervous breakdown in front of our eyes, and I finally, at 70, had compassion and was blown away by her visceral interpretation. Not trying to convince you, just saying…
Looking forward to getting back to NYC this summer and hoping that I get a chance to see John Proctor.Thanks for the recommendation!