2017 Tony Awards Winner Predictions

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The best of Broadway will be recognized tomorrow night at the 71st Tony Awards with performances by Leslie Odom. Jr. and Cynthia Erivo, both winners in 2016, as well as the casts of the musicals Bandstand, Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Falsettos, Groundhog Day, Hello, Dolly!, Miss Saigon, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 and War Paint.

Set to appear and/or present are: Scott Bakula, Sara Bareilles, Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bloom, Stephen Colbert, Brian d’Arcy James, Tina Fey, Sutton Foster, Josh Gad, Whoopi Goldberg, Jonathan Groff, Mark Hamill, Taraji P. Henson, Christopher Jackson, Allison Janney, Scarlett Johansson, Anna Kendrick, Keegan-Michael Key, Nick Kroll, John Legend, John Lithgow, Patina Miller, Lin-Manuel Miranda, John Mulaney, David Oyelowo, Chazz Palminteri, Sarah Paulson, Lea Salonga, Tom Sturridge, Tommy Tune, Olivia Wilde, and 2017 Tony nominees Sally Field, Josh Groban, Bette Midler and Ben Platt.

As previously announced, James Earl Jones, two-time Tony winner for Fences and The Great White Hope, will receive the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater. The big show will be hosted by Kevin Spacey for the first time. Spacey won a Tony in 1991 for Lost in Yonkers.

Onto predictions! Unlike last year where you could name-check Hamilton and nail your Tony office pool, this year is a little more difficult but there are a few perceived ‘locks.’ A few that seem like sure bets are Bette Midler in Hello, Dolly! for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical. At 70 years old, this is Midler’s first Tony nomination and she is a steamroller here. Anything else would be a huge and shocking upset. Kevin Kline should have Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play sewn up for Present Laughter.

The case of Dear Evan Hansen, the toast of Broadway, is a peculiar one. It’s by far the most talked about and most popular musical but sometimes that doesn’t always win (see: Wicked). I’m still betting it will win Best Musical along with Best Actor for Ben Platt (but watch out for Andy Karl) and for newly minted Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land) to add Tonys to their EGOT hunt. I suspect it will share a lot of awards with Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, which I think will win most of the technical awards and direction.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play is going to be a nail-biter. Filled with Oscar winners (Cate Blanchett, Sally Field), Oscar nominees (Laura Linney) Emmy winners (Laurie Metcalf) and a Tony Award winner (Jennifer Ehle) this could really be anyone’s to win. I’m going with four-time Tony nominee Laurie Metcalf to finally get her first win for A Doll’s House Part 2.

Here are my predictions for the 2017 Tony Awards, which will air live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City Sunday, June 11th at 8pm on CBS. You can stream the show a few different ways, go here to start.

Best Play
A Doll’s House, Part 2 (predicted winner)
Indecent
Oslo 
Sweat

Best Musical
Come From Away
Dear Evan Hansen (predicted winner)
Groundhog Day
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812

Best Revival of a Musical
Falsettos
Hello, Dolly! (predicted winner)
Miss Saigon

Best Revival of a Play
August Wilson’s Jitney
The Little Foxes (predicted winner)
Present Laughter
Six Degrees of Separation

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Christian Borle, Falsettos
Josh Groban, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
David Hyde Pierce, Hello, Dolly!
Andy Karl, Groundhog Day
Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen (predicted winner)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Denée Benton, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Christine Ebersole, War Paint
Patti LuPone, War Paint
Bette Midler, Hello, Dolly! (predicted winner)
Eva Noblezada, Miss Saigon

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Denis Arndt, Heisenberg
Chris Cooper, A Doll’s House, Part 2
Corey Hawkins, Six Degrees of Separation
Kevin Kline, Present Laughter (predicted winner)
Jefferson Mays, Oslo

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Cate Blanchett, The Present
Jennifer Ehle, Oslo
Sally Field, The Glass Menagerie
Laura Linney, The Little Foxes
Laurie Metcalf, A Doll’s House, Part 2 (predicted winner)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Michael Aronov, Oslo
Danny DeVito, Arthur Miller’s The Price (predicted winner)
Nathan Lane, The Front Page
Richard Thomas, Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes
John Douglas Thompson, August Wilson’s Jitney

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Johanna Day, Sweat
Jayne Houdyshell, A Doll’s House, Part 2
Cynthia Nixon, Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes (predicted winner)
Condola Rashad, A Doll’s House, Part 2
Michelle Wilson, Sweat

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Gavin Creel, Hello, Dolly! (predicted winner)
Mike Faist, Dear Evan Hansen
Andrew Rannells, Falsettos
Lucas Steele, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Brandon Uranowitz, Falsettos

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Kate Baldwin, Hello, Dolly!
Stephanie J. Block, Falsettos
Jenn Colella, Come From Away
Rachel Bay Jones, Dear Evan Hansen (predicted winner)
Mary Beth Peil, Anastasia

Best Score
Come From Away, David Hein and Irene Sankoff
Dear Evan Hansen, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (predicted winner)
Groundhog Day, Tim Minchin
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Dave Malloy

Best Book of a Musical
Come From Away, David Hein and Irene Sankoff
Dear Evan Hansen, Steven Levenson (predicted winner)
Groundhog Day, Danny Rubin
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Dave Malloy

Best Direction of a Musical
Christopher Ashley, Come From Away
Rachel Chavkin, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (predicted winner)
Michael Greif, Dear Evan Hansen
Matthew Warchus, Groundhog Day
Jerry Zaks, Hello, Dolly!

Best Direction of a Play
Sam Gold, A Doll’s House, Part 2
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, August Wilson’s Jitney
Bartlett Sher, Oslo (predicted winner)
Daniel Sullivan, Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes
Rebecca Taichman, Indecent

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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