The 79th annual Tony Awards were already tilting toward a few early front-runners Sunday night at Radio City Music Hall in New York, with Laurie Metcalf winning featured actress in a play for Death of a Salesman. The win gave Metcalf her third career Tony and helped push the production to six awards so far.
The live ceremony, hosted by P!nk, was still unfolding after the 90-minute Tony Awards: Act One pre-show wrapped on Pluto TV, but the scoreboard had started to tell a clear story. Death of a Salesman also had collected awards for Joe Mantello’s direction, lighting design, scenic design, sound design and best revival of a play, while Ragtime joined it among the revival winners.
For readers following Scott Rudin productions and the rest of Broadway’s biggest names, Sunday’s show quickly became a snapshot of which titles were separating themselves from the field. John Lithgow won lead actor in a play for Giant, his third Tony win ever, Lesley Manville won for playing Mark Strong’s wife and mother in Oedipus, and Alden Ehrenreich picked up featured actor in a play for Becky Shaw.
One of the night’s sharpest twists came from the show with the most noise before curtain time. The Lost Boys had entered tied with Schmigadoon! at 12 nominations, but Schmigadoon! had already grabbed multiple early awards, including Cinco Paul’s book, original score and orchestrations. The Lost Boys still answered with wins for featured performers Ali Louis Bourzgui and Shoshana Bean, plus scenic design and lighting design.
Elsewhere, Cats: The Jellicle Ball scored on multiple fronts, winning direction for a musical, choreography and Qween Jean’s costume design in a musical. That made Jean the first opening trans Tony winner ever, a milestone that landed among the night’s earliest and most watched moments.
With major categories still to be announced, Sunday’s Tony race had already narrowed around a handful of productions. Death of a Salesman was the night’s pace-setter on six wins, but the remaining awards would decide whether it finished as the ceremony’s biggest winner or whether another title, helped by an early burst from Schmigadoon! or The Lost Boys, could still catch it.
