| 75th Tony Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Date | June 12, 2022 | |||
| Venue | Radio City Music Hall | |||
| Hosted by | Ariana DeBose Darren Criss andJulianne Hough (preshow) | |||
| Most wins | Company andThe Lehman Trilogy (5) | |||
| Most nominations | A Strange Loop (11) | |||
| Website | tonyawards | |||
| Television/radio coverage | ||||
| Network | CBS Paramount+ | |||
| Viewership | 3.9 million | |||
| Produced by | Ricky Kirshner Glenn Weiss | |||
| Directed by | Glenn Weiss | |||
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The75th Tony Awards were held on June 12, 2022, to recognize achievement inBroadway productions during the 2021–22 season. The ceremony was held atRadio City Music Hall in New York City, withAriana DeBose serving as host of the main ceremony, andDarren Criss andJulianne Hough co-hosting a streaming pre-show.
The most-awarded productions of the season were the new playThe Lehman Trilogy, which won five awards, includingBest Play, and the revival ofStephen Sondheim's musicalCompany, which also won five awards, includingBest Revival of a Musical. ThePulitzer Prize-winning musicalA Strange Loop was the most-nominated show of the season, with 11 nominations, and wonBest Musical, becoming the first Best Musical winner to win only two awards total since42nd Street (1981).
With her nomination forBest Featured Actress in a Musical inA Strange Loop,L Morgan Lee became the first openlytransgender person to be nominated for a Tony.[1] Additionally, with her win as a lead producer ofA Strange Loop,Jennifer Hudson became the 17th person to win theEGOT in their entertainment career.[2]
Returning to its usual June scheduling, the ceremony's telecast was split betweenParamount+ andCBS. Paramount+ streamed an hour-long pre-show,The Tony Awards: Act One, which was hosted byDarren Criss andJulianne Hough and featured "special performances" and the presentation of selected awards.[3] It was followed by the main ceremony telecast on CBS and Paramount+, which was hosted byAriana DeBose. For the first time, the ceremony was televised live nationally.[4][5][6]
The Tony Awards eligibility cut-off date for the 2021–22 season was May 4, 2022 for all Broadway productions which meet all other eligibility requirements.[7] Nominations for the 2022 Tony Awards were announced byAdrienne Warren andJoshua Henry on May 9, 2022. They were initially going to be announced on May 3, but were extended a week to accommodate possible COVID-19 outbreaks.[8][9][10][11] A revival ofWest Side Story that opened on February 20, 2020 was considered ineligible for the74th Tony Awards because too few nominators and voters had seen it before Broadway shut down on March 12, 2020 due to thepandemic, and it did not resume when Broadway reopened in September 2021.
34 shows were eligible. All eligible shows are below.[12]
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Winners are listed first, and are highlighted inboldface:[13]
‡ The award is presented to the producer(s) of the musical or play.
| Names | Accolade |
|---|---|
| Robert E. Wankel[a] | Isabelle Stevenson Award[14] |
| Angela Lansbury | Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.[15] |
| Asian American Performers Action Coalition | Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre[16][17] |
| Broadway for All | |
| music copyist Emily Grishman | |
| Feinstein's/54 Below | |
| United Scenic Artists (Local USA 829,IATSE) | |
| Court Theatre | TheRegional Tony Award[18] |
| James C. Nicola, retiring artistic director of theNYTW | Special Tony Award.[19] |
Act One:
| Names | Notes |
|---|---|
| Vanessa Hudgens | presentedBest Original Score |
| Judith Light | presentedBest Costume Design in a Play andBest Costume Design in a Musical |
| Wilson Cruz | presentedBest Scenic Design in a Play andBest Scenic Design in a Musical |
| Jeremy Pope | presentedBest Lighting Design in a Play andBest Lighting Design in a Musical |
| Len Cariou | presentedSpecial Tony Award toAngela Lansbury and introducedNew York City Gay Men's Chorus |
| George Takei | presentedBest Sound Design of a Play andBest Sound Design of a Musical |
| Gaten Matarazzo | presentedBest Orchestrations |
| Bebe Neuwirth | presentedBest Choreography |
Main Show:
| Names | Notes |
|---|---|
| Jessica Chastain andColman Domingo | presentedBest Featured Actor in a Play |
| Patrick Wilson | IntroducedThe Music Man |
| Kelli O'Hara andRuthie Ann Miles | presentedBest Featured Actress in a Musical |
| Prince Jackson andParis Jackson | introducedMJ the Musical |
| Josh Lucas andSarah Paulson | presentedBest Direction of a Play andBest Direction of a Musical |
| Sarah Silverman | IntroducedMr. Saturday Night |
| Skylar Astin andMarcia Gay Harden | presentedBest Featured Actress in a Play |
| Patina Miller | introducedCompany |
| Lilli Cooper and Julia Schick | Special presentation on the Tonys' history |
| LaTanya Richardson Jackson andSamuel L. Jackson | presentedBest Revival of a Play |
| Anthony Edwards | IntroducedGirl from the North Country |
| Utkarsh Ambudkar andRaúl Esparza | presentedBest Featured Actor in a Musical |
| Lin-Manuel Miranda | presenter of theStephen Sondheim tribute |
| Darren Criss andJulianne Hough | presentedBest Book of a Musical |
| Renée Elise Goldsberry andPhillipa Soo | presentedBest Revival of a Musical |
| Jennifer Hudson andRuPaul Charles | IntroducedA Strange Loop |
| Telly Leung | presented Excellence in Theatre Education Award |
| Zach Braff andLea Michele | Introduced the original cast ofSpring Awakening |
| Andrew Garfield andNathan Lane | presentedBest Play |
| David Alan Grier | IntroducedParadise Square |
| Tony Goldwyn andBryan Cranston | presentedBest Actor in a Play |
| Tony Shalhoub andDanny Burstein | presentedBest Actress in a Play |
| Laurence Fishburne | presenter of the In Memoriam tribute |
| Adrienne Warren andAaron Tveit | presentedBest Actor in a Musical |
| Danielle Brooks andCynthia Erivo | presentedBest Actress in a Musical |
| Bowen Yang | IntroducedSix |
| Chita Rivera | presentedBest Musical |
Performances
The following shows and performers performed on the ceremony's telecast:[20]
Act One:
| Names | Song |
|---|---|
| Darren Criss andJulianne Hough | "Set the Stage" |
| New York City Gay Men's Chorus | "Mame" |
Main Show:
| Names | Song(s) |
|---|---|
| Ariana DeBose | "This Is Your Round of Applause" |
| The Music Man | "Seventy-Six Trombones" |
| MJ | "Smooth Criminal" |
| Mr. Saturday Night | "Stick Around" / "Buddy's First Act" |
| Company | "Company" |
| Girl from the North Country | "Like a Rolling Stone" / "Pressing On" |
| Bernadette Peters | "Children Will Listen" |
| A Strange Loop | "Intermission Song" / "Today" |
| The Original Cast ofSpring Awakening | "Touch Me" |
| Paradise Square | "Paradise Square" / "Let It Burn" |
| Billy Porter | "On the Street Where You Live" |
| Six | "Ex-Wives" / "Six" |
| Ariana DeBose | "This Is Your Round of Applause" (Reprise) |
The ceremony received generally favorable reviews from critics. On the review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the program received six positive and two negative reviews, for an approval rating of 75%.[21]
InVariety, Gordon Cox praised the opening number of the CBS telecast and DeBose's performance as host therein, singling out the performance as "hip and queer and sexy, and it satisfied the old-school avids as much as it made Broadway look like a place the cool kids might want to check out, too".[22] Jennifer Vanasco ofNPR also praised DeBose, writing "Let Ariana DeBose host everything [...] She was funny and playful, strutting into the audience and sitting onAndrew Garfield's lap. She was poignant, coming to tears as she talked about her theater teacher mentor. She was honest, gently commenting on the racial disparities in the theater industry".[23] Writing for theAssociated Press, Jocelyn Noveck called the telecast "exuberant" and said that it showed "Broadway is back, with verve and creativity, and it is here to stay. It just needs even more people filling the seats".[24]
Johnny Oleksinski of theNew York Post panned the show, describing it as "low-energy, poorly put-on", writing that DeBose's "songs and banter were forced and unfunny", and heavily criticizing the ceremony's tribute toStephen Sondheim, which he deemed "far too modest [...] a total afterthought".[25]
The CBS telecast was watched by 3.86 million viewers in the United States, marking a 39% increase from theprevious year's ceremony, the lowest-rated Tony Awards broadcast since viewership was measured. However, when compared to the73rd Tony Awards in 2019, which were the last one before the 75th to run three hours and the last one before the COVID-19 pandemic, viewership declined 29% between 2019 and 2022.[26]
Actor Billy Porter PerformedOn the Street Where You Live From The musicalMy Fair Lady.
