Tony Awards 2017: Key Moments, Interesting Stats, Winners List
Monday, June 12, 2017 at 8:36AM by Nathaniel R
Last night the American theater community, and a boat load of adjacent stars (hello Tina Fey & Scarlett Johansson) celebrated Broadway triumphs at the 71st Annual Tony Awards. As expected the revival of Hello Dolly and Dear Evan Hansen owned the evening with 4 and 6 wins respectively. Composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are now halfway to the EGOT in less than half a year having picked up the Oscar for Best Original song for La La Land back in February. But the peak of the evening was Bette Midler's very funny, quite enthusiastic and extremely long acceptance for Best Actress in a Musical (the biggest lock of the evening going in). It's the first time I can recall a performer ignoring the orchestra trying to play her off so insistently that they finally gave up. Her speech had a whole and even better second act as if the orchestra's interruption was just a particularly noisy intermission!
Kevin Spacey began his hosting job with a very strange and anxiety ridden number about competing with the memories of Tony hosts like Neil Patrick Harris, James Corden, and Hugh Jackman...
Whoopi Goldberg made a cameo with an "in the closet" joke, which played very strangely given that she was standing right next to a man who's famously been inside one his whole career. For his part, Spacey relied heavily on his rather amazing if also dated impersonation skills trotting out his super Johnny Carson and Bill Clinton mimicry for mini-skits within the show. He also leaned into his past and present personal career peaks with American Beauty, Usual Suspects, and House of Cards jokes and cast reunions. But, alas, not a host for the ages even though he seemed like a smart choice on paper.
Glenn Close presented Bette Midler her Best Actress prize
Backstage before commercial breaks Crazy Ex Girlfriend's Rachel Bloom brought the theater nerd funny and maybe she should host in the future! More after the jump including a complete list of winners...
My favorite show of the season The Little Foxes won only two of its six nominations with Cynthia Nixon winning her second Tony (the first was for Rabbit Hole) for the verbally abused sad drunk auntie Birdie Hubbard so here's an interesting trivia note: Both of her Tony wins are for roles which other actresses were Oscar nominated but lost for! Though the Tony Awards do that awful thing where they no longer broadcast the craft winners The Little Foxes managed an unseen historic victory there; the costume designer Jane Greenwood won her very first competitive Tony on her 23rd nomination! Congrats to her. That was a long loooong time coming having already received a Lifetime Achievement Tony. Her first nomination was way back in 1965 for Tartuffe.
Though Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 was expected to win a small handful of Tonys if not Best Musical it managed only two for its wildly acclaimed and very showy scenic design and lighting. Six Degrees of Separation, The Glass Menagerie, and Sweat (the other shows we managed to review here at TFE) went home empty-handed as did other musicals of the season including Groundhog Day, War Paint, Miss Saigon, and Falsettos. The most pleasant surprise for me was Paula Vogel's new play Indecent winning for Lighting and Best Direction. The play itself had some issues I'd say but there were a number of times throughout where I absolutely caught my breath because both the staging and lighting were working with complete inspiration. Well earned Tonys, those!
The Winners (and a few stats)
First "La La Land". Now "Dear Evan Hansen". How soon till Pasek & Paul EGOT?
- Musical Dear Evan Hansen
- Play Oslo
- Revival of a Musical Hello, Dolly!
- Revival of a Play August Wilson's Jitney
- Actress in a Musical Bette Midler, Hello, Dolly!
- Actor in a Musical Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen
- Actress in a Play Laurie Metcalf, A Doll’s House, Part 2
This was Metcalf's fourth nomination and she bested another fourth-timer, The Lovely Laura Linney who has yet to win. The most nominated living actress at the Tonys without a win is, I believe, the great Jan Maxwell (recently seen on TV's shortlived but kinda weird and wonderful BrainDead) who has five nominations and has been nominated in every Actress category at the Tonys. (Audra McDonald is, I believe, the only actress who has actually won all four separate actress categories) - Actor in a Play Kevin Kline, Present Laughter
This was his fourth nomination and third win (the other two wins were for leading and featured roles in musicals decades ago). He's now won in 3 of the 4 male acting categories. He's never been nominated for Featured Actor in a Play but if he ever is that would complete the set. 
Long time marrieds Phoebe Cates & Kevin Kline at the Tonys- Book of a Musical Dear Evan Hansen, Steven Levenson
- Original Score Dear Evan Hansen, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul
- Featured Actor in a Play Michael Aronov, Oslo
- Featured Actress in a Play Cynthia Nixon, Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes
- Featured Actor in a Musical Gavin Creel, Hello, Dolly!
This is his sixth Broadway show but he's been waiting for a win since his first show, Thoroughly Modern Millie in 2002... so it was sweet to see that show's instant superstar Sutton Foster being the one to give him the award he's long sought last night. - Featured Actress in a Musical Rachel Bay Jones, Dear Evan Hansen
- Scenic Design of a Play Nigel Hook, The Play That Goes Wrong
- Scenic Design of a Musical Mimi Lien, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
- Costume Design of a Play Jane Greenwood, Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes
- Costume Design of a Musical Santo Loquasto, Hello, Dolly!
(You'll know his work from the filmography of Woody Allen where he's been Oscar nominated three times, twice in Production Design once for Costume Design. At the Tonys he has been nominated for both of those categories often for a total of 21 nominations. This marks his fourth career win) - Lighting Design of a Play Christopher Akerlind, Indecent
- Lighting Design of a Musical Bradley King, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
- Direction of a Play Rebecca Taichman, Indecent
Rebecca Taichman. Possibly a genius. We shall see with further shows...(This is the fifth win for a female director in this category in the new century! So there's a lot more gender balance at the Tonys than the Oscars thus far) - Direction of a Musical Christopher Ashley, Come From Away
- Choreography Andy Blankenbuehler, Bandstand
- Orchestrations Alex Lacamoire, Dear Evan Hansen
Non-competitive Categories
- Lifetime Achievement: James Earl Jones
- Special Tony: Gareth Fry & Pete Malkin, Sound Designers for The Encounter
- Regional Theatre: Dallas Theater Center, Dallas, TX
- Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award: Baayork Lee
- Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre: Nina Lannan, Alan Wasser
OUR OWN PRIZES FOR THE EVENING
Best Speech Bette Midler, Hello Dolly
Runner Up Cynthia Nixon, The Little Foxes
Most Confusing Haircut Tom Sturridge, Presenter
Most Conspicuous Crotch Padding: Andrew Rannells, Falsettos performance
Most Conspicuous Hat Wearing: Rachel Bloom, Backstage Antics
Most Forgot to Add Spoiler Alert Tony Performance: Miss Saigon
Most Overcompensating What Were They Thinking Performance: David Hyde Pierce, Hello Dolly!
He was trying so hard to keep the crowd enthused against just a curtain and all by himself for a "spectacle" show. I thought he might burst a vessel and bless him but that was a stupid, mega-stingy, and arguably petty move on the producers part to keep Bette Midler from performing on the show. She's in Hello Dolly for a very limited time and it's selling out so it's not like letting global viewers see her on the Tonys would hurt ticket sales. It's basically the only way that 99.9% of people will ever get to see her do it!
Most Visibly Excited About Winning: Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen
Runner Up: [TIE] Gavin Creel, Hello Dolly and/or Pasek & Paul Dear Evan Hansen
Most Visibly Disappointed By Losing: :(... Danny DeVito, Featured Actor in a Play
Tony Performance Most Likely to Sell Tickets: Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen
Runner Up: The super sexy company of Bandstand
Exit Photo: Anna Kendrick and flowers.
She was Tony nominated at just 12 years of age. When can we get Anna Kendrick back on Broadway?
DID YOU WATCH? DID YOUR FAVORITES WIN?
Reader Comments (48)
My only disappointment is Come From Away not winning Best Book. Dear Evan Hansen is a great choice, but Come From Away could have used that to help push future licensing. Plus, I'm big on rewarding ambition when it could be a coin toss decision.
I was not impressed by Groundhog's Day's or War Paint's performances. The rest were at least entertaining. I think Natasha, Pierre...may have scared people away with that frenetic performance which looked really confused on that stage. The set makes a huge difference to that staging. My favorite was Come From Away, though I wish CBS wasn't so quick to cut to a close up at the expense of the ensemble staging. When they showed the full stage, it was glorious.
The smugness of Spacey gets worse with age. Glad his hosting stint here will discourage Oscar producers from approaching him.
Does DEH have better songs than La La Land?
A couple of thoughts..... I agree that not allowing Bette to perform was a major mistake... was this decision 100% from the producers of the show? I would assume that Bette had some input.
Did you notice that the camera cut off Cynthia Nixon kissing her married partner Christine Marinoni.
Mostly a decent if not great show. The opening was kinda blah but Spacey was overall acceptable but not exciting.
Hey Nathaniel, as usual your entertaining observations were spot on . Thanks for keeping us smiling!
There wasn't a single performance last night which made me want to see any of the nominated productions. In fact, save for Dear Evan Hansen and Come from Away, they all appeared to be the worst representations of their respective shows.
As I watched the telecast last night, it hit me that -- at only 30 -- Condola Rashad has amassed three nominations in five years (in the same category no less). She's like the Amy Adams of the Tonys.
AR -- i haven't heard it yet so i can't answer that. Anyone? (p.s. i love LA LA LAND's songs so i don't get all the hate. a lot Broadway musicals wish they had any sogns as good as La La Land's "Audition" or "City of Stars")
/3rtful -- his smugness has been a turnoff since the early Aughts! I remain baffled as to how anyone can sit through his House of Cards mugging for 13 hours straight when they bingewatch.
Robert G -- yeah i have to say. I've been wanting to see WAR PAINT but that number did not convince me that I needed to and given that broadway tickets are pricey you really need to impress at the Tonys to use that rare free opportunity to promote your show! I did not think this was a good year at the Tonys for musical numbers. (Even the good shows had kind of meh choices -- I love Falsettos as a musical but what was that as an out of context number?)
I guess John Legend produced the August Wilson play—he's just an Emmy short of EGOT now.
Laurie won so YES
Why is my beloved Bette Midler wearing a wig?
It was reported that Hello Dolly producers wanted to perform from their theater rather than on stage at the Tony broadcast. They were concerned about dancers in an unfamiliar setting being injured. Tony organizers did not want to set a precedent, and so we were left with David Hyde Pierce.
I think they didn't put Bette singing because of some backstage drama where the Tony producers didn't relent to her and Dolly's producers demands or something like that, so they settle on Pierce instead.
Spacey is fun but so outdated.
Sturridge's haircut is actually very happening right now among hipsters lmao
I congratulate Gavin's win, but Andrew Rannels was ROBBED!
So sad for The Lovely Laura Linney. She'd better win next time.
I can not even imagine what would have happened on that stage had Patti won and accept the award from Glenn. Now THAT is war.
@AR - The music of DEH is much better than the meandering, broody LLL songs. Some great showcase songs for the two actors who won Tonys, but no real showstoppers à la Hamilton.
I'm not as fond of the Natasha & Pierre music as some others this year, but I can only imagine a live performance would be a dizzying experience. (In a good, overwhelming Moulin Rouge-y kind of way.)
I miss the days when plays were equally important. Go to Youtube and check Viola in 2001, Maggie Smith in 1990 or a super young Annette Bening in 1987.
I wish somebody could make Spacey be great again. Like in LA Confidential. I hate when actors I love destroy their careers.
¨ his smugness has been a turnoff since the early Aughts! ¨
Agree but every tweet linked and praised here (by people with no talent whatsoever) are filled with smugness. Should smugness be only reserved to bloggers and its comment sections now?
Strangely, I thought Bandstand actually sold some tickets last night...that number was sexy, energetic and beautifully choreographed.
War Paint is a glorious display of Patti and Christine's acting prowess and vocal chops. Christine singing the song, "Pink" is one for the ages. And Catherine Zuber's costumes are spot on. Plus, word is, this may be Patti's final bow in musicals.
Ugh. That "I'm coming out" joke was so gross. Just come out already, Spacey. You already have a Tony and two Oscars. Your career will be fine. (Well, "fine." I mean, it can't get worse than "Nine Lives.")
Cal Roth - did you see Margin Call? He was pretty great in that, although that was 6 years ago now.
So happy Metcalf won! Even if it was at the expense of Field and Linney.
And yes! Please let Rachel Bloom host next year! Her tiny hats and "I was waitlisted at Carnegie Melon" were so funny.
Geez Sturridge. Talk about hiding the hotness. Whyyyyyyy?
Lots of anti-Bette sentiment out there for not performing. I think it's a combination of producers greed (pay to see it instead!) and Bette giving no fucks whatsoever. Not a good look, Divine Miss M. The Tony community have memories like elephants. Don't expect to get a return invitation.
Kevin Spacey was one of worst hosts I think I've ever seen. JOHNNY CARSON? Gurl make the announcement in People already. You bitches are craving Neil "stop hosting so damn much!" Patrick Harris now, aren't you?
I Hope Scott Rudin make a remake of Hello, Dolly! With Bette Midler.
If Ryan Murphy could do series and plays ONLY for actress winning Awards, Rudin could too.
In my dreams, Glenn Close coronation started yesterday. 😍
She Will not be ignored this year, AMPAS!
I've long been a proponent of Kevin Spacey being Oscar host, but he did himself no favors last night. Maybe I'd been fooled by his Carson impression into thinking that he'd carry the smoothness of Carson over to his hosting duties, but I think I was wrong. Something just seemed a little awkward from the get-go. Sure, he's not known for humor, but I wanted a little more chuckles and a little more enthusiasm from him in what I took to be his tryout for being Oscar Host in February/March 2019.
I'm still not over The Great Comet's loss of Direction of a Musical. Apparently Come From Away does quite a lot with VERY little, but Comet is freaking GENIUS on every level (in case you didn't get that from the review I wrote of it right here on TFE) and most of it starts with Rachel Chavkin's brilliant direction. I'm also not over the same show's loss of the Best Orchestrations award to Dear Evan Hansen, because while the songs I've heard from Dear Evan Hansen are quite lovely, again, Comet is genius-level, constantly surprising with the orchestrations. Listen to both of the cast recordings and tell me why Evan Hansen deserved that award. I just don't hear it.
Kevin Spacey was a terrible host. A bit smarmy and his jokes just weren't landing. I can't believe they were cutting winners off and then wasting time with Spacey's House of Cards bit and that needless finale number.
After last year's historic wins for people of color, this year's big winners are once again not very diverse except for Jitney's win for play revival. At least the nominees continue to be diverse with Eva Noblezada hopefully starting a long, great career.
It continues to pain me that I wasn't able to get tickets to DEAR EVAN HANSEN's pre-Broadway run in D.C...hooray for Ben Platt! He stole the show in PITCH PERFECT.
I'm soooooooo glad Nixon won and especially for her performance as Birdie. She brought tears to my eyes with her monologue and i just never saw anyone being soooooo convincing on stage before. I also think of this win as a consolation prize for her powerhouse Quiet Passion performance that AMPAS will ignore (just like James White....).
I have to check the WarPaint number on Youtube but the show was really a Diva Dream came true. LuPone and Ebersole are everything you can hope for in it and the production/costume design is lavish. Really worth seing !!!
I'm really happy for Laurie Metcalf even if i didn't see her show (nor any of her Broadway performances nor any episode of Roseanne) but her guest performance in Desperate Housewives was electric and i have cherished her hysterical turn in Scream 2 since i was a teenager. But, a Sally FIeld win would have been a great surprise since it was the only nomination for a very underrated show i just can't stop thinking about : such a haunting experience ....
Dancin' Dan--wholeheartedly agree re Comet and Come from Away. I saw both shows prior to their Broadway debuts and while Come from Away was charming and sweet, Comet was just so magical; in the top 5 of my fav theatrical experiences of all time.
Can Jennifer Ehle be in everything? I love her poise (even from her seat in the audience) and the sound of her voice.
Also, I love how the playwrights gave elevator speeches about their work. NEVER enough credit and time to writers...
This show could've been at least an hour less. The Radio City Rockettes, the food gag in the audience, etc. I love that the Broadway theater community is one of the most upbeat and supportive, which makes the Tonys one of the more enjoyable award shows, but alot of filler this year. We were cheated out of Bette's performance. I felt sorry for DHP for shouldering that one number for the Best Revival of the year.
Laura Linney is indeed lovely and would have made an excellent Best Actress in a Play winner, but I was so happy for the wonderful Laurie Metcalf. She's a first-rate talent and seems like such a nice, down-to-earth person. Terrific category overall!
I assume you're all well-aware that outside our bubbles Spacey is widely revered, especially for his Frank Underwood. Just ask your dads.
That is Tom Sturridge? Ew... that is an awful haircut and what did Olivia Wilde do to present with him?
Also, I'm confused by Nat's comments about David Hyde Pierce's number. I thought he pretty much sleep-walked (slept-walked?) through it. Boring number, boring presentation, boring performance. It was strangely sad.
@ Pablo - Best comment of 2017 so far, especially the "by people with no talent whatsoever". Plunged the knife and twisted it.
Pablo & Carmen -- i believe for someone to plunge a knife in metaphorically the intended target has to understand that you're stabbing them. Not sure what you're both on about. Is it merely that you're Kevin Spacey fans (he has been divisive for years so I hope you're okay with dealing with all his haters) and thus annoyed that he didn't get great reviews?
DjDeeDay -- perhaps I didn't word that clearly. I was also bored. But I thought he was trying really hard NOT to bore. He seemed very invested in that so I guess we have diametric opinions on his performance. We both didn't enjoy it but one of us thought he was really trying to make us enjoy it :)
Mike - exactly. But what does Linney have to do to win awards? At least she has Emmys but she cant seem to win a Tony or Oscar for the life of her despite multiple nods and often for just stellar work.
Bette's speech was great, but the telecast suffered for the lack of her performance. It was really a travesty.
I agree that the numbers were lackluster, poorly mixed or staged. Dear Evan Hansen is the only one that left me actually wanting to see the show. (Although I saw War Paint and there isn't much to recommend it.)
How does Nixon as a featured actor and Linney as a lead actor work when she and Linney swap parts?
The "Bandstand" number was sensational- and it doesn't hurt to start off with a hot looking leading man Corey Cott flashing his hairy chest.
I wondered the same exact thing Glenn!
When I heard Midler was going to be in Hello Dolly well over a year ago. I was so excited. Could not wait to see it. Great theatre - same theatre as where a chorus line was. Then I see the ticket prices - $300 for nose bleeds. Plus i think midler takes Tuesdays off. Then the crappy DHP number (not really his fault) - and she doesn't perform. PLUS she told the orchestra to "stop that crap" - augh. Big Big turnoff. Not at all interested. i think i'd prefer "Bandstand".
Nathaniel: I hate Kevin Spacey as much as I hate smugness and arrogancy. But based on the tweets that the site quotes as if they were incredibly intelligent and awesome I am surprised you see smugness as a flaw as well.
At least in an actor I accept it more that in tweeters (Is that a profession?) because there´s a body of work that envolves taking risks and dealing with exposure.
That´s all.
I absolutely adore Bette Midler but she has to be a nightmare to work with.
The explosion of creativity on Broadway over the last three seasons warms my heart. What a year it's been.
Dan, I just listened to you on The Next Best Theater podcast. You are hilarious, it was so enjoyable!
Linney and Nixon were placed according to their opening night billing. That's why they were nominated as they were despite sharing the roles.
Critics are dragging Spacey's hosting job for filth, so there's one bright light to such an awful Tonys broadcast this year.
I read somewhere that Bette Midler could not perform at the Tony's per her contract or something along those lines. Too bad really. I'm happy she won though!
I didn't think Kevin Spacey was THAT bad. He wasn't nearly as charming as James Corden, obviously, but he was ok. However, as an actor he hasn't excited me since American Beauty, and I just cannot understand the acclaim of House of Cards.
The most pathetic moment of the night was David Hyde Pierce's performance from Hello, Dolly! My god, what a letdown. No wonder that number was cut from the original. Since I would have to sell my kidney to see a performance of that show, I was so looking forward to a number of Put on Your Sunday Shoes or perhaps the title number.
Also, that number from The Great Comet was a mess too. I've heard such great things about that show, that I think you just have to experience it in the theatre. Did not transfer well to a large stage at the Tonys.
I'm definitely piqued by Dear Evan Hansen, but especially Come From Away, which I thought had the best overall Tony performance of the night.
The "Hello Dolly" producers are making so much money they thought they did not need to sell the show- from what I saw "Come From Away" and "Bandstand" looked the best
I was really looking forward to this year's Tony Awards only for the fact that I knew Bette Middler would give a memorable, show stopping performance. Yikes. Never mind. Maybe I'm just bitter but I found that whole thing kind of pathetic.
Unfortunately most, not all but most, of the musical numbers were pretty meh. Come From Away must be the worst, most miserable musical all of the time. Those accents. Those lyrics. That stomping. Oy.
Kevin Spacey should retire. Those impressions -- very topical!
LOL @ Glenn Close presenting Best Actress and pretending not to be bitter she couldn't be nominated again this year.
Rachel Bay Jones gave the best speech of the night. How come no one has mentioned that?
Rachel Bloom is a joy and winner of life.
Pablo -- I think you may be reading too much into the selection of tweets once a week or every other week. It's more bite sized amusements than honors for saying something incredibly intelligent. Twitter is a highly specific thing. Say something in 140 characters and generally only long twitter threads which can go on like essays are nuanced examples of intellectual arguments. Anyway, I can smugness like all adjectives, is in the eye of the beholder.
Brad -- cosign on Rachel Bloom.
Glenn & Jimmy - what Xavier said. and, as previously discussed, to go against opening night billing in terms of Tony eligiblity you have to petition the Tony nominating committee and from my understanding they didn't. I could be wrong on that note though. (I didn't know this at first but it's of note: Linney was also the one originally cast as Regina and does it once more than Nixon per week. It was also Linney's idea to do the role switching when she learned that Nixon had always dreamed of playing Regina. So it's kind of like a Nixon sharing Linney's role rather than an equal split if that makes sense)
I would have howled if Glenn had to hand Patti the Tony and Patti's opening line in her speech was, "Glenn, I accept this as your apology for Sunset Blvd." lol
@ Pablo - Preach!
I'll add to that the latest crop of smug, navel-gazing reviewers who approach the movies from the unexplicably entitled position of feeling superior to the material and/or the people whose work they assess, despite lacking any sizeable achievements of their own.
@ Carmen
I think the entitlement and navel gazing is an unfortunate negative side effect of the obsession with identity politics in the blogosphere. Anyone who belongs to a minority/opressed group ( but living in a very rich first wold country, of course) that has recently learned the existence of words like ¨ patriarchy ¨ or ¨privilege ¨ and terms like ¨whitewashing¨ and ¨mansplaining ¨ is convinced that his/her review or comment in the internet has to be automatically considered witty, cool, funny, intellectual, academic, progressive, revolutionary, heroic and subversive. But what you usually get is a combination of laziness and politically correct arrogancy.
Your unique perspective and your identity should complement the work/talent/research/writing skills (and it is great when it does). But it should not REPLACE those things or take them out of the equation.