Maria Friedman’s Merrily We Roll Along wins big at the Tony Awards 2024

The 77th annual Tony Awards returned to the David H Koch Theatre at Lincoln Center on Sunday 16 June to celebrate the rich cultural tapestry that is New York theatre. It has been an encouraging year for both classic musicals – Cabaret and Merrily We Roll Along have made popular returns – as well as new musicals that are telling stories we’ve yet to see played out on the Broadway stage.

Maria Friedman’s revival of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along (based on her original revival production at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London back in 2012) collected four Tony awards. As well as Best Revival, both Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe each received their first Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor and Best Performance by a Featured Actor respectively. Very poignantly, Jonathan Tunick, orchestrator of almost all of Sondheim’s output and an invaluable part of the legendary composer’s iconic sound, received his second Tony Award for his new orchestrations for the show.

As the list of winners was announced, Musicals’ Matt Wolf – who previously reviewed the Off-Broadway production for this publication – said: ‘The journey of this show from legendary flop to a must-see, gold-plated hit is nothing short of astonishing.’

Jonathan Groff sheds tears of joy as he receives his first Tony Award for 'Merrily We Roll Along'

Folk-rock musical The Outsiders, based on the 1967 novel and 1983 film of the same name, also found success, taking home four Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Director of a Musical (Danya Taymor), Best Lighting Design in a Musical (Hana S Kim and Brian MacDevitt) and Best Sound Design in a Musical (Cody Spencer).

In his review, Musicals’ Thom Geier was particularly impressed by the music (the soundtrack is reviewed in the next issue of Musicals): ‘The show boasts its own showstopping set-pieces, but it stands out with a score, by Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance of the indie folk duo Jamestown Revival along with Justin Levine, that truly understands how to use songs to tell a story onstage.’The cast of 'The Outsiders' take to the stage

Two other new musicals – Suffs and Hell’s Kitchen – also fared well, the former winning Best Book (Shaina Taub) and the latter taking home two Tonys: Best Performance by a Featured Actress (Kecia Lewis) and Best Performance by a Leading Actress (Maleah Joi Moon).

As Thom Geier wrote (in our April/June issue): ‘What sets Hell’s Kitchen apart from other recent jukebox musicals is that it doesn’t sound like Broadway — in the best possible way. Rather than adapting Keys’s hits into Glee-ified Musical Theatre arrangements, the show roots its radio-friendly score in its own aesthetic mix of pop, R&B, hip hop and even jazz.’

Alicia Keys and the cast of 'Hell's Kitchen' raise the roof

The outcome was less positive for the Broadway transfer of Rebecca Frecknall’s Cabaret, which only managed to win one (Tom Scutt for ​Best Scenic Design) of the nine awards it was nominated for. Its original London run won seven Olivier Awards back in 2022, but it just didn’t seem to land as well in New York, as reflected by the flurry of negative reviews the production received when it opened there on 1 April.

Last year, MJ The Musical scooped a total of four Tonys (from 10 nominations), and has since transferred successfully to the West End (read our review). It will be interesting to see if the same journey awaits The Outsiders, Suffs and Hell’s Kitchen. Will they also make the jump across the Atlantic – and if so, when?

You can read our full reviews of Suffs and The Outsiders in the June/July issue of Musicals magazine out now – consider subscribing today!

Best Musical
Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theatre
Illinoise at the St James Theatre
The Outsiders at the Jacobs Theatre 
Suffs at the Music Box Theatre
Water for Elephants at the Imperial Theatre

Best Revival of a Musical
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre
Gutenberg! The Musical! at the James Earl Jones Theatre
Merrily We Roll Along at the Hudson Theatre
The Who’s Tommy at the Nederlander Theatre

Best Direction of a Musical
Maria Friedman — Merrily We Roll Along at the Hudson Theatre
Michael Greif — Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theatre
Leigh Silverman — Suffs at the Music Box Theatre
Jessica Stone — Water for Elephants at the Imperial Theatre
Danya Taymor — The Outsiders at the Jacobs Theatre

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Brody Grant — The Outsiders at the Jacobs Theatre
Jonathan Groff — Merrily We Roll Along at the Hudson Theatre
Dorian Harewood — The Notebook at the Schoenfeld Theatre
Brian d’Arcy James — Days of Wine and Roses at Studio 54
Eddie Redmayne — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Eden Espinosa — Lempicka at the Longacre Theatre
Maleah Joi Moon — Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theatre
Kelli O’Hara — Days of Wine and Roses at Studio 54
Maryann Plunkett — The Notebook at the Schoenfeld Theatre
Gayle Rankin — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Roger Bart — Back to the Future at the Winter Garden Theatre
Joshua Boone — The Outsiders at the Jacobs Theatre
Brandon Victor Dixon — Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theatre
Sky Lakota-Lynch — The Outsiders at the Jacobs Theatre
Daniel Radcliffe — Merrily We Roll Along at the Hudson Theatre
Steven Skybell — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Shoshana Bean — Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theatre
Amber Iman — Lempicka at the Longacre Theatre
Nikki M James — Suffs at the Music Box Theatre
Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer — Monty Python’s Spamalot at the St James Theatre
Kecia Lewis — Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theatre
Lindsay Mendez — Merrily We Roll Along at the Hudson Theatre
Bebe Neuwirth — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre

Best Book of a Musical
Kristoffer Diaz — Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theatre
Bekah Brunstetter — The Notebook at the Schoenfeld Theatre
Adam Rapp and Justin Levine — The Outsiders at the Jacobs Theatre
Shaina Taub — Suffs at the Music Box Theatre
Rick Elice — Water for Elephants at the Imperial Theatre

Best Original Score
Adam Guettel — Days of Wine and Roses at Studio 54
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim — Here Lies Love at the Broadway Theatre
Will Butler — Stereophonic at the Golden Theatre
Shaina Taub — Suffs at the Music Box Theatre
Jamestown Revival and Justin Levine — The Outsiders

Best Orchestrations
Timo Andres — Illinoise at the St James Theatre
Will Butler and Justin Craig — Stereophonic at the Golden Theatre
Justin Levine, Matt Hinkley and Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance) — The Outsiders at the Jacobs Theatre
Tom Kitt and Adam Blackstone — Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theatre
Jonathan Tunick — Merrily We Roll Along at the Hudson Theatre

Best Choreography
Camille A Brown — Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theatre
Annie-B Parson — Here Lies Love at the Broadway Theatre
Rick and Jeff Kuperman — The Outsiders at the Jacobs Theatre
Justin Peck — Illinoise at the St James Theatre
Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll — Water for Elephants at the Imperial Theatre

Best Scenic Design in a Musical
Amp featuring Tatianna Kahvegian — The Outsiders at the Jacobs Theatre
Robert Brill and Peter Nigrini — Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theatre
Takeshi Kata — Water for Elephants at the Imperial Theatre
David Korins — Here Lies Love at the Broadway Theatre
Riccardo Hernández and Peter Nigrini — Lempicka at the Longacre Theatre
Tim Hatley and Finn Ross — Back to the Future at the Winter Garden Theatre
Tom Scutt — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre

Best Costume Design in a Musical
Dede Ayite — Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theatre
Linda Cho — The Great Gatsby at the Broadway Theatre
David Israel Reynoso — Water for Elephants at the Imperial Theatre
Tom Scutt — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre
Paul Tazewell — Suffs at the Music Box Theatre

Best Lighting Design in a Musical
Brandon Stirling Baker — Illinoise at the St James Theatre
Isabella Byrd — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre
Natasha Katz — Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theatre
Bradley King and David Bengali — Water for Elephants at the Imperial Theatre
Brian MacDevitt and Hana S Kim — The Outsiders at the Jacobs Theatre

Best Sound Design of a Musical
M L Dogg and Cody Spencer — Here Lies Love at the Broadway Theatre 
Kai Harada — Merrily We Roll Along at the Hudson Theatre
Nick Lidster for Autograph — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre
Gareth Owen — Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theatre
Cody Spencer — The Outsiders at the Jacobs Theatre