August Wilson’s “Jitney” took home best play revival honors and Ben Platt held the audience and a Tony Award in the palm of his deserving hand at the 71st annual Tony Awards on Sunday night.
The ceremony honoring Broadway’s best entered the post-”Hamilton” era on a night that belonged to Mr. Platt, the remarkable 23-year-old who has been the toast of Broadway this season as the star of best musical “Dear Evan Hansen,” with “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda passing the torch as a presenter.
Mr. Platt earned two standing ovations from his peers at Radio City Music Hall in New York, for his performance of “Waving Through a Window” and for his victory as best actor in a musical, and “Dear Evan Hansen” finished the night with six Tony wins.
“It’s everything I’ve ever loved, and where I belong,” Mr. Platt said of his Broadway debut.
Oscar- and Tony-winner Kevin Spacey was a first-time Tonys host, showing off some musical theater chops and his skills with impressions as he got by with a little help from friends such as Billy Crystal, Stephen Colbert and Whoopi Goldberg to open the show.
“Jitney,” by the late Pittsburgh playwright Wilson, was named top revival in an unlikely scenario, as this was the show’s first time on Broadway — more than 20 years after its professional premiere at Pittsburgh Public Theater. Set in the 1970s, “Jitney” tells the story of drivers working at a station in the Hill District, where licensed taxi cabs refused to go.
BEST MUSICAL: “Dear Evan Hansen”
BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL: “Hello, Dolly!”
BEST PLAY: “Oslo”
BEST PLAY REVIVAL: August Wilson’s “Jitney”
LEAD ACTOR IN A MUSICAL: Ben Platt, “Dear Evan Hansen”
LEAD ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL: Bette Midler, “Hello, Dolly!”
LEAD ACTOR IN A PLAY: Kevin Kline, “Present Laughter”
LEAD ACTRESS IN A PLAY: Laurie Metcalf, “A Doll’s House, Part 2”
FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL: Gavin Creel, “Hello, Dolly!”
FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL: Rachel Bay Jones, “Dear Evan Hansen”
FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY: Michael Aronov, “Oslo”
FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY: Cynthia Nixon, “Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes”
The play debuted on Broadway last year, but the Tonys’ rules state that a play or musical considered to be “a classic or in the historical or popular repertoire” may be eligible in the revival category.
“Jitney” is part of the late Pittsburgh playwright’s American Century Cycle — 10 plays about African-American lives, representing each decade of the 20th century, with nine set in the Hill District. “Jitney” now is part of the Broadway Cycle, with all 10 having had productions on the Great White Way. Nine were Tony nominees for best play, with “Fences” winning twice, as a new play and best revival.
Producer Lynne Meadow accepted the award as the “Jitney” team, including co-producer John Legend, came onstage. “it was a complete privilege and honor to produce this show,” Ms. Meadow said.
She then honored Wilson by saying, “Jitney is a shining example of his brilliance and his poetry, his deep insight into the human heart, his belief in the importance of coming together in community, to overcome adversity and to celebrate our shared humanity.”
Best director of a play went to Rachel Taichman for Paula Vogel’s “Indecent,” a surprise after “Jitney’s” Ruben Santiago-Hudson took home the Drama Desk Award last Sunday.
In a record-breaking Broadway season of $1.45 billion at the box office, among the biggest draws was newly crowned Tony Award winner Bette Midler, for her lead performance in best musical revival winner “Hello, Dolly!”
The Divine Miss M’s still got it at 72. She first hit Broadway at age 19, in “Fiddler on the Roof,” but “Hello, Dolly!” is her first time headlining a musical that wasn’t a concert or revue.
“I’d like to thank the Tony voters, many of whom I’ve actually dated,” Ms. Midler said in her long list of thank-yous.
Ms. Midler topped two of Broadway’s best, “War Paint” co-stars Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, and two ingenues, Denee Benton of Carnegie Mellon in “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” and “Miss Saigon’s” Eva Noblezada, who was discovered at the National High School Musical Theater Awards.
Fox Chapel native and CMU grad Christian Borle, a two-time Tony-winner, was nominated for lead actor in a musical for “Falsettos,” but this was the year of Ben Platt. It was appropriate that host Mr. Spacey opened the night with a closeup of an arm cast — Evan wears one throughout the musical that tells the story of an awkward, bullied teen, whose fortunes are changed by a lie that snowballs on social media.
Rachel Bay Jones, so moving as Evan’s single mother, took home best featured actress in a musical.
With seven nominations, “Come From Away” is as pure an ensemble piece as there is among the nominated musicals, and it earned a Tony for best director Christopher Ashley.
The best play category was stocked with first-time writers, including Lynn Nottage, a Pulitzer Prize-winner for “Sweat,” and Pulitzer-winner Paula Vogel for “Indecent,” but it was J.T. Rogers’ “Oslo,” about the Palestinian-Israeli peace accord, that took home the top prize. Lucas Hnath’s “A Doll’s House, Part 2” — a sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 “A Doll’s House” — also was in the mix and starred Tony winner Laurie Metcalf and Chris Cooper.
Ms. Metcalf and Laura Linney (the revival of Lillian Hellman’s “The Little Foxes”) were the frontrunners for lead actress in a play going down the stretch, but it was her co-star, featured actress winner Cynthia Nixon, who took home Tonys hardware Sunday.
Kevin Kline took home his third Tony Award, this time as lead actor in a play for “Present Laughter. “I want to thank everybody,” he said. “We don’t do this alone you know.” He added his mentors and teachers to the list, and put in a plug as well for the National Endowment for the Arts.
Mr. Spacey, the first-time host and two-time Tony Award winner, performed a brassy song-and-dance number covering the breadth of the musical season before Scarlett Johansson arrived on stage to bestow the first award and first surprise of the night: best featured actor in a play, Michael Aronov for “Oslo.” Most predictors had picked Danny DeVito for Arthur Miller’s “The Price.”
Gavin Creel was the winner as best featured actor in a musical for “Hello, Dolly!” and asked the wealthy among the folks at Radio City Music Hall to start a scholarship, “and change someone’s life” the way a scholarship had changed his.
“Hamilton” alums Andy Blankenbuehler won for best choreography of the World War II musical “Bandstand,” starring Laura Osnes and CMU alum Corey Cott, and Alex Lacamoire was a winner for the “Dear Evan Hansen” orchestrations.
Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg.
First Published: June 12, 2017, 2:32 a.m.
