Tony Awards 2024 WINNERS: Daniel Radcliffe earns Featured Actor in a Musical for his spellbinding performance in Merrily We Roll Along

Daniel Radcliffe earned his first Tony Awards in the Featured Actor in a Musical category for his spellbinding performance in Merrily We Roll Along.

The 34-year-old former Harry Potter star beat out an impressive field including: Roger Bart for Back To The Future: The Musical, Joshua Boone for The Outsiders, Brandon Victor Dixon for Hell’s Kitchen, Sky Lakota-Lynch for The Outsiders, and Steven Skybell for Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club.

Daniel began his acceptance speech by saying: ‘Thank you so much. Okay, I’m going to just talk fast and try not to cry. Thank you so much to the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing for this unbelievable honor.’

He thanked many including Stephen Sondheim, director Maria Friedman, and the entire cast and crew before thanking his family.

The talented star concluded his speech by saying: ‘My mom that are here somewhere. Happy father’s day, dad. Thank you for playing Sondheim in the car and loving me.

‘And my love, Erin. You and our son are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I love you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody, have a great night. I will wrap it up.’

Merrily We Roll Along is a 1981 American musical with music and lyrics by the iconic Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth.

The show tells the story of how three friends’ lives and friendship change over the course of 20 years; it focuses particularly on Franklin Shepard (played by Jonathan Groff in this run), a talented composer of musicals who, over those 20 years, abandons his friends and songwriting career to become a producer of Hollywood movies. 

Jeremy Strong kicked of the 77th Tony Awards with a win in the Lead Actor in a Play category.

The 45-year-old Succession actor was recognized for his work in the play Enemy Of The People.

He beat out an impressive field including: William Jackson Harper for Uncle Vanya, Leslie Odom, Jr. for Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch, Liev Schreiber for Doubt: A Parable, and Michael Stuhlbarg for Patriots.

Jeremy was emotional as he thanked the cast, crew and venue Circle In The Square Theatre before thanking the staff of the space.

He humorously said: ‘Yeah, I want to thank the ushers and the front of house staff.  Who see me walking in every day looking like I’ve just been run over by a truck, and see me walk out somehow looking even worse.

‘With, like, bits of pretzels and aquavit in my hair. Linda, think of reselling 50,000 buttons back onto my shirt every night. Molly Kearns, I couldn’t have done this without you. I think a lot of people in this room sure that sentiment. Sam and Amy, you guys, thank you. This is crazy.’

‘Sam, thank you for being everything an actor could hope for in a director, and for bringing new meaning to the term “Ice bucket challenge.”‘

He went on to thank playwright Amy Herzog as he said: ‘Amy, for your masterful work on this play. Last time I did a play of yours, I met Emma, my wife, who I now have three beautiful children with, and now this play.

‘Real quick, this play is a cry from the heart, and expectation to face the difficult truths steering us down right now. It has been a privilege to give its warning and it’s hoped audiences. This is my mom and my dad who are here tonight, somewhere. Mom, dad, thank you for allowing me to imagine. Thank you so much.’ 

In Enemy Of The People he portrays a small-town doctor who considers himself a proud, upstanding member of his close-knit community when he discovers a catastrophe that risks the lives of everyone in town then raises the alarm but he is shaken to his core when those in power, including his own brother (Michael Imperioli), not only try to silence him—they try to destroy him. 

One of the most emotional wins of the night went to Kara Young who earned  Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for her work in Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch.

 The Harlem native beat out a field including: Quincy Tyler Bernstine for Doubt: A Parable, Juliana Canfield for  Stereophonic, Celia Keenan-Bolger for Mother Play, and Sarah Pidgeon for Stereophonic.

She began her speech by recognizing her dad on Father’s Day as her big acceptance speech began: ‘Happy Father’s Day! Happy Father’s Day, daddy! Oh, my goodness! Wow!

‘Thank you to the American Theatre Wing, thank you to the Broadway league, thank you to my team. Thank you so much. Thank you to every single person who has ever championed me to make this moment a reality. 

‘Thank you to my ancestors. My ancestors, the women who I come from, the people who I come My great-grandmother, Hazel Baptist, made it a point to come to Purlie Victorious two weeks before she transitioned. Thank you to my mother. My mother went back to school with two children, and got two master’s degrees from an ivy league institution. And my father, who put my mother through school and made it a priority, a priority, to do that. Thank you so much, dad, for taking us to school every day. Mom, for taking me to dance class. Back to this one, then a party, back to the class. 

‘To my brother, Clay Young, your strength and resilience inspires me daily. To my partner, whom I love so much, who is my spirit mate. To this incredible cast of ‘Purlie.’ 

She went on to thank her cast and crew including co-star Leslie Odom, Jr. before concluding her speech by thanking Ruby Dee who she portrayed on stage.

Kara said: ‘ And to the great Ruby Dee. Please, let me have this. Ruby Dee, the legendary ruby Dee who originated this role. 

‘The great gussie Mae Jenkins who said, I’m taking a chance on my life and I’m going to go, and I’m going to go because I have some life left. I have a lot of life left in me. And she deserved it, and we all do. Thank you. This is to the vibration, the vibration of the liberation for Thank you.’

Purlie Victorious tells the story of a Black preacher’s machinations to reclaim his inheritance and win back his church. 

Kecia Lewis was another big winner as she earned Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for Hell’s Kitchen. 

The talented actress earned the win over  a rather large field including: Shoshana Bean for Hell’s Kitchen, Amber Iman for Lempicka, Nikki M. James for Suffs, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer for Monty Python’s Spamalot, Lindsay Mendez for Merrily We Roll Along, and Bebe Neuwirth for Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club.

Kecia began on a hilarious note as she took out her cell phone to read her speech and said: ‘Lowered, my phone, open. Okay. People, stop texting me, Jesus.’

 First, I would like to thank you, god. My first, my last, my everything. Thank you to the American theatre wing and the Broadway league and every one of the fierce fabulous female thespians in this category. [Applause] I would like to thank the entire cast on stage and off stage, the crew, the front and back of house staff at the Shubert theater for being who they are and their hard work and support to make our show the joy that it is. I would like to thank our creative team, Alicia keys, Michael Greif, kristoffer Diaz, Camille brown, and all of our designers for their hard work and dedication as generals in leading the charge of our show. I would like to thank my manager and friend of 15 years, Jed Abrahams, for truly seeing me and being my champion in an industry that is extremely challenging and often did not see me. Also I thank Barrett for his friendship and hard work. Thank you to my E.N.T. And friend, Dr. Linda Dahl! [Applause] Who keeps this Voce alive and well. And my vocal coach, Marlon Saunders. I want to thank those people in my life who wouldn’t let me give up. Being in this business 40 years, I wanted to give up many times. Gabriela Diaz Gonzalez, Lisa Vidal, Daniel, and my longtime friends, Adrian Lennox and Lachance. I’d like to thank my spiritual families over the years for their training and loving me just for me without having even open my mouth and sing a note, particularly pastors martin and Gail Watson, Rosalind Darlene palmer, and Dr. Ramsey at the church in Atlanta. To my family, aunt Ruth, who indulged me but still laughs about me standing in the mirror as a kid watching myself cry to see if I looked like a wonderful actress. [Laughter] My parents, the late John Henry Louis and Betty may Lewis, and my heart that walks outside of my body, my son, Simon. Lastly, 40 years ago yesterday I walked into the imperial theater to begin my broadly create 18 years old. I have had so many amazing experiences and some heartbreaking ones, too. I took a short break from show business and raised a son as a single parent while trying to build a career. This moment is the one I dreamed of for most of those 40 years. So I say to everyone that can hear my voice, don’t give up! 

The second win of the night went to Will Brill in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for his work in Stereophonic.

He beat out an impressive field which included two of his castmates: Eli Gelb and Tom Pecinka. The category was rounded out by Jim Parsons for Mother Play and Corey Stoll for Appropriate.

Will acknowledged his fellow castmates including those who were also nominated in his category as he began his speech saying: ‘Oh! Wow, wow, wow! Thanks, guys. Wait — okay, there’s six of the people in this play. Can you stand up real quick? 

‘Just stand up. Look at these guys. Look at them, look at them, look at them, look at them. Wow, wow, wow! You guys!’

The talented actor went on to thank an unlikely person in his therapist.

He said:  ‘What the heck? This is really nice. I just want to say I wouldn’t be here without my therapist, Rachel. And my bass teacher, Robbie, and also I wouldn’t be doing this if you hadn’t told me to, so thanks. I love you guys so much. Wild. Thanks.’

The play follows a fictional rock band on the cusp of superstardom as they struggle through recording their new album set from 1976 to 1977. 

The event was hosted by Ariana DeBose  who had previously been nominated in the Best Featured Actress in a Musical category for Summer: The Donna Summer Musical

The 32-year-old Wilmington, North Carolina native also also won an Oscar for Steven Spielberg‘s movie adaptation of the Broadway classic West Side Story. 

She kicked off the event with a fun song and dance before addressing the star-studded crowd with a monologue recognizing all the efforts made on stages throughout the country in American theater.

 The 77th Tony Awards took place at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater in New York City.

 

Angelina Jolie will be hitting the stage as she leads the star-studded presenters list.

The 49-year-old A-lister will be the top name bestowing honors on Broadway’s biggest night on Sunday as nominations were announced back in April.

She is not the only big name hitting the stage as other presenters include Taraji P. Henson, Jennifer Hudson, Jeffrey Wright, Patrick Wilson, and Nick Jonas will also have important duties.

In addition Idina Menzel, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Nate Burleson, Cynthia Erivo, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Josh Gad, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Sean Hayes will also be presenting.

Rounding out the list are  Ashley Park, Jim Parsons, Wendell Pierce, Ben Platt, Anthony Ramos, Andrew Rannells, Solomon Thomas, Taylor Tomlinson, Pete Townshend, Tamara Tunie, and Adrienne Warren.

Jolie definitely has a lot of interest in this year’s ceremony as she serves as producer of The Outsiders musical which is up for a whopping 12 awards including the coveted top honor Best Musical.

The Tony Awards 2024 nominations were announced in April with big names including Rachel McAdams, the Alicia Keys musical, Daniel Radcliffe recognized.

The Kristoffer Diaz musical Hell’s Kitchen and David Adjmi drama Stereophonic led the way with most nods as they tied for 13 with the aforementioned Jolie’s The Outsiders coming in third for nominations with 12.

One of the nominees for best musical is Hell’s Kitchen, a jukebox musical featuring songs by Alicia and loosely based on her life.

Hell’s Kitchen was the most nominated musical, with 13 nods – a feat equaled this year only by the straight play Stereophonic about a 1970s rock band. 

The other best musical nominees include Suffs, a show about the suffragettes that has Hillary Clinton and Malala Yousafzai among its producers.

Illinoise, a jukebox musical of Sufjan Stevens’ work, and The Outsider, based on the classic young adult novel of the same name, are also up for the top prize.

The best musical nominations were rounded out by Water For Elephants, an adaptation of the bestselling novel that was previously made into a movie starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. 

Notable snubs for best musical included the Britney Spears show Once Upon A One More Time, the as well as the adaptations of the classic movies Back To The Future, The Notebook and Days Of Wine And Roses.

Rachel McAdams was nominated for best lead actress in a play in honor of her work in Mary Jane, starring her as the mother of a son with cerebral palsy.

She is up against Sarah Paulson for Appropriate, a dark comedy about three siblings feuding over their father’s estate after his death.

Jessica Lange is up for Mother Play, playing the mother of teens portrayed by Tony winner Celia Keenan-Bolger and The Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons.

The category includes Betsy Aidem in Prayer For The French Republic, a dark comedy by Joshua Harmon about mounting antisemitism in France. 

 

Rachel’s category is rounded out by Amy Ryan for the lead role in John Patrick Shanley’s classic drama Doubt: A Parable, which was made into an acclaimed movie starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Viola Davis.

Liev Schreiber is nominated for best lead actor in a play for Doubt: A Parable, playing the role of the priest accused of molesting a young boy.

He is up against a formidable group of thespians including Succession star Jeremy Strong in a revival of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy Of The People.

William Jackson Harper is also nominated in that category for Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, as is Hamilton star Leslie Odom Jr for Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through The Cotton Patch and Michael Stuhlbarg for Patriots.

Jim Parsons in Mother Play is nominated for best featured actor in a play, against Corey Stoll for Appropriate and Will Brill, Eli Gelb and Tom Pecinka, all three for the play Stereophonic about a rising 1970s rock band.

The best featured actress in a play nods went to Quincy Tyler Bernstine in Doubt, Juliana Canfield and Sarah Pidgeon in Stereophonic, Celia Keenan-Bolger in Mother Play and Kara Young in Purlie Victorious.

Daniel Radcliffe is nominated for best supporting actor in a musical for his role in a revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Merrily We Roll Along, a polarizing 1980s piece that unfolds backwards in time.

His competitors are Roger Bart in Back To The Future: The Musical, Joshua Boone and Sky Lakota-Lynch in The Outsiders, Brandon Victor Dixon in Hell’s Kitchen and Steven Skybell in the new revival of Cabaret. 

Cabaret, with a score by Fred Ebb and John Kander and a book by Joe Masteroff, first opened on Broadway in 1966 and became an instant sensation, later adapted into a movie starring Liza Minnelli and directed by Bob Fosse.

Now rechristened Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club, the revival stars Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne in the role of the master of ceremonies.

Eddie is nominated for best lead actor in a musical, in a category that includes Looking star Jonathan Groff in Merrily We Roll Along.

Dorian Harewood is also up for the musical of The Notebook, the Nicholas Sparks novel made into a beloved movie starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling.

Broadway veteran Brian D’Arcy James is nominated for his lead the musical of the 1962 movie Days Of Wine And Roses, in which his role was played by Jack Lemmon, and the category is rounded out by Brody Grant in The Outsiders.

The best lead actress in a musical nominees include Wicked alumna Eden Espinosa for the title role in Lempicka, the story of the controversial interwar Polish painter Tamara Lempicka whose posthumous fanbase includes Madonna.

She is up against Maleah Joi Moon who plays Alicia Keys in Hell’s Kitchen, as well as Kelli O’Hara for Days Of Wine And Roses, Maryann Plunkett for the Rachel McAdams role in The Notebook and Gayle Rankin for the Liza Minnelli role in Cabaret.

Broadway titan Bebe Neuwirth has earned a nomination for best featured actress in a musical for her role as landlady Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club.

She is in a category that includes Shoshana Bean and Kecia Lewis for Hell’s Kitchen, Amber Iman for Lempicka, Nikki M James for Suffs, Lindsay Mendez for Merrily We Roll Along and Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer for a revival of Monty Python’s Spamalot.

In the best original score for a musical category, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim are nominated for their immersive musical Here Lies Love about Imelda Marcos.

So is Adam Guettel, the grandson of The Sound Of Music composer Richard Rodgers, for the score of Days Of Wine And Roses.

The best original score category includes Shaina Taub for Suffs, Will Butler for Stereophonic and Jonathan Clay, Zach Chance and Justin Levine for The Outsiders.

Meanwhile the best book of a musical nominations went to Kristoffer Diaz for Hell’s Kitchen, Bekah Brunstetter for The Notebook, Adam Rapp and Justin Levine for The Outsider, Shaina Taub for Suffs and Rick Elice for Water For Elephants.

For best play, Jocelyn Bioh is nominated for Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Amy Herzog for Mary Jane, Paula Vogel for Mother Play, Joshua Harmon for Prayer For The French Republic and David Adjmi for Stereophonic.

The best revival of a musical nominees were Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club, Gutenberg! The Musical!, Merrily We Roll Along and The Who’s Tommy.

Appropriate, An Enemy Of The People and Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through The Cotton Patch are up for Best Revival Of A Play.

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