Tony Awards 2026: Broadway’s Biggest Night Celebrates Revival, Reinvention and Theatrical Legacy

The 79th Tony Awards returned to Radio City Music Hall in New York with the kind of theatrical spectacle Broadway does best: bold performances, emotional speeches, historic wins and a winners list that reflected both reverence for classic works and enthusiasm for new creative voices.

Hosted by Grammy winner P!nk, the 2026 ceremony celebrated Broadway’s 2025–2026 season across musicals, plays, revivals, acting, direction, choreography, design and original music. The evening placed several productions at the center of the conversation, especially Death of a Salesman, Schmigadoon!, Ragtime, Liberation, The Lost Boys and Cats: The Jellicle Ball.

More than an awards show, this year’s Tonys became a portrait of Broadway’s current identity: a stage where heritage productions can still dominate, new plays can shape cultural discourse, and performers can use acceptance speeches to speak beyond the theater world.

A Night Led by P!nk and Built for Spectacle

P!nk’s appointment as host gave the 79th Tony Awards a pop-cultural jolt. The source material describes her as hosting Sunday’s telecast and performing “All That Jazz” during the ceremony at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 7, 2026.

Her opening number helped frame the evening as a celebration of Broadway’s leading ladies, theatrical traditions and musical showmanship. According to the supplied coverage, she opened with a performance packed with Broadway references, including nods to Peter Pan, The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables. The number reimagined “Lady Marmalade” with new lyrics by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Mark Sonnenblick.

The production also featured Neil Patrick Harris, choreography by Sarah O’Gleby, and cameos ranging from Shaina Taub in Ragtime attire to Megan Thee Stallion’s Harold Zidler. P!nk later joined a tribute to Chicago, taking on the role of Velma Kelly in a medley marking the show’s 30th anniversary.

That combination of pop star power and Broadway fluency gave the ceremony a broad entertainment appeal while keeping theater at the center of the night.

The Biggest Winners: Revivals, New Musicals and a Pulitzer-Winning Play

The 2026 Tony Awards did not produce one single runaway story. Instead, several productions shaped the night.

Death of a Salesman emerged as one of the strongest overall performers, winning Best Revival of a Play and several key creative awards. Schmigadoon! won Best Musical, while Liberation earned Best Play. Ragtime was named Best Revival of a Musical and delivered major acting wins for Joshua Henry and Caissie Levy.

The supplied winners list also shows how widely the awards were distributed. The Lost Boys captured performance and design recognition, Cats: The Jellicle Ball triumphed in direction, choreography and costume design, and individual honors went to major names including John Lithgow, Lesley Manville, Laurie Metcalf, Alden Ehrenreich, Shoshana Bean and Ali Louis Bourzgui.

This spread matters because it reflects a Broadway season not defined by a single dominant title, but by competing artistic currents: classic American drama, revived musical theater, television-to-stage adaptation, ballroom culture, and new writing.

Best Musical: Schmigadoon! Moves From Screen Spirit to Broadway Victory

One of the headline wins of the evening was Schmigadoon! taking Best Musical. The production also won Best Book of a Musical for Cinco Paul, Best Original Score for Cinco Paul, and Best Orchestrations for Doug Besterman and Mike Morris.

That set of wins positioned Schmigadoon! as more than a crowd-pleasing musical comedy. Its success across book, score and orchestrations points to recognition for the craft behind its stage adaptation and musical architecture.

The win also gave the night a broader industry resonance. In an era when stage and screen increasingly borrow from each other, Schmigadoon! became a clear example of how a property associated with television-style musical storytelling can find new life in live theater.

Ragtime Delivers a Revival Triumph

Ragtime had one of the most emotionally resonant runs of the evening. It won Best Revival of a Musical, while Joshua Henry won Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical and Caissie Levy won Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical.

The supplied information notes that both wins marked first Tony victories for the performers. Henry had previously been nominated for The Scottsboro Boys, Violet and Carousel, while Levy’s win came with her first nomination.

In his speech, Henry referenced the “Black-don’t-crack legacy” of original Ragtime stars Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell. That line connected the revival to its Broadway lineage, recognizing the performers who helped define the show’s earlier legacy while marking a new chapter for the production.

The night’s Ragtime wins also reinforced the continuing power of musical revivals when they are performed with urgency, scale and emotional clarity.

Death of a Salesman Shows the Strength of Classic Drama

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman was one of the most decorated productions of the night. It won Best Revival of a Play, while Joe Mantello won Best Direction of a Play. The production also earned awards for scenic design, lighting design, sound design and a featured acting win for Laurie Metcalf.

Metcalf’s victory for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play added another major accolade to her Broadway career. The production’s design wins also suggest that voters recognized not only the acting but the full theatrical reimagining of Miller’s classic.

The significance of Death of a Salesman winning heavily is clear: Broadway’s classic canon remains commercially and artistically potent when staged with conviction. The play’s themes of ambition, failure, family pressure and economic anxiety continue to resonate with contemporary audiences.

Liberation Wins Best Play and Signals a Major Moment for New Writing

Bess Wohl’s Liberation won Best Play, one of the evening’s defining victories. The supplied coverage also notes that Wohl became only the fourth woman in Tony history to receive the award, with previous winners including Yasmina Reza and Wendy Wasserstein.

In her speech, Wohl honored Wasserstein along with “women everywhere who have the courage to use their voice.” The play was also identified in the source material as the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner.

That combination of Pulitzer recognition and Tony success positions Liberation as a major contemporary work, not just a seasonal standout. Its victory also added a clear cultural dimension to the night: Broadway continues to reward plays that speak to voice, identity and social memory.

Historic Recognition for Qween Jean

One of the night’s most significant milestones came during the Act One preshow, when Qween Jean won Best Costume Design of a Musical for Cats: The Jellicle Ball.

The supplied information states that Qween Jean became the first Black openly transgender woman to be nominated in Best Costume Design of a Musical or Best Costume Design of a Play, and with the win became the first out trans person to win an award in Tony history.

Her acceptance speech carried the weight of that history. After wishing viewers a happy Pride, she told the audience: “We are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people… We have to take up space.”

That moment extended beyond awards recognition. It marked Broadway as a space where queer and trans creativity is not only present but central to some of the most visually and culturally influential work of the season.

Cats: The Jellicle Ball Brings Ballroom Culture to Broadway

Cats: The Jellicle Ball did not win Best Revival of a Musical, but it remained one of the night’s most culturally visible productions. Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch won Best Direction of a Musical, while Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons won Best Choreography.

Their acceptance speech directly credited ballroom culture: “Thank you, ballroom. Because if it wasn’t for you, we would not be here.”

That line captured why the production mattered. Cats: The Jellicle Ball was not simply a revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical; it was a reimagining filtered through the vocabulary, movement and communal history of ballroom. Its wins in direction, choreography and costume design showed that Broadway voters recognized how deeply the concept shaped the production’s artistic identity.

Acting Winners: Established Stars and Breakthrough Moments

The acting categories created a balance between established names and performers earning career-changing recognition.

John Lithgow won Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for Giant. Lesley Manville won Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for Oedipus. In her speech, Manville paid tribute to fellow nominees Rose Byrne, Carrie Coon, Susannah Flood and Kelli O’Hara, saying, “Would somebody like to write a play for five women? We’re quite bankable, you know.”

That line was both humorous and pointed, turning an acceptance speech into a comment on the need for more substantial stage roles for women.

Alden Ehrenreich won Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for Becky Shaw, a result described in the supplied coverage as a surprise because he was up against several stage veterans. Shoshana Bean won Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for The Lost Boys, after two previous Tony nominations.

Bean dedicated her award to single mothers, including her own, saying: “You are the wild heroes. This is for the incredible army of women that surround and uplift me. This is for every woman who ever felt like she was too much or not enough.”

Ali Louis Bourzgui also won for The Lost Boys, taking Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical. His speech used the language of theater to address empathy, marginalized communities and collective presence. He said: “People like to say that theater is a form of escape, but I found more than ever that in this season and time that the theater is one of the last places people can come to worship the power of true collective human presence.”

The Shows That Went Home Empty-Handed

Not every major nominee converted attention into wins. The supplied information notes that Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) did not take home a Tony, despite a well-received musical number. The Rocky Horror Show also had a difficult night, losing across its nominated categories. Titaníque, despite four nominations and a high-profile comic identity, also ended the evening without a win.

These outcomes are part of what makes awards nights unpredictable. Popularity, critical affection and performance buzz do not always translate into trophies, especially when several heavily nominated productions compete across the same categories.

Even so, awards exposure can still matter commercially. A memorable Tony performance can introduce a production to audiences who may not follow Broadway closely, helping ticket sales even without a win.

Full Major Winners List

Best Musical

Schmigadoon! – WINNER

Best Play

Liberation – WINNER

Best Revival of a Musical

Ragtime – WINNER

Best Revival of a Play

Death of a Salesman – WINNER

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

Joshua Henry, Ragtime – WINNER

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

Caissie Levy, Ragtime – WINNER

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

John Lithgow, Giant – WINNER

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

Lesley Manville, Oedipus – WINNER

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

Ali Louis Bourzgui, The Lost Boys – WINNER

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

Shoshana Bean, The Lost Boys – WINNER

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

Alden Ehrenreich, Becky Shaw – WINNER

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

Laurie Metcalf, Death of a Salesman – WINNER

Best Direction of a Musical

Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, Cats: The Jellicle Ball – WINNER

Best Direction of a Play

Joe Mantello, Death of a Salesman – WINNER

Best Choreography

Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons, Cats: The Jellicle Ball – WINNER

Best Book of a Musical

Cinco Paul, Schmigadoon! – WINNER

Best Original Score

Cinco Paul, Schmigadoon! – WINNER

Best Orchestrations

Doug Besterman and Mike Morris, Schmigadoon! – WINNER

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Dane Laffrey, The Lost Boys – WINNER

Best Scenic Design of a Play

Chloe Lamford, Death of a Salesman – WINNER

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Jen Schriever and Michael Arden, The Lost Boys – WINNER

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Jack Knowles, Death of a Salesman – WINNER

Best Sound Design of a Musical

Kai Harada, Ragtime – WINNER

Best Sound Design of a Play

Mikaal Sulaiman, Death of a Salesman – WINNER

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Qween Jean, Cats: The Jellicle Ball – WINNER

Best Costume Design of a Play

Jeff Mahshie, Fallen Angels – WINNER

Why the 2026 Tony Awards Matter

The 2026 Tony Awards captured Broadway at a point of active transformation. Traditional revivals still carried enormous weight, as seen with Death of a Salesman and Ragtime. New work remained central, with Liberation winning Best Play and Schmigadoon! taking Best Musical. Productions shaped by queer culture, immigrant identity, pop culture and theatrical reinvention also stood prominently in the spotlight.

The night’s most memorable moments were not only about trophies. Qween Jean’s historic win, Ali Louis Bourzgui’s speech, Lesley Manville’s call for more plays centered on women, and P!nk’s highly theatrical hosting all spoke to a Broadway ecosystem trying to balance legacy with change.

In that sense, the 79th Tony Awards did what the best awards ceremonies do: they honored the season behind them while hinting at the stage ahead.