2026 Tony Awards: Laurie Metcalf and ‘Schmigadoon!' triumph on theater's big night
"Schmigadoon!," a loving if slight parody of classic Broadway musicals of the Golden Age that’s based on an Apple TV series, won the Tony Award on Sunday night for best musical. It beat out the vampire musical "The Lost Boys," an epic spectacle based on the popular 1987 horror movie, and a show that impressed more with its bravura staging and design than its score or book.
In a season of notably slim new musical pickings, “Schmigadoon” composer Cinco Paul, who took home the Tonys for best score and best book of a musical, thanked "our schmorchestra" and, tellingly and graciously, given how much he benefited, argued for "more new musicals on Broadway."
That paucity of new tuners - there were just six original musicals in the season, and only two were viable candidates for the top award - meant that the Tonys for artistic achievement in musicals mostly went to revivals.
Revivals were a much more competitive field, with the Lincoln Center Theatre’s revival of “Ragtime” leading the way, taking home the Tony for best revival and for two of its stars, Caissie Levy and Joshua Henry, winning for best actress and best actor in a musical, respectively. But one of its competitors, “Cats: The Jellicle Ball," a dynamic and highly imaginative revival of the classic Andrew Lloyd Webber musical fused with the queer ballroom tradition, had plenty of catnip, including best director for Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, a fitting acknowledgement of the strength of their concept and execution. The show also figured out better than any show in recent memory how to adapt itself for a TV broadcast, with the kitties, as costumed by Tony winner Qween Jean, flitted all over the Radio City Musical Hall in New York, this year’s venue for the ceremony.
Host Pink, arguably the biggest celebrity ever to host the Tonys, began the show in the guise of a flying but quickly grounded Peter Pan, setting up the overall theme of Pink as an insecure Broadway fan with imposter syndrome.
In the opening number, a breathless, high-energy affair, Pink was backed by various ensemble versions of herself and joined by many of Broadway’s nominated stars, with a hipper than usual orchestration. Among many other famous names, rapper and songwriter Megan Thee Stallion also made an appearance, as did Neil Patrick Harris, a prior Tonys host of lesser hue but with superior comic chops.
“This ain’t Chat GPT, this ain’t Claude,” Pink sang, articulating Broadway’s most recent pitch, prior to losing her feathers.
“I am here to celebrate the hardest working people in show business,” Pink said as she caught her breath. During the show, she made numerous references to her daughter, Willow (enough for anyone playing a drinking game to get drunk), whose potential Broadway career was widely seen as the reason Pink moved to New York and agreed to host the Tonys. Pink is no comedian and many of the show’s bits fell flat, but the star’s fandom seemed genuine and her vocal prowess the envy of many a Tony nominee.
Later in the show, Pink joined the cast of “Chicago,” the long-lived Broadway musical that wangled a spot on the Tony Awards by virtue of having been running for 30 years. The original cast of “The Book of Mormon” reunited to celebrate the show’s 15th anniversary. And there was also a tribute to “A Chorus Line” in honor of its 50th anniversary - a revival is likely coming down the pike, of course.
All of those musicals had better scores than any of the shows competing for a Tony.
"Liberation," a lively and self-aware play wherein the playwright asked question after question of her mom's generation of second-wave feminists, took home the Tony for best new play, unsurprisingly beating out Samuel D. Hunter's "Little Bear Ridge Road," which began at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Playwright Bess Wohl noted that she was the first American woman to win that award since the late Wendy Wasserstein won for “The Heidi Chronicles” in 1989.
John Lithgow won a Tony for his leading performance in “Giant,” beating out Nathan Lane, perhaps the biggest surprise (and, arguably, the biggest injustice) of the night. “I am such a lucky actor,” Lithgow said, noting that his first Tony came for work done half a century ago.
“Two Tony bookends,” he said, emotionally, “with 53 years between them.”
Otherwise, “Death of a Salesman,” the Tony winner for best revival of a play, had a big night, including a win for its director, Joe Mantello. Although Mantello has had a formidable career, including directing “Wicked,” he improbably won his first Tony since 2004. Lane accepted the Tony for best revival; the lead producer, Scott Rudin, was not mentioned from the stage.
Laurie Metcalf, a Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member who once belonged almost entirely to Chicago theater audiences, only now to be heralded as perhaps the best American stage actress of her generation, won the Tony Award for best supporting actress in a play for her work in "Salesman.” It was her first Tony since winning for “Three Tall Women” in 2018. She began her speech by thanking Steppenwolf’s foundational artists.
British actress Lesley Manville won for her leading performance in “Oedipus,” in which she made her Broadway debut. Alden Ehrenreich also earned his first career Tony as featured actor for his Broadway debut in the black comedy “Becky Shaw.”
Ali Louis Bourzgui, who Chicagoans saw in the lead role of “Tommy” at the Goodman Theatre, won a Tony for his supporting performance in “The Lost Boys.” He spoke of the need for Muslim artists to be seen and speak their truths. Shoshana Bean, a longtime Broadway favorite, won for best supporting actress for her work in the same show.
American Players Theatre, the 47-year-old outdoor theater located in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and both supported by and beloved of many Chicagoans, accepted the previously announced Tony Award for excellence in regional theater. "It was a safe space for me to fall on my face," said presenter Carrie Coon, a Steppenwolf ensemble member who began her career at APT and who was a Tony nominee this year for her work in “Bug” by her husband, Tracy Letts.
"Live theater can crack people open," said artistic director Brenda DeVita in her acceptance speech. "We love what we do in the woods of Wisconsin."
Not every Chicagoan had success at the Tonys. Heather Gilbert, a Chicago lighting designer, was twice nominated for "Bug" and "The Fear of 13," but lost out to Jack Knowles, who designed the lighting for "Death of a Salesman.” Coon lost out to Manville. But the ceremony made clear that Chicago’s influence on Broadway went far beyond “Chicago.”
Column: What the Tony Award nominations got right, and where they blew it
Winners of the 2026 Tony Awards
BEST MUSICAL: “Schmigadoon!”
BEST PLAY: "Liberation," Bess Wohl
BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL: “Ragtime”
BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY: “Death of a Salesman”
BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL: Joshua Henry, “Ragtime”
BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL: Caissie Levy, “Ragtime”
BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY: John Lithgow, "Giant"
BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY: Lesley Manville, “Oedipus”
BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL: "Schmigadoon!," Cinco Paul
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: "Schmigadoon!," Cinco Paul
BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY: Joe Mantello, “Death of a Salesman”
BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL: Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, "Cats: The Jellicle Ball"
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY: Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons, "Cats: The Jellicle Ball"
BEST ORCHESTRATIONS: Doug Besterman and Mike Morris, “Schmigadoon!”
BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY: Laurie Metcalf, "Death of a Salesman"
BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY: Alden Ehrenreich, “Becky Shaw”
BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL: Shoshana Bean, "The Lost Boys"
BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL: Ali Louis Bourzgui, “The Lost Boys”
BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY: Chloe Lamford, "Death of a Salesman"
BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Dane Laffrey, "The Lost Boys"
BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY: Jeff Mahshie, "Fallen Angels"
BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Qween Jean, "Cats: The Jellicle Ball"
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY: Jack Knowles, "Death of a Salesman"
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Jen Schriever and Michael Arden, "The Lost Boys"
BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A PLAY: Mikaal Sulaiman, "Death of a Salesman"
BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Kai Harada, "Ragtime"
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic
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This story was originally published June 7, 2026 at 10:44 PM.