The Tony Awards are behind us, and Broadway’s biggest night is boosting ticket sales. From a ballroom-culture reinvention to a vampire blockbuster to one of the most devastating American plays ever written, many of the year’s winners are still on stage. Tickets won’t last, though. We reviewed all of them. Here’s what to see before it’s too late.
‘Schmigadoon!’ — 4 Tony wins
The cult Apple TV+ series makes its Broadway debut as a colorful, bouncy love letter to Golden Age musicals. Sara Chase and Alex Brightman play New Yorkers trapped in a town where everyone won’t stop singing. Director-choreographer Christopher Gattelli keeps things bouncy, Linda Cho’s costumes pop, and the vibrant cast is having a blast—even if Cinco Paul’s score doesn’t quite live up to its foreparents. Charming enough to earn its Tonys, though we hoped The Lost Boys
‘Ragtime’ — 4 Tony wins
What Lincoln Center Theater’s revival lacks in scenic grandeur, it more than makes up for in rousing, urgent performances. Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy, and Brandon Uranowitz bring Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens’ sweeping musical to vivid, uncomfortable life. In its final moments, Ragtime projects an interracial and intercultural America. And right now, that feels necessary.
‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’ — 3 Tony wins
With a dip and a fan clack, this ballroom-culture reinvention of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s infamously kooky musical is Broadway’s boldest revival in years. Co-choreographers Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons and Qween Jean’s ferocious costumes—earning her a historic Tony win as the first openly transgender person to win in any competitive category—create a world of radical queer joy, anchored by André De Shields and ballroom legends Junior LaBeija and “Tempress” Chasity Moore. Tens across the board.
‘The Lost Boys’ — 4 Tony wins
Finally, a vampire musical that doesn’t suck. Director Michael Arden’s alternately operatic and tongue-in-cheek staging gives this 1987 cult-film adaptation a comic-book sensibility and a genuine blockbuster pulse. Shoshana Bean is in top form; Ali Louis Bourzgui is intoxicating as Billy Idol lookalike David. In a season desperate for a hit, The Lost Boys broke the curse.
‘Giant’ — 1 Tony win
John Lithgow towers—literally and figuratively—as Roald Dahl in Mark Rosenblatt’s simmering confrontation play about antisemitism, legacy, and the limits of admiration. Lithgow imbues Dahl with nuance and spontaneity in a role that offers no easy exits. One of the most challenging, conversation-starting productions Broadway has seen in years.
‘Death of a Salesman’ — 6 Tony wins
Director Joe Mantello’s watershed production—starring Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf as Willy and Linda Loman—marks the play’s seventh Broadway run and may be its most unforgettable. Lane and Metcalf are devastating, but it’s Mantello’s anachronistic, decade-spanning staging that makes this Death of a Salesman essential. Attention must be paid.
Featured image, clockwise from upper left: Giant, Schmigadoon!, Ragtime, Death of a Salesman, The Lost Boys, Cats: The Jellicle Ball. (Photos: Emilio Madrid, Joan Marcus, Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
Have another minute?
Hot Sec – The Tony Awards reached America’s living room. Did Broadway make the sale?
Off-Broadway – Free Shakespeare in the Park’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’ loses its passion chasing politics
Chicago Theater – Music brings ‘Brokeback Mountain’ to life in Chicago Shakespeare’s North American premiere
Leave a Reply