Schmigadoon!, a parody of golden age musicals, took home the Tony Award for best musical Sunday, in a ceremony that recognized a number of longtime Broadway actors for the first time and well-known players like John Lithgow and Laurie Metcalf.
“Sometimes singing, dancing, a lot of jokes, and a happy ending is really all you need,” said Saturday Night Live’s Lorne Michaels, as he took the stage as lead producer of Schmigadoon!
The musical, which is adapted from the Apple TV show, won four awards at the ceremony, which was hosted by Pink, in an energetic awards show that included wins for Alden Ehrenreich, for his sharp-tongued role in the dark comedy Becky Shaw, Joshua Henry and Caissie Levy of Ragtime and more.
Pulitzer Prize winner Liberation won the Tony for best play, beating out Giant and Little Bear Ridge Road, making playwright Bess Wohl only the second American woman to win in the category and the first in close to 40 years.
While Cats: The Jellicle Ball, which reimagines the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical as a queer ballroom competition, had early momentum in the telecast, with wins for direction, costumes and choreography, Ragtime, a revival about racial and class tensions in the early 1900s, took home the Tony Award for best revival, in what was widely viewed as the closest race at the Tonys. The musical, directed by Lear DeBessonet, took home four Tonys Sunday, including nods for two of its lead actors.
