2019 Tony Awards: ‘Hadestown’ and ‘The Ferryman’ are top winners

The 73rd Tony Awards offered little in the way of surprises tonight with the majority of heavy favorites taking home trophies. Hadestown, the reimagining of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice that led the nominations with 14, triumphed as Best Musical as part of its 8-award haul. The Ferryman, which tied To Kill a Mockingbird for most nominations for a play with 9, won Best Play and Best Director of a Play for Sam Mendes as a part of its four wins. It detailed the story of a man trying to deal with his violent past with the IRA.

Santino Fontana earned a Best Lead Actor in a Musical for the musical version of Tootsie (which earned Dustin Hoffman an Oscar nomination in 1983), and Stephanie J. Block won Best Lead Actress in a Musical for turn as the legendary Cher in The Cher Show.

The legendary Elaine May won her first Tony Award at age 87 for her role as a grandmother suffering from dementia in The Waverly Gallery, her first Broadway show in 52 years.

Bryan Cranston won his second Tony Award for Lead Actor in a Play as mad newsman Howard Beale in Network (which earned Peter Finch an Oscar in 1977). He won the same award for 2014’s All the Way, a drama about Lyndon Johnson.

Ali Stroker, who started out her career on The Glee Project, became the first performer to use a wheelchair for mobility known to win a Tony in the awards body’s 73 years. She won Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her work as Ado Annie in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

“This award is for every kid who is watching tonight who has a disability, who has a limitation or a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena,” said Stroker. “You are.”

Rachel Chavkin, the only female director of a musical this year, won the Best Director of a Musical for Hadestown and used her speech to advocate for more representation.

“There are so many women who are ready to go,” said Chavkin. “There are so many artists of color who are ready to go. And we need to see that racial diversity and gender diversity reflected in our critical establishment too. This is not a pipeline issue. It is a failure of imagination by a field whose job is to imagine the way the world could be.”

Here is the full list of nominees with winners in bold.

Best Musical

Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Beetlejuice
Hadestown (WINNER)
The Prom
Tootsie

Best Revival of a Play

Arthur Miller’s All My Sons
The Boys in the Band (WINNER)
Burn This
Torch Song
The Waverly Gallery

Best Revival of a Musical

Kiss Me, Kate
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! (WINNER)

Best Book of a Musical

Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Beetlejuice
Hadestown
The Prom
Tootsie (WINNER)

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

Be More Chill, Music & Lyrics: Joe Iconis
Beetlejuice, Music & Lyrics: Eddie Perfect
Hadestown, Music & Lyrics: Anaïs Mitchell (WINNER)
The Prom, Music: Matthew Sklar Lyrics: Chad Beguelin
To Kill a Mockingbird, Music: Adam Guettel
Tootsie, Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

Paddy Considine, The Ferryman
Bryan Cranston, Network (WINNER)
Jeff Daniels, To Kill a Mockingbird
Adam Driver, Burn This
Jeremy Pope, Choir Boy

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

Annette Bening, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons
Laura Donnelly, The Ferryman
Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery (WINNER)
Janet McTeer, Bernhardt/Hamlet
Laurie Metcalf, Hillary and Clinton
Heidi Schreck, What the Constitution Means to Me

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom
Derrick Baskin, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Alex Brightman, Beetlejuice
Damon Daunno, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Santino Fontana, Tootsie (WINNER)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show (WINNER)
Caitlin Kinnunen, The Prom
Beth Leavel, The Prom
Eva Noblezada, Hadestown
Kelli O’Hara, Kiss Me, Kate

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

Bertie Carvel, Ink (WINNER)
Robin De Jesús, The Boys in the Band
Gideon Glick, To Kill a Mockingbird
Brandon Uranowitz, Burn This
Benjamin Walker, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

Fionnula Flanagan, The Ferryman
Celia Keenan-Bolger, To Kill a Mockingbird (WINNER)
Kristine Nielsen, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Julie White, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Ruth Wilson, King Lear

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

André De Shields, Hadestown (WINNER)
Andy Grotelueschen, Tootsie
Patrick Page, Hadestown
Jeremy Pope, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Ephraim Sykes, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

Lilli Cooper, Tootsie
Amber Gray, Hadestown
Sarah Stiles, Tootsie
Ali Stroker, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! (WINNER)
Mary Testa, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Best Scenic Design of a Play

Miriam Buether, To Kill a Mockingbird
Bunny Christie, Ink
Rob Howell, The Ferryman (WINNER)
Santo Loquasto, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Jan Versweyveld, Network

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Robert Brill and Peter Nigrini, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Peter England, King Kong
Rachel Hauck, Hadestown (WINNER)
Laura Jellinek, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
David Korins, Beetlejuice

Best Costume Design of a Play

Rob Howell, The Ferryman (WINNER)
Toni-Leslie James, Bernhardt/Hamlet
Clint Ramos, Torch Song
Ann Roth, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Ann Roth, To Kill a Mockingbird

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Michael Krass, Hadestown
William Ivey Long, Beetlejuice
William Ivey Long, Tootsie
Bob Mackie, The Cher Show (WINNER)
Paul Tazewell, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Neil Austin, Ink
Jules Fisher + Peggy Eisenhauer, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Peter Mumford, The Ferryman
Jennifer Tipton, To Kill a Mockingbird
Jan Versweyveld and Tal Yarden, Network

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Kevin Adams, The Cher Show
Howell Binkley, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Bradley King, Hadestown (WINNER)
Peter Mumford, King Kong
Kenneth Posner and Peter Nigrini, Beetlejuice

Best Sound Design of a Play

Adam Cork, Ink
Scott Lehrer, To Kill a Mockingbird
Fitz Patton, Choir Boy (WINNER)
Nick Powell, The Ferryman
Eric Sleichim, Network

Best Sound Design of a Musical

Peter Hylenski, Beetlejuice
Peter Hylenski, King Kong
Steve Canyon Kennedy, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Drew Levy, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz, Hadestown (WINNER)

Best Direction of a Play

Rupert Goold, Ink
Sam Mendes, The Ferryman (WINNER)
Bartlett Sher, To Kill a Mockingbird
Ivo van Hove, Network
George C. Wolfe, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Best Direction of a Musical

Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown (WINNER)
Scott Ellis, Tootsie
Daniel Fish, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Des McAnuff, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Casey Nicholaw, The Prom

Best Choreography

Camille A. Brown, Choir Boy
Warren Carlyle, Kiss Me, Kate
Denis Jones, Tootsie
David Neumann, Hadestown
Sergio Trujillo, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations (WINNER)

Best Orchestrations

Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose, Hadestown (WINNER)
Simon Hale, Tootsie
Larry Hochman, Kiss Me, Kate
Daniel Kluger, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Harold Wheeler, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

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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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