Tony Awards Sunday crowned Bess Wohl’s “Liberation” as best new play and gave John Lithgow his first Tony for lead actor in a play. The night also featured Pink’s harness-and“Lady Marmalade” opening, a show of blockbuster momentum from “Death of a Salesman,” a
NEW YORK — The night kicked off with Pink spinning into the lights and dangling uncomfortably from a harness over the stage. dressed like Peter Pan. For a first-time host, it was a bold way to arrive. Former host Neil Patrick Harris stepped in immediately. urging her to be herself instead of leaning so hard into the bit.
“You’re Pink, Pink. You can do anything,” Harris told her.
Pink lifted Harris off the stage with her legs, then softened the act by taking off her harness. She added a top hat and moved into an extended “Lady Marmalade. ” pulling in contributions from dozens of performers. including Lea Michele and Megan Thee Stallion. The performance stretched long enough to reach some strange new lyrics like “Gitchie. gitchie. Laurie Metcalf. ” and it grew to 170 performers on stage. spilling into the aisles.
When Pink turned to her opening remarks, she framed herself as a lifelong theater devotee. “I’m not here just to steal peoples’ wigs, although I will be doing that. I’m here to celebrate the hardest-working people in show business,” she said. She also called herself theater’s second-biggest fan after her teenage daughter, Willow. Even so, the show’s real turning points came as the awards began to land.
Bess Wohl won best new play for “Liberation,” a memory play about a consciousness-raising women’s group in 1970s Ohio. The production collects stories from second-wave feminists from all walks of life as they tackle misogyny. internalized homophobia. racism. domestic abuse and traditional gender roles. Earlier this year, “Liberation” also won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
Wohl’s moment on stage was personal. “This is the honor of a lifetime,” she said, thanking her mom, daughters and female producers. She added that it had been almost 40 years since an American woman won this award, and she dedicated the night to her.
With the win. Wohl became only the fourth woman to win a best play Tony. joining Wendy Wasserstein. Yasmina Reza and Frances Goodrich. “Liberation” also joined a list of 18 plays that have won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and the Tony Award in the same year. including “Death of a Salesman. ” a well-received revival this year.
John Lithgow’s first Tony of the night came next. He took home the first award for “Giant. ” winning best lead actor in a play for playing children’s author Roald Dahl in Mark Rosenblatt’s production set in 1983. when the author is facing intense backlash for his antisemitic comments. The role earned Lithgow his first Olivier Award in London and now the Tony for lead actor in a play. his third.
The win pushed Lithgow into a rare company. It puts him in an exclusive group of actors who have won in three separate acting categories. He previously won featured actor in a play for “The Changing Room” and lead actor in a musical for “Sweet Smell of Success.”
“Two Tony bookends with 53 years between them,” Lithgow said. “In those years, I have worked with hundreds of just fantastic theater artists. I’ve had dozens and dozens of ecstatic moments on the stage, but I have to tell you right now, this moment has got to be one of the best.”
The momentum behind “Death of a Salesman” kept rolling, too. A blockbuster revival of the Arthur Miller classic was racking up awards even before the halfway mark. and the show ultimately won at least five Tonys. Steppenwolf ensemble member Laurie Metcalf won her third Tony for playing Willy Loman’s wife opposite Nathan Lane in “Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. ” which also won for best director. lighting. scenic design and sound design.
Metcalf’s year on Broadway had been busy. The former television star. who notably portrayed Jackie on hit sitcom “Roseanne. ” had a lead role in “Little Bear Ridge Road.” That show premiered at Steppenwolf in 2024 before transferring to Broadway. Penned by Samuel D. Hunter, the production is up for best new play.
The Tony field also carried Chicago ties beyond “Liberation.” Carrie Coon was nominated for best lead actress for her performance in “Bug.” The play was written by her husband and fellow Steppenwolf ensemble member Tracy Letts in 1996. and it was revived on Broadway this winter. This marked the second Tony nomination for Coon. who also made headlines last year for her performance in HBO’s “White Lotus.” In the category she didn’t win. the award went to Lesley Manville of “Oedipus.”.
For those watching direction and design races, Whitney White’s work kept a focus on “Liberation.” The Chicago native nabbed her second Tony nomination for best direction of “Liberation,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning dramedy examining new-wave feminism through the lens of six women in the 1970s Ohio.
Over in the musical direction race, “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” took a major win. The reimagined 1980s feline musical as a celebration of queer ballroom culture won for best direction of a musical by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch.
Levingston’s speech pointed to both legacy and the present. “We honor the Black and brown trans women and gay men who were ballroom’s pioneers. as well as today’s icons. and our cast of astonishing triple-threats. including people from their 20s to their 80s. and every decade in between. ” Levingston said.
The show’s pre-telecast also offered its own milestones. Qween Jean became the first openly trans Tony winner ever for making the costumes for “Cats: The Jellicle Ball.” Kai Harada. nominated twice for the sound design of a musical. didn’t initially know which one he had won for until told onstage — “Ragtime.”.
Pink’s opening also connected the night’s biggest name performances to the broader ceremony. “Schmigadoon!” and “Death of a Salesman” each went into the main telecast with a lead of three Tonys after a pre-show on Pluto TV hosted by Laura Benanti and Tituss Burgess that announced the more technical awards.
The evening carried not just trophies but the pressure of Broadway economics. Twenty-four Broadway shows were hoping to nab at least one win Sunday across the 26 Tony categories, since even a single victory can mean the difference between keeping the doors open and pulling down the curtain.
In the performance lineup, there were appearances from the seven best new musical and best musical revival nominees: “The Lost Boys,” “Schmigadoon!,” “Titanique,” “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York),” “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” “Ragtime” and “The Rocky Horror Show.”
Other performances included the original lead cast members of “The Book of Mormon” — Josh Gad. Andrew Rannells. Rory O’Malley and Nikki M. James — celebrating its 15th anniversary. Leslie Odom, Jr. was set to sing “Without You” from “Rent” during the In Memoriam section. in honor of that show’s 30th anniversary.
“Chicago. ” now at 30. also earned a slot featuring Pink. along with Queen Latifah. Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Alex Newell. Adrienne Warren. Julianne Hough. Whitney Leavitt and Dylan Mulvaney. And “A Chorus Line,” which last year celebrated its 50th anniversary, received a special tribute by Rachel Zegler.
The races that shaped the evening’s stakes ranged widely. The competition for best new musical was between four very different shows: “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). ” an opposites-attract rom-com; “The Lost Boys. ” a stage adaptation of a 1987 teen movie vampire thriller; “Schmigadoon!. ” which gently mocks Golden-Age Broadway shows; and “Titanique. ” a camp musical comedy that reimagines the 1997 movie “Titanic.”.
In the two top best play nominees, “Giant,” exploring accusations of antisemitism against children’s author Roald Dahl, met “Liberation,” which explores inequality, gender roles and racism through the story of a consciousness-raising women’s group in the 1970s.
The revival categories brought their own contrasts: “Death of a Salesman” competed for best play revival with a modern-set “Oedipus” led by Marc Strong and a sweet “Every Brilliant Thing” starring Daniel Radcliffe. The best musical revival field included a new “Cats” reimagined as a “Pose”-like competition show. the sweeping American history show “Ragtime” and a rollicking. frisky “The Rocky Horror Show.”.
Tony Awards Pink John Lithgow Bess Wohl Liberation Death of a Salesman Laurie Metcalf Cats: The Jellicle Ball Zhailon Levingston Neil Patrick Harris Broadway Roald Dahl Giant Oedipus