Tony Awards 2026 Winners: Schmigadoon! Takes Best Musical as Broadway Spreads the Glory

The 2026 Tony Awards turned Broadway’s biggest night into a wide-ranging celebration of revivals, screen-to-stage adaptations, star performances and fresh theatrical voices. Held Sunday, June 7, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, the 79th Tony Awards honored the 2025–2026 Broadway season with a ceremony hosted by Pink and broadcast live on CBS, with streaming available through Paramount+.

For many viewers searching “what are the Tony Awards” or “what is the Tony Awards,” the answer was on full display: the Tonys are Broadway’s highest-profile annual awards, recognizing excellence in plays, musicals, revivals, acting, direction, writing, design, choreography, orchestration and other theatrical crafts. In 2026, the awards did not crown one overwhelming champion. Instead, they reflected a season in which several productions claimed major cultural space.

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman led the night with six wins, including Best Revival of a Play. Schmigadoon! won Best Musical and finished with four awards. Ragtime won Best Revival of a Musical and also earned four trophies. The Lost Boys matched that four-win tally, while Cats: The Jellicle Ball collected three awards.

A Broadway Season Defined by Fewer Openings but Stronger Competition

The 2026 Tonys arrived after what was described in the provided material as a season of “shrinkflation”: only 11 musicals, including new productions and revivals, opened during the season, compared with 21 the previous year. Yet the smaller field did not mean a weaker one. The season still produced a crowded awards conversation, with major attention around Schmigadoon!, The Lost Boys, Ragtime, Titaníque, Liberation, Death of a Salesman and Cats: The Jellicle Ball.

That tension gave the ceremony its central drama. Broadway was celebrating artistry at a time when productions increasingly rely on recognizable titles, celebrity names and cross-media appeal to attract audiences. Schmigadoon! arrived with built-in recognition from television viewers familiar with the Apple TV universe, while The Lost Boys carried the power of a cult screen title into a Broadway musical format. Titaníque continued to represent the commercial pull of pop-culture parody and theatrical reinvention.

But the top awards also showed that Broadway voters were not only rewarding brand recognition. Bess Wohl’s Liberation, a Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, won Best Play, while Death of a Salesman demonstrated the continuing power of the American theatrical canon when revived with urgency and craft.

Schmigadoon! Wins Best Musical and Confirms Its Broadway Breakthrough

The headline victory of the night belonged to Schmigadoon!, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The Broadway production, based on the TV series of the same name, also won Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical and Best Orchestrations. Its awards profile made it one of the evening’s most important success stories.

The key Schmigadoon! wins were:

For audiences searching “Schmigadoon Broadway,” “Schmigadoon Broadway cast” or “Schmigadoon Tony Awards,” the result confirmed that the show’s Broadway version had moved beyond adaptation status. It became a Tony-winning stage musical in its own right.

The show’s win also reflected Broadway’s ongoing relationship with television and streaming culture. Apple TV helped introduce the title to a wider audience, but the Tonys recognized the Broadway production’s theatrical transformation: its book, score and orchestrations all received top honors.

Death of a Salesman Becomes the Night’s Biggest Winner

Although Schmigadoon! took Best Musical, the most decorated production of the 2026 Tony Awards was Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. The revival won six Tonys, including Best Revival of a Play, Best Direction of a Play for Joe Mantello and multiple design and performance awards.

Its wins included:

That result made Death of a Salesman the awards leader by production. It also underlined a familiar Tony Awards pattern: revivals can become central cultural events when a classic text is newly staged with strong acting, direction and design.

Ragtime Delivers Major Acting Wins and Best Musical Revival

Ragtime was another major winner, taking home Best Revival of a Musical and two of the night’s most prominent acting prizes. Joshua Henry won Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, while Caissie Levy won Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical.

Their victories gave Ragtime one of the most emotionally resonant awards arcs of the night. Henry was honored for his performance as Coalhouse Walker Jr., while Levy won for her role as Mother. The production also won Best Sound Design of a Musical for Kai Harada.

Ragtime’s four wins placed it alongside Schmigadoon! and The Lost Boys as one of the strongest musical-theater stories of the evening.

The Lost Boys Makes a Strong Tony Awards Showing

For viewers searching “The Lost Boys Broadway,” “Lost Boys Broadway” or “The Lost Boys Tony nominations,” the 2026 Tony Awards provided a clear answer: the musical was a major awards force.

The Lost Boys won four Tonys:

The show’s wins were especially notable because they combined acting recognition with design recognition. Shoshana Bean and Ali Louis Bourzgui gave The Lost Boys two major performance trophies, while the scenic and lighting wins highlighted the production’s visual identity.

That combination matters commercially. For screen-to-stage musicals, the challenge is not only adapting a familiar title but creating a theatrical world audiences want to experience live. The Tony wins suggested that The Lost Boys succeeded both as a performance vehicle and as a Broadway spectacle.

Liberation Wins Best Play for Bess Wohl

One of the evening’s most significant playwriting moments came when Liberation by Bess Wohl won Best Play. The provided source information identifies the work as Pulitzer Prize-winning, giving its Tony victory added literary weight.

The Best Play category included:

For searches around “Liberation play,” “Liberation Broadway,” “Bess Wohl” and simply “Liberation,” the 2026 Tonys placed Wohl’s drama at the center of the Broadway conversation. Even though the production had ended its limited engagement earlier in the season, its awards recognition extended its cultural life beyond the run itself.

John Lithgow, Lesley Manville and First-Time Winners Add Emotional Weight

The acting categories gave the 2026 Tony Awards some of their most memorable moments. John Lithgow won Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for Giant, playing the cantankerous, antisemitic children’s author Roald Dahl. At 80, Lithgow became one of the oldest Tony Award winners, according to the provided material.

Lesley Manville won Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for Oedipus. At 70, her victory added another major honor to a night that celebrated veteran stage talent alongside newer Tony winners.

Several performers also celebrated their first Tony wins, including Caissie Levy and Joshua Henry for Ragtime, Alden Ehrenreich for Becky Shaw and Shoshana Bean for The Lost Boys. Those wins gave the ceremony a generational sweep: established actors, Broadway favorites and newer award recipients all shared the spotlight.

Cats: The Jellicle Ball Turns Reinvention Into Tony Recognition

Cats: The Jellicle Ball won three Tonys, confirming the awards appeal of a revival that reimagined a familiar musical through fresh staging, movement and design.

Its wins were:

The production’s recognition in direction, choreography and costume design showed how revivals can earn attention not merely by preserving beloved material but by reframing it. In a season filled with revivals and recognizable titles, Cats: The Jellicle Ball stood out as a reinvention rather than a straightforward return.

Pink Hosts a High-Energy Ceremony

Pink hosted the 2026 Tonys and gave the night a distinct pop-theatrical identity. According to the provided source information, the ceremony opened with Pink suspended in the air, flipping upside down as Peter Pan. She also appeared in feathers for an opening number of “Lady Marmalade” and performed as Velma Kelly in a Chicago anniversary act.

The broadcast also included tributes to major Broadway milestones, including Chicago, The Book of Mormon, A Chorus Line and Rent. Laura Benanti and Tituss Burgess hosted The Tony Awards: Act One, the pre-show that streamed on Pluto TV before the main CBS broadcast.

For viewers searching “Pink Chicago,” “Pink in Chicago,” “Tony Awards red carpet” or “what time do the Tonys start tonight,” the evening blended fashion, live performance and awards suspense into a full entertainment event.

How to Watch the Tonys 2026: Time, Channel and Streaming

The 2026 Tony Awards aired live Sunday, June 7, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. The main ceremony was available through Paramount+ for eligible subscribers, while The Tony Awards: Act One streamed free on Pluto TV beginning at 6:35 p.m. ET.

For anyone asking “where to watch the Tonys 2026,” “how to watch the Tony Awards 2026,” “where to watch Tony Awards 2026” or “what time are the Tony Awards 2026,” the viewing structure was:

The ceremony took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, one of the Tonys’ most recognizable venues.

Full 2026 Tony Awards Winners List

Major Awards

Acting Awards

Creative and Design Awards

Tony Wins by Production

Why the 2026 Tonys Matter

The 2026 Tony Awards told a broader story about where Broadway is heading. The season rewarded adaptations, revivals and recognizable titles, but it also honored serious new writing and high-level theatrical craft.

Schmigadoon! showed that a streaming-era property can successfully become a Broadway musical. The Lost Boys showed that screen nostalgia still has commercial and artistic power when matched with strong design and performances. Ragtime and Death of a Salesman proved that revivals remain central to Broadway’s identity when they are staged with conviction. Liberation reminded the industry that new plays can still command the highest honors.

The presence of names such as Pink, Billy Crystal, Lorne Michaels, Bowen Yang and other entertainment figures in the broader Tonys conversation also reflected the increasing overlap between Broadway, television, film, music and pop culture. But the winners list ultimately centered the work onstage: actors, writers, directors, designers, choreographers, orchestrators and technicians who made the season memorable.

Conclusion: A Night of Shared Momentum for Broadway

The 2026 Tonys did not belong to one production alone. Death of a Salesman led the count, Schmigadoon! won the biggest musical prize, Liberation claimed Best Play, Ragtime dominated key musical acting categories, The Lost Boys emerged as a major Broadway force and Cats: The Jellicle Ball turned reinvention into awards recognition.

For Broadway, that spread of winners may be the most important takeaway. At a time when the industry continues to balance commercial pressures, star power, familiar intellectual property and new creative voices, the 79th Tony Awards offered a snapshot of a theater world still capable of surprise, spectacle and serious artistic achievement.