Tony Awards: 34 records, milestones and fun facts about this year’s winners
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Out of all the winners (and also-rans) in the 26 competitive categories at the 2023 Tony Awards, 34 results stand out as particularly noteworthy when considered in the context of history. So what were this year’s most interesting facts, records, and milestones? Check out the complete list of winners here.
1. The productions that received multiple Tony nominations, but went home empty-handed were “& Juliet,” “Ain’t No Mo’,” “Between Riverside and Crazy” “Camelot,” “A Christmas Carol,” “Cost of Living,” “Death of a Salesman,” “A Doll’s House,” “Fat Ham,” “Into the Woods,” “KPOP,” and “The Piano Lesson.”
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2. This year marked the first time a Broadway production of “Into the Woods” didn’t win a single Tony. The original won three awards in 1987 for Best Lead Actress in a Musical (Joanna Gleason), Best Book of a Musical (James Lapine), and Best Original Score (Stephen Sondheim). The 2002 remounting won two for Best Revival of a Musical and Best Lighting Design (Brian MacDevitt).
3. The individuals who had multiple nominations this year, but went home empty-handed were actress/producer Jessica Chastain (“A Doll’s House”), scenic designer Scott Pask (“Shucked” and “Some Like It Hot”), sound designers Ben Ringham and Max Ringham (“A Doll’s House” and “Prima Facie”), costume designer Emilio Sosa (“Ain’t No Mo'” and “Good Night, Oscar”), and choreographer Jennifer Weber (“& Juliet” and “KPOP”).
4. The individuals who won multiple Tonys this year were producer LaChanze (“Kimberly Akimbo” and “Topdog/Underdog”), book writer/lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire (“Kimberly Akimbo”), and producer David Stone (“Kimberly Akimbo” and “Topdog/Underdog”).
SEETony Awards: Every winner (and nominee) in all 26 competitive categories
5. Noteworthy names who happen to have won Tonys for producing at least one Broadway show this year are: Tony-winning actress LaChanze (see above) and 21-time Emmy-winning writer/producer Lorne Michaels (“Leopoldstadt”).
6. “Some Like It Hot” is the first musical to win Best Orchestrations despite losing Best Score since “Billy Elliott” (in a tie with “Next to Normal,” which prevailed in the latter category) in 2009.
7. “New York, New York” is the first show to have won Best Scenic Design of a Musical and nothing else on Tony night since “SpongeBob SquarePants” in 2018.
8. Following his win for “Act One” in 2014, Beowulf Boritt (“New York, New York”) is the fifth individual to have won two scenic design Tonys, one for a play and the other for a musical. The previous four are Christine Jones, David Zinn, Derek McLane, and Bunny Christie.
9. Following his win for co-directing (with Trey Parker) for “The Book of Mormon” in 2011, Casey Nicholaw (“Some Like It Hot”) is as of now only one of two individuals to have won two Tonys, one for directing and the other for choreographing. The other is Matthew Bourne, who won both for “Swan Lake” in 1999.
SEETonys: ‘Kimberly Akimbo,’ ‘Leopoldstadt’ take top prizes
10. Natasha Katz may now have eight Tonys overall, but she just won her fourth for Best Lighting Design of a Musical for “Sweeney Todd,” setting a new record as the most awarded individual in that category. Her first three wins were for “Once” (2012), “An American in Paris” (2015), and “MJ” last year. She previously tied that record with Kevin Adams.
11. Following her win for “MJ” last year, Katz (“Sweeney Todd”) is now the first person to have ever won Best Lighting Design of a Musical two years in a row.
12. Among the people Katz managed to beat was Ken Billington (“New York, New York”), who was nominated for lighting the original Broadway production of “Sweeney Todd” back in 1979.
13. Nevin Steinberg (“Sweeney Todd”) is the first individual to have won Best Sound Design of a Musical for a revival since the category was introduced in 2008. That year, it went to Scott Lehrer for “South Pacific.”
14. Brandon Uranowitz (“Leopoldstadt”) is the first individual to have won Best Featured Actor in a Play for the eventual Best Play winner since Michael Aronov (“Oslo”) in 2017.
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15. Bonnie Milligan (“Kimberly Akimbo”) is the first individual to have won Best Featured Actress in a Musical for the eventual Best Musical winner since Rachel Bay Jones (“Dear Evan Hansen”) in 2017.
16. Following Marianne Elliott‘s win for Best Direction of a Musical for “Company” last year is Michael Arden for “Parade.” This marks the first time that award went to a musical revival two years in a row since 1994 and 1995. The winners in those respective years were Nicholas Hytner for “Carousel” and Hal Prince for “Show Boat.” Coincidentally, Prince won for directing the original production of “Company” in 1971 and was nominated for helming the original production of “Parade” in 1999.
17. For the second year in a row, Best Revival of a Play went to a production without a directing nomination up against a production that did have one. Last year, it was “Take Me Out” over “American Buffalo” and “For Colored Girls…” This year, it’s “Topdog/Underdog” over “A Doll’s House.”
18. “Topdog/Underdog” is also the first show to have won Best Revival of a Play but nothing else on Tony night since “The Boys in the Band” in 2019.
19. Alex Newell (“Shucked”) not only made history by becoming the very first openly nonbinary performer to have been Tony-nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, but now the first to win.
SEEJ. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell are first openly nonbinary performers to win Tonys
20. “Shucked” is also the first show to have won Best Featured Actor in a Musical and nothing else on Tony night since 2015. That year, this category saw Christian Borle as the only win for “Something Rotten!”
21. Best Revival of a Musical went to Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry‘s “Parade.” The award was presented by Kelli O’Hara, who earned a Tony nomination for singing Brown’s Tony-winning score in “The Bridges of Madison County” in 2014.
22. J. Harrison Ghee (“Some Like It Hot”) not only made history by becoming the very first openly nonbinary performer to have been Tony nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Musical, but now the first to win.
23. Ghee is also the second winner in the category of Best Lead Actor in a Musical for taking on a role that previously earned Jack Lemmon an Oscar nomination for the original film directed by Billy Wilder. The previous was Jerry Orbach for “Promises, Promises” (which was adapted from “The Apartment”) back in 1969.
24. Ghee may also be the fifth person to have won an acting Tony for their performance in a Casey Nicholaw-helmed production, but the first to do so as lead. The previous four — Beth Leavel in “The Drosy Chaperone” (2006), Nikki M. James in “The Book of Mormon” (2011), James Monroe Iglehart in “Aladdin” (2014), and the aforementioned Christian Borle in “Something Rotten!” (2015) — were all in featured. Ironically, one of the people Ghee managed to beat was their co-star Borle.
SEETom Stoppard breaks own Tony record with ‘Leopoldstadt’ win
25. Jodie Comer (“Prima Facie”) is now the fifth Tony winner for Best Lead Actress in a Play for a solo show. The previous four were Julie Harris in “The Belle of Amherst” (1977), Lily Tomlin in “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe” (1986), Pauline Collins in “Shirley Valentine” (1989), and Deirdre O’Connell in “Dana H.” last year.
26. Following O’Connell’s win last year, this marks the second year in a row that Best Lead Actress in a Play went to a performance from a show without a corresponding production nomination. This is the first time that’s happened consecutively since 2014 and 2015. The winners in those respective years were Audra McDonald (“Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill”) and Helen Mirren (“The Audience”).
27. “Leopoldstadt” is the fifth consecutive Tony winner for Best Play to have been imported from London’s West End following “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “The Ferryman,” “The Inheritance,” and “The Lehman Trilogy.”
28. Tom Stoppard has extended his record even further as the most awarded playwright in Tony history. He’s won five for “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” (1968), “Travesties” (1976), “The Real Thing” (1984), “The Coast of Utopia” (2007), and now “Leopoldstadt.”
29. Victoria Clark (“Kimberly Akimbo”) has so far gone undefeated in the category of Best Lead Actress in a Musical. Her previous nomination there, “The Light in the Piazza,” resulted in a win back in 2005. She didn’t win any of her three previous bids for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for “Sister Act” (2011), “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella” (2013), and “Gigi” (2015).
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30. Clark is also as of now only one of eight individuals to have won two competitive Tonys, both in the category of Best Lead Actress in a Musical. Others include Lauren Bacall, Christine Ebersole, Sutton Foster, Liza Minnelli, Donna Murphy, Bernadette Peters, and Chita Rivera.
31. Sean Hayes (“Good Night, Oscar”) is the first Best Lead Actor in a Play winner whose show didn’t have a corresponding production nom since Bryan Cranston for “Network” in 2019.
32. “Kimberly Akimbo” is the first Best Musical winner to have also won Tonys for both Book and Score since “The Band’s Visit” in 2018. Which coincidentally was also the last Best Musical champ to have also taken home Best Lead Actress in a Musical until now. That year the Best Actress category went to Katrina Lenk.
33. “Kimberly Akimbo” is also the first Tony winner for Best Musical to have been adapted from a straight play since “Spring Awakening” in 2007.
34. “Kimberly Akimbo” also marks composer Jeanine Tesori‘s third show to have won Best Musical following “Thoroughly Modern Millie” in 2002 and “Fun Home” in 2015.
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