Tony Awards 2023: The Winners

The Tony Awards, Broadway’s biggest night of the year, was hosted on 12 June by Oscar-winning actress Ariana DeBose, who was unscripted due to the Hollywood writers’ strike which threated to cancel the event. ‘We don’t have a script you guys. I am live and unscripted. You’re welcome,’ she said. ‘To anyone who may have thought that last year was a bit unhinged. To them I say, “Darlings, buckle up.”’

Kimberly Akimbo had a great night, with Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire’s show picking up awards for Best Musical, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Victoria Clark), Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Bonnie Milligan).

Actor Joel Grey and composer John Kander were honoured with lifetime achievement awards (former Cabaret star Eddie Redmayne paid tribute), and the night also saw J Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell become the first non-binary performers to pick up awards – Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Some Like It Hot) and Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Shucked) respectively.

Tony Awards 2023 Musical Theatre Winners in Full

Best Musical
Kimberly Akimbo

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Victoria Clark (Kimberly Akimbo)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
J Harrison Ghee (Some Like It Hot)

Best Revival of a Musical
Parade

Best Book of a Musical
Kimberly Akimbo (David Lindsay-Abaire)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Bonnie Milligan (Kimberly Akimbo)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Alex Newell (Shucked)

Best Direction of a Musical
Michael Arden (Parade)

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Beowulf Boritt (New York, New York)

Best Orchestrations
Charlie Rosen and Bryan Carter (Some Like It Hot)

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes (Some Like It Hot)

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Kimberly Akimbo (Music: Jeanine Tesori, lyrics: David Lindsay-Abaire)

Best Choreography
Casey Nicholaw (Some Like It Hot)

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Natasha Katz (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Nevin Steinberg (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)

Our writer Matt Wolf was there for all the action, and you can read his highlights from the night in his next Broadway Bulletin – to appear in the August/September issue of Musicals magazine, on sale from 28 July. Click here to subscribe