Tony Awards

The Tony Award medallion was designed by art director Herman Rosse and is a mix of mostly brass and a little bronze, with a nickel plating on the outside; a black acrylic glass base, and the nickel-plated pewter swivel.[21] The face of the medallion portrays an adaptation of the comedy and tragedy masks. Originally, the reverse side had a relief profile of Antoinette Perry; this later was changed to contain the winner's name, award category, production and year. The medallion has been mounted on a black base since 1967.[22][23]

A larger base was introduced and first presented in the 2010 award ceremony. That base is slightly taller – 5 inches (13 cm), up from 3+1⁄4 inches (8.3 cm) – and heavier – 3+1⁄2 pounds (1.6 kg), up from 1+1⁄2 pounds (680 grams). This change was implemented to make the award "feel more substantial" and easier to handle at the moment the award is presented to the winners, according to Howard Sherman, the executive director of the American Theatre Wing:

We know the physical scale of the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys. While we're not attempting to keep up with the Joneses, we felt this is a significant award, and it could feel and look a bit more significant... By adding height, now someone can grip the Tony, raise it over their head in triumph and not worry about keeping their grip. Believe me, you can tell the difference.[24]

For the specific Tony Awards presented to a Broadway production, awards are given to the author and up to two of the producers free of charge. All other members of the above-the-title producing team are eligible to purchase the physical award. Sums collected are designed to help defray the cost of the Tony Awards ceremony itself. An award cost $400 as of at least 2000, $750 as of at least 2009, and, as of 2013, had been $2,500 "for several years", according to Tony Award Productions.[25]

For the purposes of the award, a new play or musical is one that has not previously been produced on Broadway and is not "determined… to be a 'classic' or in the historical or popular repertoire", as determined by the Administration Committee (per Section (2g) of the Rules and Regulations).[4] The rule about "classic" productions was instituted by the Tony Award Administration Committee in 2002, and stated (in summary) "A play or musical that is determined ... to be a 'classic' or in the historical or popular repertoire shall not be eligible for an award in the Best Play or Best Musical Category but may be eligible in that appropriate Best Revival category."[27] Shows transferred from Off-Broadway or the West End are eligible as "new", as are productions based closely on films.

This rule has been the subject of some controversy, as some shows, such as Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Violet,[28] have been ruled ineligible for the "new" category, meaning that their authors did not have a chance to win the important awards of Best Play or Best Musical (or Best Score or Best Book for musicals). On the other hand, some people feel that allowing plays and musicals that have been frequently produced to be eligible as "new" gives them an unfair advantage because they will have benefited from additional development time as well as additional familiarity with the Tony voters.

The Tony Awards Administration Committee has twenty-four members: ten designated by the American Theatre Wing, ten by The Broadway League, and one each by the Dramatists Guild, Actors' Equity Association, United Scenic Artists and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. This committee, among other duties, determines eligibility for nominations in all awards categories.[29]

The Tony Awards Nominating Committee makes the nominations for the various categories. This rotating group of theatre professionals is selected by the Tony Awards Administration Committee. Nominators serve three-year terms and are asked to see every new Broadway production.[30] The Nominating Committee for the 2012–13 Broadway season (named in June 2012) had 42 members;[31] the Nominating Committee for the 2014–2015 season has 50 members and was appointed in June 2014.[30]

There are approximately 868 eligible Tony Award voters (as of 2014),[26] a number that changes slightly from year to year. The number was decreased in 2009 when the first-night critics were excluded as voters.[32][33] That decision was changed, and members of the New York Drama Critics' Circle were invited to be Tony voters beginning in the 2010–2011 season.[34]

The eligible Tony voters include the board of directors and designated members of the advisory committee of the American Theatre Wing, members of the governing boards of Actors' Equity Association, the Dramatists Guild, the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, United Scenic Artists, and the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers, members of the Theatrical Council of the Casting Society of America and voting members of The Broadway League (in 2000, what was then The League of American Theaters and Producers changed membership eligibility and Tony voting status from a lifetime honor to all above-the-title producers, to ones who had been active in the previous 10 years. This action disenfranchised scores of Tony voters, including Gail Berman, Harve Brosten, Dick Button, Tony Lo Bianco, and Raymond Serra).

To be eligible for Tony Award consideration, a production must have officially opened on Broadway by the eligibility date that the Management Committee establishes each year. For example, the cut-off date for eligibility the 2013–2014 season was April 24, 2014.[35] The season for Tony Award eligibility is defined in the Rules and Regulations.

In 2020, the 74th Annual Tony Awards were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[36] On August 21, 2020, it was announced that the 74th Annual Tony Awards would take place digitally later in 2020.[37]

A Broadway theatre is defined as having 500 or more seats, among other requirements. While the rules define a Broadway theatre in terms of its size, not its geographical location, the list of Broadway theatres is determined solely by the Tony Awards Administration Committee. As of the 2016–2017 season, the list consisted solely of 41 theaters: 40 located in the vicinity of Times Square in New York City and Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater.[38][39]

• Nominations: The most Tony nominations ever received by a single production was the musical Hamilton (2016) with 16 nominations in 13 categories, narrowly passing the previous holders of this record, The Producers (2001; 15 nominations in 12 categories) and Billy Elliot (2009; 15 nominations in 13 categories). The most Tony nominations for a non-musical play was Slave Play (2020; 12 nominations in 10 categories).
• Wins: The most Tony Awards ever received by a single production was the musical The Producers (2001) with 12 awards, including Best Musical.
• Non-musical wins: The most Tonys ever received by a non-musical play was The Coast of Utopia (2007) with 7 awards, including Best Play.
• Most nominations with fewest wins: Musicals The Scottsboro Boys (2011) and Mean Girls (2018), as well as non-musical play Slave Play (2020) are tied: all three were nominated for 12 Tony Awards but did not win any.[52]
• Four musicals have won all "big six" awards for original musicals: South Pacific (1950 awards), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979 awards), Hairspray (2003 awards)[53] and The Band's Visit (2018 awards); each won the Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book, Best Performance by a Leading Actor, Best Performance by a Leading Actress, and Best Direction awards.
  • Two Plays have won all "big four" awards for original plays: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1963 awards) and The Real Thing (1984 awards); both won the Best Play, Best Performance by a Leading Actor, Best Performance by a Leading Actress, and Best Direction awards.
• Acting Awards: Only one production, South Pacific (1950 awards), has won all four of the acting awards in a single year.
• Words and Music: Only eight musicals have won the Tony Award for Best Musical when a person had (co-)written the Book (non-sung dialogue and storyline) and the Score (music and lyrics): 1958 winner The Music Man (Meredith Willson – award for Book and Score did not exist that year), 1986 winner The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Rupert Holmes – who also won for Book and Score), 1996 winner Rent (Jonathan Larson posthumously – who also won for Book and Score), 2001 winner The Producers (Mel Brooks – also won for Book and Score), 2011 winner The Book of Mormon (Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone also won for Book and Score), 2016 winner Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda also won for Book and Score), 2019 winner Hadestown (Anaïs Mitchell also won for Score), and 2022 winner A Strange Loop (Michael R Jackson also won for Book)
• Design Awards: Eleven shows have swept the Design Awards (original 3 of Best Scenic Design, Best Costume Design, Best Lighting Design – joined by Best Sound Design starting in 2008): Follies (1972), The Phantom of the Opera (1986), The Lion King (1998), The Producers (2001), The Light in the Piazza (2005), The Coast of Utopia (2007), the 2008 revival of South Pacific (first to sweep the expanded four awards for Creative Arts), Peter and the Starcatcher (first straight play to sweep the expanded four awards for Creative Arts) (2012), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2018), A Christmas Carol and Moulin Rouge! (both 2020).
• Revivals: Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller in 2012 became the first show (play or musical) to win as Best Production in four different years, Best Play at the 1949 awards, Best Revival at the 1984 awards (before the Best Revival award was split into two categories for Play and Musical in 1994), and Best Revival of a Play at the 1999 and 2012 awards. La Cage aux Folles made history as the first musical to win as Best Production in three different years, Best Musical at the 1984 awards and Best Revival of a Musical at both the 2005 awards and the 2010 awards. The King and I has also garnered three Tony Awards, one for each time it has been produced on Broadway, first as Best Musical and then twice as Best Revival of a Musical. Company has also won three Tony Awards, first as Best Musical in 1971, followed by Best Revival of a Musical in 2007 and 2022.

• Wins: Harold Prince received 21 Tony Awards, more than anyone else, including eight for Best Direction of a Musical, eight for Best Musical, two for Best Producer of a Musical, and three special Tony Awards. Tommy Tune has received ten Tony Awards including three for direction, four for choreography, two for performing, and one special Tony Award. Stephen Sondheim has won more music Tony Awards than any other individual, with eight awards (six for Best Original Score, one for Best Composer, and one for Best Lyricist). Bob Fosse has won the most Tonys for choreography, also eight. Oliver Smith has won a record eight scenic design Tony Awards. Jules Fisher has won the most lighting design awards, with nine. Audra McDonald has the most performance Tony Awards with six. Terrence McNally and Tom Stoppard are the most awarded writers with four Tonys each; McNally has won Best Play twice and Best Book of a Musical twice, while Stoppard has won Best Play four times.
• Most nominations: Julie Harris, Audra McDonald, and Chita Rivera have been nominated more often than any other performer, ten apiece.[54][55][56]
• Performers in two categories: Six performers have been nominated in two acting categories in the same year: Amanda Plummer, Dana Ivey, Kate Burton, Jan Maxwell, Mark Rylance, and Jeremy Pope. Plummer in 1982 was nominated for Best Actress in a Play for A Taste of Honey and Best Featured Actress in a Play for Agnes of God, for which she won. Ivey in 1984 was nominated as Best Featured Actress in Musical for Sunday in the Park with George and Best Featured Actress in a Play for Heartbreak House. In 2002, Burton was nominated for Best Actress in Play for Hedda Gabler and Best Featured Actress in a Play for The Elephant Man. Maxwell was nominated in 2010 for Best Actress in a Play for The Royal Family and Best Featured Actress in a Play for Lend Me a Tenor. Rylance was nominated in 2014 for Best Actor in a Play for Richard III and Best Featured Actor in a Play for Twelfth Night, for which he won. Pope was nominated in 2019 for Best Actor in a Play for Choir Boy and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Ain't Too Proud.
• Performers in all categories: Five performers have been nominated for all four performance awards for which a performer is eligible.
  • Boyd Gaines was the first performer to be nominated for each of Best Featured Actor in a Play in The Heidi Chronicles (1989), Best Actor in a Musical for She Loves Me (1994), Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Contact (2000) and Gypsy (2008) and Best Actor in a Play for Journey's End (2007). Gaines won in three of the categories (and four of the five nominations), missing only for the performance in Journey's End.
  • Raúl Esparza was the second performer to be nominated in all four categories (no wins), achieving this over a mere six seasons: Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Taboo (2004), Best Actor in a Musical for Company (2007), Best Featured Actor in a Play for The Homecoming (2008), and Best Actor in a Play for Speed-the-Plow (2009).
  • Angela Lansbury was the third performer to be nominated for all four performance awards. She won Best Actress in a Musical for Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), Gypsy (1975), and Sweeney Todd (1979). She was nominated for Best Actress in a Play for Deuce (2007). She won Best Featured Actress in a Play for Blithe Spirit (2009). She was nominated for Featured Actress in a Musical for A Little Night Music (2010).
  • Jan Maxwell became the fourth performer to achieve this distinction by being nominated (no wins) for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (2005), Best Featured Actress in a Play for Coram Boy (2007) and Lend Me a Tenor (2010), Best Actress in a Play for The Royal Family (2010), and Best Actress in a Musical for Follies (2012).
  • Audra McDonald became the fifth performer to accomplish the feat and the first to win in all four categories, winning Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for Carousel (1994) and Ragtime (1998), Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for Master Class (1996) and A Raisin in the Sun (2004), Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Porgy and Bess (2012), and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (2014). She was nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Marie Christine (2000) and 110 in the Shade (2007) and for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (2020/21) and Ohio State Murders (2022).
• Performers Playing Opposite Sex: While several performers have won Tonys for roles that have involved cross-dressing, only four have won for playing a character of the opposite sex: Mary Martin in the title role of Peter Pan (1955), Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (2003), Mark Rylance as Olivia in Twelfth Night (2014), and Lena Hall as Yitzhak in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2014). In 2000, Australian actor Barry Humphries won the Special Tony Award for a live theatrical event at the 55th Annual Tony Awards for Dame Edna: The Royal Tour.
• Shared Performances: All three of the young actors who shared the duties of performing the lead character in Billy Elliot the Musical (2009 awards) – David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish – also shared a single nomination, then shared the win, for Best Actor in a Musical. Previously, the only prior joint winners were John Kani and Winston Ntshona, who shared the Best Actor in a Play award in 1975 for Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island, two plays they co-wrote and co-starred in. In 2003, the 10 stars of Baz Luhrmann's La Bohème won a joint Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre award, as did the four co-leads in the title role of Matilda the Musical in 2013.
• Two genders for one role: Ben Vereen and Patina Miller both won, respectively, Best Actor in a Musical in 1972 and Best Actress in a Musical in 2013 for the role of the Leading Player in Pippin, marking the first time the same role has been won by both a man and a woman in a Broadway production.
• Writing and performing: Two people have won Tonys as an author and as a performer. Harvey Fierstein won Best Play and Best Lead Actor in a Play for Torch Song Trilogy (1983), Best Book of a Musical for La Cage aux Folles, and Best Lead Actor in a Musical for Hairspray. Tracy Letts, the author of 2008 Best Play August: Osage County, won Best Lead Actor in a Play for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2013).
• Youngest and oldest winners of Best Score or Best Book: Lin-Manuel Miranda is the youngest person to win the award; he was 28 when he won for In The Heights. If T. S. Eliot had been alive when he won for Cats, he would have been 94. Eliot is one of two people to receive the award posthumously, the other being Jonathan Larson, who won for Rent. He would have been 36.
• Youngest and oldest actors to win: Frank Langella is the oldest actor to win a Tony, for his performance in The Father (won at age 78), and Lois Smith holds the record for oldest actress for her performance in The Inheritance (won at age 90). The youngest actor to win a Tony Award, at age 11, was Frankie Michaels, in 1966, for his featured performance in Mame, a record which still stands today. Twenty-five years later, at 11 and a half years old, Daisy Eagan took home a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in The Secret Garden, cementing her place in Tony history as the youngest woman to win the award.
• Youngest and oldest winners for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical: Liza Minelli is the youngest actress to win the award, for her performance in Flora the Red Menace (won at age 19). Bette Midler is the oldest actress to win the award, for her performance in Hello, Dolly! (won at age 71).

• In 2013, the four girls who alternated for the title role in Matilda the Musical (Sophia Gennusa, aged 9; Bailey Ryon, aged 10; Oona Laurence, aged 10; and Milly Shapiro, aged 10) won a joint Tony Honors award, making Gennusa the youngest to ever receive a Tony, albeit a non-competitive one.

• First African-American to win Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical: Juanita Hall for South Pacific in 1950.
• First African-American to win Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical: Harry Belafonte for John Murray Anderson's Almanac in 1954.
• First female author to win Best Play: Frances Goodrich with her partner (and husband) Albert Hackett for The Diary of Anne Frank in 1956.
• First African-American to win Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical: Diahann Carroll for No Strings in 1962.
• First African-American to win Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play: James Earl Jones for The Great White Hope in 1969.
• First African-American to win Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical: Cleavon Little for Purlie in 1970.
• First African-American author to win Best Play: Joseph A. Walker for The River Niger in 1974.
• First African-American composer to solely win Tony Award for Best Score: Charlie Smalls for The Wiz in 1975.
• First female to win Tony Award for Best Score: Betty Comden for On the Twentieth Century in 1978. (In 1968, she became the first female to win the previous version of the Best Score Award, the Tony Award for Best Composer And Lyricist for Hallelujah, Baby!)
• First Asian-American author to win Best Play: David Henry Hwang for M Butterfly in 1988.
• First Asian-American to win Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play: BD Wong for M Butterfly in 1988.
• First female author to solely win Best Play: Wendy Wasserstein for The Heidi Chronicles in 1989.
• First Asian to win Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical: Lea Salonga for Miss Saigon in 1991.
• First woman to win Best Direction of a Musical: Julie Taymor for The Lion King in 1998.
• First woman to win Best Direction of a Play: Garry Hynes for The Beauty Queen of Leenane in 1998.
• First African-American to win Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play: Phylicia Rashad for A Raisin in the Sun in 2004.
• First Brazilian to win Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical: Paulo Szot for South Pacific in 2008.
• First woman to solely win Tony Award for Best Score: Cyndi Lauper for Kinky Boots in 2013.
• First Asian-American to win Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical: Ruthie Ann Miles for The King and I in 2015.
• First female team to win Tony Award for Best Score and Tony Award for Best Book: Jeanine Tesori & Lisa Kron for Fun Home in 2015.
• First Lebanese-American to win Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical: Tony Shalhoub for The Band's Visit in 2018.
• First Yemeni-American to win Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical: Ari'el Stachel for The Band's Visit in 2018.
• First person who uses a wheelchair to be nominated for and to receive a Tony Award for acting: Ali Stroker with the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Oklahoma! in 2019.[57][58]
• First woman to be nominated for and to win Best Sound Design of a Musical: Jessica Paz for Hadestown in 2019.[59]
• First Latiné playwright to win Tony Award for Best Play: Matthew López for The Inheritance in 2020.
• First openly trans performer to be nominated for a Tony Award: L Morgan Lee with the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for A Strange Loop in 2022.[60]
• First openly non binary performers to be nominated for and win a Tony Award: J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell, for Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical and Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical, respectively, in 2023.[61]