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Sept. 26, 2021, 7:41 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:41 p.m. ET

Read moreJudge cancels Rod Stewart's trial, sets plea deal hearing | Us World News
Lois Smith is the oldest performer to win a Tony.
Sept. 26, 2021, 7:40 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:40 p.m. ET

Before ‘Hamilton’ and ‘In the Heights,’ Lin-Manuel Miranda had ‘Freestyle Love Supreme.’
Sept. 26, 2021, 6:20 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 6:20 p.m. ET

Stars came out smiling on the Tony Awards red carpet.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:26 p.m. ET

I am so enjoying watching Jennifer Holliday’s mouth move. It’s a weird thing to say but the way her jaw quivers and her mouth contorts — she is really feeling the music. Her vocals are physical!

Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:26 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

It was never just the voice. It was the feeling that she was turning herself inside out from the feelings of the moment.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:27 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

She LIVES this song when she sings it. I love that they gave her someone to sing it at!

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:28 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

This is the one performance so far that’s not just singing at the audience but DOING the performance, right? Is that right? I can’t think because she’s taken me with her.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:29 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

Ok, close the book.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:29 p.m. ET

I am SHOOK.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:22 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

Sheryl Lee Ralph is auditioning for her own talk show. Give it to her!

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:24 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

She’s introducing Jennifer Holliday, who will sing “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” Hold onto your hats.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:25 p.m. ET

She is giving me Black auntie vibes and I’m loving it.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:26 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

I am mesmerized.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:21 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

Sheryl Lee Ralph: Now those are sequins!

Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:19 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

We’ve seen Alex Timbers looking up soulfully over his mask as all of his colleagues won awards; thank God he won his own now, as best director of a musical for “Moulin Rouge,” so we can see his entire face be soulful.

Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Best Direction of a Musical

Alex Timbers, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical”

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:17 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

Debra Messing in emerald green any day of the week.

Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:17 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

Please get Debra a retroactive Tony for “Smash.”

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:17 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

The Tony award for Stephen Daldry, the director of “The Inheritance,” is somewhat unexpected. I would have thought Robert O’Hara would have gotten it for “Slave Play”; I wonder if there is a kind of backlash against that show brewing. Personally, I would have voted for David Cromer, who directed “The Sound Inside,” but all these directors did excellent jobs.

Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Stephen Daldry, “The Inheritance”

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:15 p.m. ET

I was worried about there being many superficially “woke” speeches but everyone does seem earnest and inspired by everything that’s happened in the past year and a half. It is, like Taffy said, really moving.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:14 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

This Tonys seems to be actually living out the diversity, equity and inclusion promises that may have seemed empty when uttered. And it’s doing so in a way that highlights entertainment instead of stifling it. Bravo.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:14 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

I love the way people are speaking of their joy and then also their pain through the prism of that joy. I normally find awards advocacy tedious, but I’m very moved by all of it.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:12 p.m. ET

I wonder who Lynn Nottage’s stylist is, because the warm colors she’s wearing — those oranges and yellows — are so complementary to women of color. (I say that as a woman of color who only wears black but know warm colors work amazing with my skin tone.)

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:10 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

OK, Lynn Nottage is taking us to caftan town! I like it here!

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:08 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

Sonya Tayeh’s cumberbund-only tux is blowing me away.

Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:08 p.m. ET

I’m dazzled by those giant, glistening hoops. I want a pair!

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:08 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

This speech is beautiful. I love seeing people shake because IT IS CRAZY TO WIN A TONY.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:09 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

“Though I’m honored to be part of this legacy, this legacy is too small,” Tayeh says, referring to being a queer, female, Arab American choreographer.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:10 p.m. ET

This has been my favorite speech so far. I’m so happy for her, especially with her being, as she said, a queer woman of color.

Sonya Tayeh, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical”

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:07 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

One of the greatest thing about thank-you speeches is hearing about supportive parents.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:06 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

So far, quite a sweep for “Moulin Rouge.”

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:04 p.m. ET

I love how Diablo Cody recognizes how absolutely anxiety-inducing and insane it is to get on a stage like that and speak, let alone perform. Honestly, theater performers are amazing.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:04 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

Fascinating that due to health regulations, only two winners can accept at a time.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:05 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

So the four winners for orchestrations must come up in two shifts.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:06 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

They are, as anyone would have predicted, the team from “Moulin Rouge,” who mashed up 1970 songs into one show. And made it SOUND like one show.

Justin Levine, Matt Stine, Katie Kresek and Charlie Rosen, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical”

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:02 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

Diablo Cody is rocking a really great ’90s Morticia thing.

Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:03 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

I like the way everyone’s dressed wonderfully but somehow personally, not packaged.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:03 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

Yes, like there was no dress code. “Just come healthy, please!”

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:02 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

Again for the orchestration, choreography, book of a musical, etc. are being grouped, sensibly and efficiently.

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:02 p.m. ET

All I want is to sport looks like Cyndi Lauper when I grow up. The messy lilac and periwinkle bob and the elaborate (and a little vampy) black dress? I cannot deal.

Diablo Cody, “Jagged Little Pill”

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:00 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

To summarize halfway through, as Audra changes into another great gown …

Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:01 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

Quite a good show so far, swift, dignified, celebratory but not out of touch with the serious moment we’re in. Agreed?

Sept. 26, 2021, 8:01 p.m. ET

Agreed. I wonder if they would have been like this a few months ago, or if they took heed of the totally deadly Oscars and Emmys?

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:58 p.m. ET

I actually wish there were some more commercial breaks during this broadcast. I need my breaks to stretch and pee and clean up my Thai takeout containers!

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:58 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

What if, instead of commercials, they just did “You Can’t Stop the Beat” again? Free idea, Tonys.

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:57 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

Um, why is Jennifer Nettles singing “Anyone Can Whistle”? This is old-style Tonys programming.

Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:57 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

She sings a great song nicely, but blandly.

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:58 p.m. ET

This goes back to Taffy’s points earlier on how theater actors have this unique star quality: Jennifer Nettles is singing “Anyone Can Whistle” and is just completely emanating warmth.

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:58 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

Maya: We fight at 11.

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:55 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:55 p.m. ETCredit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

For the first time, a play, not a musical, has claimed the crown for best original score.

All five of the nominees in the category — “A Christmas Carol,” “The Inheritance,” “The Rose Tattoo,” “Slave Play” and “The Sound Inside” — have nary an aria, belt or 11 o’clock number (though they do have instrumental melodies).

This is only the ninth year that a non-musical play has been nominated for a Tony Award in the category. (The others: “Much Ado About Nothing” in 1973; “The Good Doctor” in 1974; “The Song of Jacob Zulu” in 1993; “Twelfth Night” in 1999; “Enron” and “Fences,” both in 2010; “Peter and the Starcatcher” and “One Man, Two Guvnors,” both in 2012; “Angels in America” in 2018; and “To Kill a Mockingbird” in 2019.)

But wait, you might be thinking, what about “Jagged Little Pill,” “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical” and “Moulin Rouge! The Musical”? Weren’t they eligible?

Nope. They’re all jukebox musicals, in which a majority of the songs are well-known popular music rather than original scores, and therefore aren’t eligible. (Though Turner, Alanis Morissette and the 161 writers whose 70 songs make up “Moulin Rouge!” catalog did win plenty of Grammys of their own.)

Of course, you might remember that there was one musical eligible for the award in the pandemic-shortened season — the young-adult adventure “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical” — but it failed to pick up a single nomination in any of the categories it was eligible for, including this one.

So, a play it is.

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:54 p.m. ET

This is very minor, but I’m always tickled by the presenters saying they accept awards on the winner’s behalf. I love to imagine they take the award home and place it on their dining room table until the winner shows up to grab it.

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:55 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

Or just kind of “lose” it. … Sorry, Audra, I can’t find your Tony.

Christopher Nightingale, “A Christmas Carol”

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:52 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

Part of the speed of this show comes from moving most of the performance segments to the second two hours. I am liking that, and when there IS a performance, it stands out.

Best Sound Design of a Play

Simon Baker, “A Christmas Carol”

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:51 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

Do you guys think family should be thanked first or last?

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:50 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

We complete the “Moulin Rouge” design four-fecta with the award for sound design. I suppose insofar as the show did not COMPLETELY deafen me, it’s well deserved.

Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Best Sound Design of a Musical

Peter Hylenski, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical”

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:48 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

Broadway actors are amazing because you can see them emoting just through their eyes and eyebrows, and their foreheads move, unlike in some other industries!

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:46 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:46 p.m. ETCredit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Lauren Patten’s path to a Tony Award seemed assured from the moment she stepped onto the stage in the 2018 pre-Broadway run of “Jagged Little Pill” at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass.

Her rendition of Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know,” midway through the second act, was so electric that a prolonged audience ovation stopped the show during the very first preview. The Boston Globe even wrote a story about it. And it continued, if anything intensifying, throughout the show’s prepandemic Broadway run, which began in late 2019.

Now the 29-year-old actress is a Tony winner — best featured actress in a musical — for her portrayal of Jo, a high school student whose heart gets broken.

Patten’s win comes at a complicated moment for her, as “Jagged Little Pill” wrestles with criticism over how her character’s gender identity has been depicted over time.

During the show’s pre-Broadway run, some people saw the character as a rare example of nonbinary representation in a major musical; when the show then transferred to Broadway, some of those fans were disappointed with how the role had evolved.

“We are in the middle of a reckoning in our industry,” she said as she accepted the award, “and first and foremost I want to thank my trans and nonbinary friends and colleagues who have engaged with me in difficult conversations and joined me in dialogue about my character, Jo.”

She continued, “I believe that the future of the change we need to see on Broadway comes from these kinds of conversations that are full of honesty and empathy and respect for our shared humanity. And I am so excited to see the action that comes from them, and to see where that leaves our future as theater artists in this country.”

In the Cambridge production, Jo described an argument with her mother, saying, “Yeah, Angie’s chill about the lesbian stuff, but last night she was like ‘I don’t get it; do you want to be a boy or a girl?’ And I said, ‘First of all, if I got to decide what I was, I’d be a koala.’ Then I tried to explain the whole gender spectrum thing.”

On Broadway, that exchange is gone, but Jo describes a conversation with her mother this way: “Oh yeah, the queer panic is at an all-time high. She’s like ‘Why would you choose to look like a boy?’ And I’m like ‘Why would you choose to look like the Talbots catalog threw up on you?’”

As early as 2019, the show’s writer, Diablo Cody, said “Jo has always been cis” and said the production didn’t “want the character to be read as trans or as nonbinary, because the actress who is playing the role is cisgender.” But earlier this month the production issued an apology as part of a broader statement about the issue.

“In Jo, we set out to portray a character on a gender expansive journey without a known outcome,” the lead producers said. “Throughout the creative process, as the character evolved and changed, between Boston & Broadway, we made mistakes in how we handled this evolution. In a process designed to clarify and streamline, many of the lines that signaled Jo as gender non-conforming, and with them, something vital and integral, got removed from Jo’s character journey.”

The character was built around Patten, who has been part of the show’s development since its early preproduction workshops, but the show has faced some criticism from those who think the character should be portrayed by a transgender or nonbinary performer. Patten recently apologized on Instagram, saying “I am profoundly sorry for the harm I caused.”

“It is my deepest hope for Jo to be a character that can be claimed and owned by folks of many queer identities — butch and masc women, nonbinary and genderqueer folks, trans men, and many more,” she wrote. “Theatre has the power and the potential to be expansive, and I hope that Jo can be a representation of that moving forward.”

Patten is scheduled to return with most of the original cast when “Jagged Little Pill” resumes Broadway performances on Oct. 21.

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Justin Townsend, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical”

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:44 p.m. ET

As I said before, I never watch awards shows, so I’m wondering if they typically move this quickly? In the past when I’ve dropped in for a few minutes to see the Emmys or Oscars, I’ve always thought things dragged on for so terribly long. Even though they’re not playing anyone off in their speeches, everything feels pretty streamlined.

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:45 p.m. ET

Taffy Akner

Features writer

Agree. I think doing this categorically instead of new presenters for each award is working. Let’s keep it this way!

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:45 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

Agree too. This feels very swift, in part because nothing horrifying and mortifying has happened that seems to make time stop.

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:46 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

The “Moulin Rouge” design sweep is still intact. Will they win for sound? Stay tuned!

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:47 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

Justin Townsend just thanked “Alex Timber” and … “Firf”?

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:47 p.m. ET

Jesse Green

Chief theater critic

… and his children’s schoolteachers.

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:41 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:41 p.m. ETCredit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Lois Smith, 90, is at last a Tony winner. And not just a winner — she is now the oldest performer to win a Tony Award for acting.

“I love the processes of the live theater,” said Smith, who won for her portrayal of Margaret, the caretaker of a sanctuary for men dying of AIDS-related illnesses, in Part 2 of Matthew López’s more-than-six-hour epic “The Inheritance.”

“I first worked on ‘The Inheritance’ in a workshop where Matthew López was finishing a play about the AIDS plague, and it was partly based on E.M. Forster’s book “Howards End,” which had been my favorite novel for as long as I can remember,” she continued. “E.M. Forster gave us — there’s a famous two-word message from “Howards End,” which is so apt, I think, tonight for all of us who are here celebrating the importance, the functions, of live theater: ‘Only connect.’ ”

In his review of the play in The Times, Ben Brantley called Smith’s performance as the show’s sole female character “quietly brilliant.” She beat out Jane Alexander, 81, who was up for “Grand Horizons,” as well as Cora Vander Broek (“Linda Vista”), Annie McNamara (“Slave Play”) and Chalia La Tour (“Slave Play”).Cicely Tyson, who died earlier this year at 96, previously held the record. She was 88 in 2013 when she won in the same category for her role in the revival of Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful.”

In an interview with Variety in March 2020, Smith acknowledged that her performance schedule in “The Inheritance” was pretty, well, cushy. She doesn’t appear onstage until late in the play, which was performed in two parts. So she only performed three times per week.

“I think to myself, ‘Now what’s going to happen to me?’” she said. “This may be the end of me. Suppose somebody asks me to do eight shows a week, what am I going to say? It’s hard to imagine at this point!”

She was first nominated for a Tony in 1990 for “The Grapes of Wrath,” and she was nominated again, in 1996, for “Buried Child” — both times for best featured actress in a play.

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:40 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:40 p.m. ETCredit…Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

The vast majority of the Tony Awards granted on Sunday are honoring shows that have been rehearsed to an excessive degree — every step onstage precisely choreographed, every note and line repeated to perfection.

And while the cast of “Freestyle Love Supreme” has undoubtedly put in their share of rehearsal time to do what they do, the show is receiving a special Tony Award for creating something entirely different: an improvised, rapped, beat-boxed musical performance whipped up anew every night from audience suggestions.

The honor comes at a fitting time for the industry: It was a production that, by its nature, celebrated the fleeting and constantly reinventive experience of seeing live theater.

The show ran for several months at the Booth Theater starting in September 2019, and it is set to return to Broadway on Oct. 7, followed by a national tour starting in San Francisco. But the troupe’s origins go back to the early aughts, when it was established by Anthony Veneziale, Thomas Kail and, most recognizably, Lin-Manuel Miranda — before “In the Heights” and “Hamilton,” both Tony Award winners for best new musical.

In his review for The New York Times, Ben Brantley wrote that it was an “exultant master course in the fine art of hip-hop.” Among the fluctuating cast on Broadway were Veneziale and Utkarsh Ambudkar, with a rotating lineup of surprise guest stars, including Miranda and fellow “Hamilton” alumni Daveed Diggs, Christopher Jackson and James Monroe Iglehart.

Tony viewers who missed the 2019 run will get a taste of “Freestyle Love Supreme” at the end of the ceremony, when the cast is set to give the evening’s closing performance.

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:22 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:22 p.m. ETCredit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

David Byrne’s “American Utopia” originally ran on Broadway from October 2019 to February 2020. But it’s not a play or a musical, the Tony Awards nominating committee decided, rendering it ineligible in the top categories.

But there is one label that’s safe to apply to Byrne’s intimately staged theatrical concert: Cultural phenomenon. The show, which was born as a 26-country concert tour for Byrne’s 2018 album, “American Utopia,” rode the momentum to a four-month Broadway run, a Spike Lee-directed concert film that premiered on HBO and HBO Max last October, and now a return Broadway engagement that kicked off earlier this month.

In his review of the Broadway production, Ben Brantley called it a “cloud-sweeping upper” of a show in which Byrne “emerges as an avuncular, off-center shepherd to flocks of fans still groping to find their way.”

Byrne, 69, is set to lead his band of barefoot, gray-suited musicians in a performance at the Winter Garden Theater during tonight’s broadcast, in which “American Utopia” will be honored with one of three special Tony Awards.

The show’s 20 songs come from Byrne’s 2018 album of the same name, along with hits from his time as Talking Heads frontman and throughout his solo career, and are interspersed with cabaret-style patter about neuroscience, civil history and Brazilian, African and Latin instrumentation.

On a recent bike ride through Queens ahead of the show’s return to Broadway earlier this month, Byrne, a devoted cyclist, told The New York Times reporter Melena Ryzik that he didn’t mind the show’s outsized presence in his current slate of projects.

“It’s a very moving show to do,” he said, “and a lot of fun.”

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:18 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:18 p.m. ETCredit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Danny Burstein has been nominated seven times for a Tony Award. Now he’s finally a winner.

Burstein won the featured actor in a musical award for his work in “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” in which he plays the impresario Harold Zidler. The musical, which opened on Broadway in 2019, has just resumed performances.

Burstein, 57, is a much-loved Broadway veteran, who has appeared in 18 shows over the last three decades, often to acclaim. In recent years, he has starred as Alfred P. Doolittle in a revival of “My Fair Lady” and as Tevye in a revival of “Fiddler on the Roof.”

The award comes at a difficult time for Burstein. His wife, the actress Rebecca Luker, died last December of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as A.L.S. or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Earlier last year, Burstein was hospitalized with a frightening case of Covid-19.

“And I want to thank all of you,” he said in his speech, “because whether you know it or not, my wife passed away in December of A.L.S., and you all showed up for us, you were there for us whether you just sent a note or sent your love, sent your prayers, sent bagels.”

He continued, “It meant the world to us, and it’s something I’ll never forget, and I love being an actor on Broadway. Thank you.”

Burstein was raised in New York City and educated at Queens College and the University of California San Diego.

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:08 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:08 p.m. ETCredit…Karsten Moran for The New York Times

As Broadway attempts to rebound after an extended shutdown, theaters and productions are leaning on government funding to get up and running.

Under the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program, the federal government allotted $16 billion to preserve theaters and other live-event venues as they weather the financial losses of the pandemic. The program has been plagued by delays and other blunders, but as of last week, $9.7 billion had been awarded to organizations across the country.

Hundreds of millions of that total has gone to Broadway, according to records from the Small Business Administration, which manages the grant program.

The funding amounts, which are calculated based on an organization’s earned revenue from 2019, can reach a maximum amount of $10 million. Many Broadway theater owners and productions qualified for that amount.

The three musicals nominated for the top award all received the maximum funding, or near it: “Jagged Little Pill” and “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical” each received $10 million, while “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” received $9.9 million.

Some shows were able to qualify for more funding because of their touring productions. “Hamilton,” with its four touring shows, was awarded $50 million.

The $10 million injection was not enough to keep “West Side Story,” the avant-garde revival of the classic musical, alive. The show, which did not qualify for the Tony Awards because not enough voters had seen it before the shutdown, announced last month that it would not return to Broadway. The show said it would return its grant.

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:05 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 7:05 p.m. ETCredit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Eight acting prizes will be given out tonight — four for work in musicals, and four for work in plays.

The musical prizes all have heavy favorites, and the favorites would all be first-time Tony winners.

Look for Adrienne Warren to win the leading actress in a musical prize for her star-making performance as Tina Turner in “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical,” and for Lauren Patten to win as featured actress for her showstopping vocals in “Jagged Little Pill.”

Aaron Tveit, the only nominee for leading actor in a musical, should easily pick up that prize for playing the bohemian Christian in “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.” (He needs to win support from 60 percent of those who cast ballots in the category to do so.) His co-star Danny Burstein is the favorite in the featured actor category, for playing the impresario Harold Zidler.

The play categories are thought to be much tighter, in part because there are fewer voters — to participate in any Tony race, a voter had to have seen each nominated performance, and that narrowed the pool of qualified voters.

But watch for one possible record to be set: Lois Smith, 90, is a leading contender for best featured actress in a play, for her work in “The Inheritance.” If she wins, she will become the oldest person ever to win a Tony Award for acting, a record previously held by Cicely Tyson, who won at 88.

Sept. 26, 2021, 6:54 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 6:54 p.m. ETCredit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

As hard as it may be to believe, the last time a play by a Black writer won the Tony Award for best play was in 1987, when August Wilson won for “Fences.”

That could change this year, when the leading contender is “Slave Play,” a daring drama by Jeremy O. Harris that uses an imaginary form of couples therapy to explore the lingering impact of slavery. The play scored more Tony nominations — 12 — than any in history; it won strong review from critics and managed to achieve a level of buzz that is rare for any play, although, like most plays, it ended its run without recouping its capitalization costs.

But “Slave Play” was also polarizing, leaving an opening for another drama to claim the prize. The most likely upset would be by “The Inheritance,” a two-part drama by Matthew López about two generations of gay male New Yorkers. That play was heralded in London, but was greeted with far more skepticism in New York; its run was also unprofitable, and was cut a few days short by the pandemic.

The most likely winner in the category of best play revival will be “A Soldier’s Play” or “Betrayal.”

“A Soldier’s Play” is a 1981 drama by Charles Fuller, about the murder of a Black sergeant in the U.S. Army, that won the Pulitzer Prize when it was first published. It was then adapted into a Hollywood film, but didn’t make it to Broadway until 2020. The production, directed by Kenny Leon, starred Blair Underwood and David Alan Grier, and was presented by the nonprofit Roundabout Theater Company.

“Betrayal” is a 1978 play by Harold Pinter about an extramarital affair. The revival was a commercial production, transferred from London, directed by Jamie Lloyd and starring Tom Hiddleston.

Sept. 26, 2021, 6:42 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 6:42 p.m. ETCredit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

The three nominees for best musical are “Jagged Little Pill,” “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” and “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical.”

All of them are jukebox musicals — meaning that their scores consist of previously recorded pop songs — and all of them opened in 2019.

The three nominated musicals are reopening this fall. “Moulin Rouge!,” which is an adaptation of the 2001 Baz Luhrmann film, began performances on Friday; “Tina,” which is a biomusical about the life and career of Tina Turner, returns Oct. 8; and “Jagged Little Pill,” a contemporary family drama inspired by the Alanis Morissette album, returns Oct. 21.

Only one show with an original score opened before the pandemic — “The Lightning Thief” — but it was shut out by nominators. Several other musicals with original scores were slated to open in 2020, but didn’t make it to opening night before theaters shut down. One side effect of this unusual situation: all the nominees for best score are plays.

A fourth jukebox musical, “Girl From the North Country,” opened right before the shutdown but was deemed ineligible for awards because not enough Tony voters managed to see it. That show, a drama inspired by the songs of Bob Dylan, is scheduled to resume performances Oct. 13.

There are no nominees for best musical revival, because the only one that opened before the pandemic, “West Side Story,” also was not seen by enough voters. And now that production is over — its producers have decided not to reopen it.

Sept. 26, 2021, 6:30 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 6:30 p.m. ETCredit…Rachel Papo for The New York Times

You would think in a year with so few Tony-eligible musicals — only four eked out an opening before the season’s mid-February cutoff — they would all have a decent shot at taking home a statuette.

Well. Almost all of them.

When nominations were announced last October, “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical” was the only musical completely snubbed. (The remaining three — “Jagged Little Pill,” “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” and “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical” — are all contenders for best new musical.)

“The Lightning Thief” has a fairly devoted built-in fan base, many of whom grew up reading the best-selling young-adult novel from which the show was adapted. The story follows a 12-year-old boy who discovers his father is a Greek god, finds a summer camp full of other young demigods like him and fights various mythological monsters along the way.

But the omission was not a surprise. Critics were less than thrilled with the production, which opened for a limited run at the Longacre Theater in October 2019 after a national tour and a stint Off Broadway. (In The New York Times, Jesse Green wrote that it had “all the charm of a tension headache.”)

A show being predictably, and perhaps rightfully, shut out of any awards consideration isn’t usually met with much attention — but the lack of any “Lightning Thief” nods has left a strange vacuum in some categories. Even as this season’s only eligible musical with an original score (a selection of primarily angsty, albeit catchy, rock numbers by Rob Rokicki), nominators instead opted to exclusively acknowledge scores from plays. Perhaps most notably — with the musical’s Percy, Chris McCarrell, left out of the race for leading actor in a musical — Aaron Tveit of “Moulin Rouge!” is the category’s sole contender.

Sept. 26, 2021, 6:20 p.m. ET

As red carpets go, the one at the Tonys is often defined by what it doesn’t have: an hour of commentary from E!, high fashion affiliations and monthslong angst about who will wear which designer. But what it lacks in commercialization, it makes up for in heart, especially this year, with Broadway having just reopened after the devastation of the pandemic shutdowns. Instead of action heroes in penguin suits, you get David Byrne in a royal blue get-up, no tie and white brogues. And wherever the golden-boy Jeremy O. Harris goes, the carpets sparkle a little brighter.

Sept. 26, 2021, 6:13 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 6:13 p.m. ETCredit…Christopher Duggan

Audra McDonald has won more competitive Tony Awards than any other performer, and tonight, when she is a nominee for the ninth time, she is presiding over the awards ceremony.

McDonald is splitting the hosting duties with the actor Leslie Odom Jr. She is hosting the streaming portion of the evening, from 7 to 9 p.m. Eastern on Paramount+, when most of the awards will be bestowed; he is presiding over the concert portion, from 9 to 11 p.m. on CBS.

McDonald, 51, is a singular figure in the American theater, revered for her lyric soprano as well as her acting prowess, and last year, following the police killing of George Floyd, she helped found Black Theater United to press for change in the theater industry.

How did she rack up her record-setting string of Tonys? She has won at least once in every acting category: leading actress in a musical (“Porgy & Bess”), leading actress in a play (“Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill”), featured actress in a musical (“Ragtime” and “Carousel”) and featured actress in a play (“A Raisin in the Sun” and “Master Class”).

This year, she is again a nominee, for her starring role in the 2019 revival of “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.” The play was written by Terrence McNally, who died during the pandemic from complications of the coronavirus.

McDonald, born in Berlin, raised in Fresno, Calif., and educated at Juilliard, has long been outspoken on social justice issues — her Twitter username is @AudraEqualityMc — and last year she helped pull together a group of Black Broadway stars to form Black Theater United. The organization has already made progress: This summer it persuaded many industry leaders, including theater owners and producers, to sign an agreement pledging to end the hiring of all-white creative teams, to rename a few theaters for Black artists, and to take many other steps to improve racial equity on Broadway.

She also has an active career as a recording artist and concert performer, and she works regularly on television, including in “Private Practice” and “The Good Fight.” She is married to the actor Will Swenson, and has two daughters.

Sept. 26, 2021, 6:01 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 6:01 p.m. ETCredit…Cindy Ord/Getty Images

It’s hard to miss the Winter Garden Theater. Nestled among the restaurants and gift shops on Broadway, it sits atop the 50th Street subway station for the 1 line, greeting New York office workers and tourists alike. In recent years, its signage has called out to passers-by, urging them to see “Mamma Mia!” (2001-13), “Rocky” (2014), “Wolf Hall” (2015), “School of Rock” (2015-19) and “Beetlejuice” (2019-20).

On Sunday, it will be at the center of the Broadway universe when it hosts the Tony Awards for the second time. (The first was in 1975.) Hundreds of stars dressed to the nines will pour into the theater, which can accommodate about 1,500 people.

And to think it was all once a place for the horses.

The Winter Garden Theater occupies what used to be the American Horse Exchange, a vast, hulking structure built by William K. Vanderbilt in 1896. The area that is now Times Square was once the epicenter of the horse and carriage trade.

By 1911, when the Lee and Jacob J. Shubert leased the exchange, that era was ending. So just as the horse exchange was being converted into a theater for people, horses were being replaced by automobiles on the streets outside.

In the decades that followed, it would become the home of “West Side Story,” which ran there from 1957-59, and undergo significant renovations for “Cats,” which took the stage in 1982 and ended up running there for 18 years. Next up: A revival of “The Music Man,” starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, which is scheduled to start previews on Dec. 20.

Now all that is left of those times are the memories (sorry, we had to!), but perhaps some new ones will be made at the Winter Garden Theater on Sunday night.

Sept. 26, 2021, 5:40 p.m. ET

Sept. 26, 2021, 5:40 p.m. ETCredit…Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images

“Jagged Little Pill” barrels into tonight’s Tony Awards with 15 nominations, more than any other show — but also with its producers confronting two controversies that have prompted scrutiny and an apology.

The show, a musical featuring Alanis Morissette songs and a script that explores a host of social issues, is one of three contenders for best musical, and is a leading contender in the best featured actress and best book categories. It plans to resume performances on Broadway next month.

But in the run-up to the Tonys the show’s producers have found themselves responding to criticism over how depictions of a character’s gender identity evolved as the show developed, and over the accusation by a former member of the cast who said they were asked to delay a surgical procedure. (The Tony voting period ended in March, before that accusation became public.)

On Saturday, the show’s lead producers, Vivek J. Tiwary, Arvind Ethan David and Eva Price, said that they had hired an employment lawyer to look into an accusation from the former cast member, Nora Schell, who uses the pronouns they and them, and who said the production had asked them to delay a procedure to remove vaginal cysts. The union representing stage performers, Actors’ Equity, also said it would investigate; Schell said a union vice president was among those who mishandled the medical concerns.

The statement from the producers came a little more than a week after the musical had issued an apology for its response to concerns about the gender identity of one of the show’s main characters, Jo, who is played by Lauren Patten, a nominee for best featured actress in a musical.

During the show’s pre-Broadway run, some people saw Jo as a rare example of nonbinary representation in a major musical; when the show then transferred to Broadway, some of those fans were disappointed with how the role had evolved.

“In Jo, we set out to portray a character on a gender expansive journey without a known outcome,” the lead producers said. “Throughout the creative process, as the character evolved and changed, between Boston and Broadway, we made mistakes in how we handled this evolution. In a process designed to clarify and streamline, many of the lines that signaled Jo as gender nonconforming, and with them, something vital and integral, got removed from Jo’s character journey.”

The producers said they had “hired a new dramaturgical team (which includes nonbinary, transgender and BIPOC representation), to revisit and deepen the script.”

Schell, who was a member of the ensemble when the musical opened in late 2019, voiced their concerns about backstage treatment on Twitter.

“During previews for the Broadway run of JAGGED LITTLE PILL I was intimidated, coerced and forced by multiple higher ups to put off CRITICAL AND NECESSARY surgery to remove growths from my vagina that were making me anemic,” Schell wrote.

The producers responded with their own statement, declaring themselves “deeply troubled” by the claims and pledging to “take this matter very seriously.”

“Broadway shows are by their very nature collaborative human efforts, so there is nothing more important to us than our people,” they said. “We are committed to continuing to nurture a work environment where everyone feels valued and respected.”

On Saturday, one of the show’s Tony-nominated stars, Celia Rose Gooding, said on Twitter that she was concerned by the allegations. Responding to Schell’s tweet, she wrote, “this is unacceptable. nobody should have to put off necessary medical treatment for a show, ever.”

And, in a more general tweet bidding farewell to the show, which she is leaving for a role in “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” she wrote that she “cannot ignore the harm Jagged has done to the trans and nonbinary community.”

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