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Today on Broadway: Tuesday, June 10, 2025
00:34:43
Matt and Grace dive deep into the 2025 Tony Awards, including Grace’s viral reactions Since 2016, “Today on Broadway” has been the first and only daily podcast recapping the top theatre headlines every Monday through Friday.
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- [00:02]
Matt Tamminini
Welcome to Today on Broadway for Tuesday, June 10, 2025.
- [00:06]
Grace Aki
I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tamminini and I'm still alive. Grace Aki.
- [00:10]
Matt Tamminini
Okay, Grace, I was going to save this till later, but because it might, you know, play into some of the other things that we talk about, we have to start with the fact that like, your facial reactions are one of the most viral things to come out of the Tony Awards. First off, like, were you sitting right there in the second or third row the whole show? No. And I just missed you. Okay, that's.
- [00:35]
Grace Aki
I wonder if it was like a.
- [00:36]
Matt Tamminini
Seat filler kind of thing.
- [00:37]
Grace Aki
So. No, I, I'm very, I was very fortunate to be able to like be there in the space, but there was a situation where I was able to, you know, move up and I was, I was asked to, you know, move forward and so that's why I ended up where I ended up. But again, like, people, you know, people finagle their ways and do their things, but they, you know, you've got to respect the craft and I have to this the people at CBS and the, the, the casting and all the things that happen within that building to make it, to make the Tony Awards possible and available for broadcast. It is no joke. It is the most amazing, fluid group of people and what they do is incredible. Like, I really can't tell you, like, how amazingly tight like the performance is. And I'm just so grateful that like I was able to be there and it was just, it was wild.
- [01:32]
Matt Tamminini
Yeah. Speaking of wild, we're watching. The show's almost over. Sometimes we have a closing number, sometimes we don't. Cynthia comes out to the second stage because everyone from maybe Happy Ending was still on the main stage. So she's in that second stage. That's kind of, it's not a passer all, but it's kind of in the middle of the front of the orchestra. And she starts with the first few notes of and I am telling you. And all of a sudden I just see a little face in the bottom right of my corner turn up with the biggest wide eyed, open mouth, shocked face I've ever seen in my life. And I stand up as my friends are getting ready to pack up their stuff and leave from our little watch party and say, holy shit, that's Grace. And that was you one sitting there right, you know, six feet away from Cynthia Erivo closing the show, but obviously having a very excited reaction to the song that she was singing to close the show.
- [02:27]
Grace Aki
Yeah. So here's the Thing, I was very grateful, obviously. I was sitting with the, you know, producers of maybe Happy Ending in front of me and Jeffrey Richards team. And so we were just excited because obviously right when Darren won, you know, we all kind of turned to each other and we were like, oh, my God. Oh, my God, it's happening. You know what I mean? But obviously you don't know things. And I've been very, very fortunate. I can't say this enough, and I know people are probably tired of this, but, like, I've been very fortunate to work on several, several, several of, you know, the Tony winning and Tony nominated and those shows that have passed through the season this year, like, on so many. So. But maybe Happy Ending is one that I'm actually not truly ingrained in and not really a part of. I'm just such a lover of the piece and lover of the team that works on it. And so I've just been a champion for as long as I've been able to see it. So that being said, you never know what's going to happen and whatever. And so I thought after maybe Happy Ending, I was like, oh, they're going to wrap up the broadcast. And, you know, Cynthia Erivo is doing her incredible, like, on the stage behind us being like, all right, thank you all. Good night. And so I thought, okay, great, great. They're going to. They're going to wrap it up from here. And then I feel, and I'm not kidding you, Matt, like, I feel the light bearing on my back. Like, that's how big the light is. And I see, like, this gorgeous slit in. CYN is dressed. He's, like, standing. You can't see that from where? From the camera. But behind her, I was just like, okay, fabulous girl. And then she goes, so there's only one thing left to do. And I thought she's going to say, and that's good night. Thank you all so much for coming, blah, blah, blah. And this girl starts singing Dream Girls. And that's the reaction you're getting was, oh, my God. I think we're on camera and I think she's going to sing right now right next to us. I mean, I could touch her toes. You know what I'm saying? And so, like, it was just the funniest, like, genuine reaction of, oh, my God, this is happening. And I think all of my colleagues can see me. And so right after that happened, I try to, like, go to the restroom because everyone's trying to leave the theater. I can't. Like, everyone's talking to Each other. Like, I see Leah and Jonathan, like, having this beautiful moment. I'm just like, what's happening? I'm trying to, like, go downstairs to the Radio City bathroom. I finally go pee after, you know, sitting for seven hours. I get up and my phone is full, full of texts and memes and especially from you. You got the best screen grabs that I posted.
- [04:58]
Matt Tamminini
Yeah, that's right.
- [05:00]
Grace Aki
And it was, it was the funniest thing in the world of. Oh. Not only did I have a genuine reaction, everyone saw it. So I hope that that brought you a little joy. But also, maybe nobody did because you should have been looking at Cynthia Erivo. How dare you look at me like an idiot. But, yeah, it was, it was just. It was a funny, genuine moment of joy. And she was great.
- [05:21]
Matt Tamminini
Yeah. And full disclosure, I did rewind after she was done to get those screenshots. So I did appreciate the number in real time. But let's talk about Cynthia, because obviously we have had Ariana DeBose as the Tonys host for the previous three years. Now we have Cynthia Erivo, which is. I don't think that maybe she had some stuff in the uk, but I can't think of anything, at least nothing that even approaches the Tony Awards under her hosting resume. What did you think of her as a host, not only doing the performances, but also the actual job of hosting the bits, the jokes. What did you take away from her doing that?
- [06:00]
Grace Aki
I thought she was excellent. Like, I. I really did think that she did an excellent job with all of the material given. I thought she played into the right things. I thought that she had a good time. She used her graciousness so well. I was genuinely so impressed and moved by her performance. I as separate of what we saw her do. I am always a massive proponent having comedians do hosting gigs and especially hosting award shows. I think it's. I think it's a particular skill that not every performer has. So I'm always a proponent. Proponent of having somebody that is incredibly gifted in like a community, like stagecraft, like, you know, audience banter kind of way. That's something that I just, I care deeply about because it's like a part of pop culture that we don't talk about a lot. Like, you know, I hear about a lot like Las culturistas and stuff, but like, you know, that kind of hosting gig is something that's just not normalized anymore now that we're kind of past like the, the Billy Crystal and Steve Martin and Robin Williams and Whoopi kind of era. Of things. So I thought, honestly, pleasantly surprised by how great she was, loved all of the bits, loved all of the, you know, the nods to George Clooney, which I know is for camera time. And they did a great job of it. But yeah, it was, it was good stuff.
- [07:21]
Matt Tamminini
Yeah. And one of the reasons why that is so hard for the Tonys to do is because for years, and I don't know if this is an official rule, but it is one that I've heard about for well over a decade now, is that to be a Tony host, you have to have appeared on Broadway. And that's why someone like Stephen Colbert, despite the fact that he is a huge theater lover, despite the fact that he is the main late night host of the network that hosts the Tonys, despite the fact that he is just a few blocks away from wherever the Tonys is being held, he's never been on Broadway and he's never hosted. So that is why it is a little tough to get comedians up there to do it. But someone like Rosie o' Donnell, who did it a number of times was so great because that is her background as well. But I agree, I thought that's a.
- [08:03]
Grace Aki
Technicality because Stephen Colbert appeared on oh, hello. And if we can accept that. Okay, yes, yes, he did. But it might have just been like the. Yeah, yeah.
- [08:14]
Matt Tamminini
I think he likes to walk on Producers from Gutenberg as well. Yeah. Okay, well, look, I'm all for it. And I always thought like, can we get, does Tina Fey writing Mean Girls the musical? Like, does that qualify? Can we get her to be a host? Because she would be great as well. We've seen her host plenty of things. But anyway, I thought Cynthia was wonderful and I didn't really know that she was funny. Like I thought her timing and delivery with that kind of very dry British humor which I talked about on yesterday's show. So I won't go over it again. But like, I thought it was, I thought that was great. I thought she was very good. I was pleasantly surprised with her with her performance as the host. But let's talk about the other performances. I'll talk, we'll talk about all of the nominees and, and all that stuff next. But the big thing that everyone's taking away is the Hamilton performance with everybody in their nice kind of black satin attire. What? I can't believe I'm actually going to do this. But like, what was it like to be in the room where it happened? Grace?
- [09:13]
Grace Aki
Well, you know, it's funny. I, I can't wait to watch the broadcast of it, because I was just like singing along, like in my head. I was just so excited that I couldn't. I couldn't see what you all are seeing at home. I was just kind of like seeing people dance on stage again. Like from that point in the show I was like mid orchestra and at Radio City, that's like massive, you know what I mean?
- [09:36]
Matt Tamminini
Like three football fields away.
- [09:38]
Grace Aki
Correct. No, exactly. And so I was just like, they seem like they're having a good time, so yeah, I can't wait to actually watch it. But in the room people were freaking out. And I'm. I get why it happened in the broadcast. You know what I mean? You have to talk, you have to show like the best new musicals. But I genuinely believe that that could have been put later in the programming and I think it would have had a better moment because it was crazy. It was crazy.
- [10:03]
Matt Tamminini
Good talk about that because I got sent to me on Friday night. The original rundown of what the broadcast was supposed to be. Hamilton was scheduled for 8:52pm and then I got a revised one that had it at like 9:12 or something. But every time the slot when Hamilton was supposed to come up, it kept getting pushed back. And I don't know what that was all about. I thought it was nuts that it was happening at 8:52 to begin with because Sunset was supposed to. It was supposed to go Sunset and then Hamilton. I was like, why are these two things, which are probably going to be two of the biggest draws of the night, happening in your first hour? It made no sense. Nicole singing did stay in the first hour. Hamilton got pushed back later into the second hour. But I thought that was very weird. Did you get the feeling that it was being pushed back on the Fly? Cause I was texting with Ashley Hufford during the show and she kept saying, like, Hamilton's after this break. Nope, nevermind. It's maybe happy ending. Like, was there something that you noticed in the rundown during the show?
- [11:05]
Grace Aki
No, not at all. Like they were. They were pushing things. Because not pushing, rather they were. They were teasing things to obviously keep people watching. But it didn't feel like anything was pushed. Like they didn't. Because we would have noticed because then they would have pulled the entire Hamilton cast at a certain time. Like they were all seated very comfortably watching the show. Like there was a clear schedule. So I don't believe that to be true.
- [11:28]
Matt Tamminini
Okay. Okay. Well, she just wasn't. I think she was just kind of going off what was happening in the room. But I have the original rundown, the official rundown it was originally supposed to go to. So I was. I was a little surprised by that. Let's talk about some of these other performances. Can we talk about Jonathan Groff grinding on Keanu Reeves's face? Like, what. What was that?
- [11:47]
Grace Aki
It's the best thing I've ever seen. I watched him do this, like, in rehearsal. It was kind of great. Yeah, it was. It was a. It was a good time. You can tell that, like, it was very safe. It wasn't actually, like, in his face. It wasn't like, genuinely, like, putting someone in an uncomfortable position. Great ad for Godot. That's all I have to say.
- [12:06]
Matt Tamminini
And let's not forget that Jonathan Groff and Keanu Reeves co starred in the Matrix resurrection movie. So Jonathan Groff played Agent Smith. So it's not like this was just a random. Completely, like, I see Keanu Reeves, I'm going to go jump on his chair. This was obviously planned. Keanu was playing it up. He knew it was going to happen. They have worked together. So I feel like maybe theater people don't remember that Jonathan is part of the Matrix cinematic universe, but there is a connection between those two. But beyond those, what were the numbers that you think stood out for me, like, it's always about one. I love seeing them, but, like, I'm always thinking about which of these performances sold tickets. So which ones to you stood out, whether for selling tickets or just being wonderful, Whatever. What were the numbers that really stuck with you?
- [12:58]
Grace Aki
I don't have data to back any of this up because I'm not familiar. You know, usually we've got people, you know, in the building saying, like, okay, we've just wrapped this much after this performance. We've wrapped because it's happening in real time, guys. Like, people are watching this and deciding, like, oh, in the next 24 hours, like, what is selling the show? I really liked one of east does number a lot because they got to interview with my favorite title. Yeah, like, they just. They were fabulous and, like, it was beautiful and there was some storytelling, but, like, not too much. They just kind of like, did a really catchy number, Candela, which is excellent. I really enjoyed that. So, like, I. In terms of, like, shows that are not limited, I think that that one was super, super strong. It made the case for all of their incredible Tony wins. And I really. I loved getting to see real women perform. Mason was obviously right there in my face dancing, which was great because that was so late.
- [13:57]
Matt Tamminini
Were you already up Close for that. Were you already up close for that one?
- [14:00]
Grace Aki
Yeah. So that's when I sa. There was. When Ali' I came out and then introduced the show. It was crazy. Like, I was like, this is kismet. Like, whatever. All of your friends right there, I can't even begin to talk about. But, yeah, it was just. That was really magical. And I think that, like, I was in the wings to see Audra, but that. Okay, this is what I do want to say. You could hear a pin drop in that place. I don't think that there's ever been a theater that quiet, even for those 30 seconds of, like, extra acting beats that happened in that. That was unbelievable the way that that audience was held by that performance. You know how I feel about Nicole's performance. It's one of my favorites I've ever seen in my life. The way that the room reacted and felt to Audra was unprecedentedly incredible. Like, it was. It was. It was really. It will go in the. In history for sure.
- [14:58]
Matt Tamminini
Yeah. Well, I. We've talked about this, and I've talked about it on other shows. There is such an anecdotal conversation about the fact that not only did the production of Gypsy change from early in its run to where it was during the spring, but Audra's performance changed dramatically during those times as well. And I have not seen the show since, I think early January is when I saw it. So just a couple of weeks after opening, that was not the performance I saw on the Tonys on Sunday night was not the performance that I saw in. In the Majestic Theater on Broadway. They were. I mean, I'm not going to say Night and Day, but they were dramatically different. And I liked her performance originally, but I get it now why she made such a push to challenge Nicole Scherzinger in that category, which I had just assumed from day one, Nicole had locked up and. And obviously that she did end up winning. But I don't think it was in any way, shape or form a runaway or locked up before, you know, the very last vote was counted because Audra was giving a performance on Sunday night. And if that's what she was giving throughout the spring when a lot of the voters were there, I totally understand it because it was a gripping, gripping performance. What else? Any. Any of the other numbers. The other ones we had were Death Becomes Her Just In Time, obviously. Nicole with Sunset Pirates, maybe Happy Ending, Floyd Collins, Dead Outlaw, Operation Mincemeat. Any of those stand out? Or if you. I guess, if you want to talk about The In Memoriam, we could do that. I was going to do that separate, but that kind of fits into this conversation as well.
- [16:30]
Grace Aki
No, I actually think that the Floyd Collins performance was excellent. Like, in the room, there were a lot of things that were confusing, I would say, in terms of selection that might have not translated. I don't know how they appeared on television. So I'm just talking about, like, seeing in a massive room of people out of context, a performance from a show. But I felt like Jeremy's performance from Floyd Collins was really excellent. I felt like it was really charismatic. He showed off his chops. There was a little bit of storytelling there. It was really well done. I loved that performance. I think that that was the one that really surprised me because I still. I can't wait to see the show. I still have to see it, but I've grown up on that, you know, recording, so I'm very excited about it. But nonetheless, I think that that was an excellent selection and performance from that show.
- [17:18]
Matt Tamminini
I think when you do go back and watch them, you're not going to be surprised that a lot of the numbers still feel like they didn't make a whole lot of sense. I thought the ones that really stood out as we talked about Buena Vista Social Club, I honestly wouldn't have gone with as if we never said goodbye from Sunset. I probably would have gone with. With. With with one look. But still, I thought Nicole was fantastic. I really thought that never fly away from maybe happy ending worked because it. I think it's a show that's, like, hard to understand. What a show about robots? Yeah. How is this story about two robots going to feel cute and lovely and sweet? And I thought that really did a fantastic job of explaining that. And then Floyd Collins and Audra's Gypsy were. Or Audra's Rose's turn were the ones. Everything else did kind of feel a little okay. All right, I guess that's fine. And I don't know that a lot of those other ones sold a bunch of tickets, unfortunately, but. All right, before we move on to some of the speeches and some of the major takeaways from the night, Grace, let's talk about one of our sponsors for this week, Factor Meals. We just got through the Tony season, Grace. We had to delay recording today by five minutes because you hadn't eaten all day and you finally got a chance to eat. Hopefully now that things are settling down, you can get back into your routine of having Factor take care of all of your meal needs because you can take a factor meal, put it in the microwave and two minutes later be eating a delicious, healthy, chef created dietitian Approved meal from 45 different weekly menu options. You can choose from calorie, Smart, protein plus keto and more. And we know you like to start your day with a breakfast. So hopefully now that we are through Tony season, we're into summer and things can be a little bit quieter on the Broadway scene. Maybe people are out there traveling, going to the beach or whatever. Hopefully you can start to get back into your routine of eating your factor meals regularly.
- [19:19]
Grace Aki
That's the thing is, like, you know me, I've got the craziest schedule in the world and a lot of us do. And so it's so important to remind ourselves that, hey, you need to sit down, you need to have a meal. And sometimes we don't have much time to sit down, but we do need to have a meal. And so that's why I'm so glad that, like, we have the opportunity to utilize factor meals because every day you've got to have your balance of carbs, you've got to have your balance of proteins and fats and all of those things that are necessary in order to continue to sustain this crazy, wonderful Broadway lifestyle, et cetera. And that's the way that I'm able to do it with two minutes in the microwave, thank God, because I don't have time. You put them in the oven, which is so brave of you, Matt, but I don't have time for that. It's truly my favorite thing in the world and the fact that I get to select all of my meals, so I've got something to look forward to. I get to try new things and I get to still stay happy and healthy.
- [20:04]
Matt Tamminini
So get started@Factor Meals.com Broadway 50 off and use code Broadway50OFF to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. That's code Broadway50OFF@Factor Meals.com Broadway50OFF for 50% off plus free shipping. All right, Grace, let's get away from the performances and let's talk about the thing that actually is the thing that moves me the most throughout the course of any award ceremony, but especially the Tonys, the acceptance speeches, I hope that a lot of people tuned in to Tony Awards Act 1 on Pluto, because so many of the speeches that happened during that part of the broadcast, whether they were for the competitive awards, Hugh park continually reminding people that he is single, or the honorary AW Harvey Fierstein, Su Yu, Keenan Bulger, Mr. Robinson, the theater education Tony award winner they were fantastic. Throw in Paul Tazewell in that pre show as well. But going into the actual main broadcast of the Tonys as well, we saw some great speeches from Kara Young, Francis Zhu, Jack Malone, Brandon Jacobs Jenkins, obviously Nicole Scherzinger. There seemed to be a theme throughout the night, Grace. To me, it was that people who didn't necessarily feel seen or accepted found their community in theater and found their people in theater or found their home in theater, which I think is a story that is true for a lot, if not most theater artists. But it was really lovely to hear that reiterated, especially at a time when so much of our country is going through turmoil, when people are literally being told, you don't belong, whether that's because of where they come from or how they identify or who they love. I thought that that was a really lovely message and in many, many ways said beautifully and elegantly on the Tonys broadcast on Sunday night.
- [22:13]
Grace Aki
You know, I want to say this, and not because I was simply six feet away from him, but when Darren Cricks was, you know, awarded Best Actor and all this, there was a moment where he congratulated and shared it with Helen J, who famously was not nominated for their performance in maybe Happy Ending. And listen, feel how you want about that. Obviously it was a very stacked category regardless of where they had put that role, blah, blah, blah. But it was a beautiful moment of watching a person who actively shares the stage every single night with that other performer and character. And that was lovely to see that acknowledgement. When Frances Zhu won, I think I lost my mind in a way that I screamed Ashley Hefford, just because she's been brought up on the show, literally texted me. She said, congratulations. I said, thank you. I feel like I won because I saw him on Thursday. We were at this API kind of like Broadway gathering. That was really great. It was like this, like, collective of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander people of Broadway industry that have made this season happen. And he was wearing his Tony nominee pin, and I was like, oh, my God, like, this is so exciting. And he was like, you know, I'm just so excited and grateful. And he referenced, like, the fact that, like, I'd put up these, like, graphics. And he said, you know, no one's ever done that. Like, I've never seen that put put in that way that, you know, we've. We've not had this Asian representation. He's like. He's aware of it. He's been in this for so long. So it's not. It's not, you know, unique to all of that, but he's just been incredible in this whole category. And when he. His entire speech, you all should just read it. I'm not going to try to paraphrase it and I'm not going to try to quote because it's not, you know, immediate to me. But it's, it's, it's an incredible speech and he's, you know, referencing, you know, his mentors and, and future performers and I don't want to get too emotional about it, but it was, it was just beautiful. And I think his performance was excellent and I hope that you're able to see it Yellowface on PBS and again or, or just like in whatever iteration that that capture is, is, you know, published again. But, you know, they had to fundraise for that recording. It was not easy. It did not come just like immediately. And yeah, I think that that was the, that was the acceptance speech of the night for me that they're really level set everything. I was texting my sibling throughout the night and they said, you know, don't get your hopes up. Oh God, I get emotional about it. They were like, don't get your hopes up because, you know, Asians don't win things. We, you know, we're always like, you know, A plus students, etc, but like, don't get your hopes up. And I said, think it's going to be different. I think it's going to be different. And then, you know, it started rolling in and Francis won. And then, you know, you had a best actor and a best actress of Filipino descent and you had all these things and Marco Paguilla of, you know, Orchestrations of Buena Vista and it was just, it was non stop Hugh park and it goes on and on and on and on. And that's not even including, you know, the, the people behind the scenes and the producers. And it was just an incredibly historic night for not only like Asian representation, non binary representation, Latin representation, it was just, it was a great night because also the art was fucking good. I'm sorry, but it was good stuff. It's not just. I know that people like to say representation matters because it does, but the representation matters to me also when the art's stellar and it was good and I was just so grateful and excited. I don't think that I've ever had a Tony Awards where I was this elated. And I don't think it's because of my proximity to, you know, the people or, you know, getting to work on all these things. But I Think it's also in due to the fact that I think that a lot of incredible work was produced this year, and I know it wasn't produced lightly and a lot of it was risk taking, and I know Michael Arden has referenced that. So I'm very grateful for that. But, yeah, I could go on and on, and no one wants to hear that. But I just want to say that those things were very magical to me and I hope to other people as well.
- [26:28]
Matt Tamminini
And to wrap. Put the. Put a little bow on. On that. Like, I'm. I know that you are not the only person who is moved to see that representation honored on the Tonys, because when Darren Criss's win was announced and they showed him coming up through the audience, I think a row or so behind him was Lea Salonga, who was in tears already. And I don't know if she knows him. Maybe she's worked with him in the past, I don't know. But to me, it just struck like, oh, this is one of the biggest stars, you know, from the Philippines, especially from a Broadway perspective, being moved by the fact that another Filipino just won a Tony Award. And I think that's a lovely thing. If you have an opportunity to go back and watch that again, you can see her off to the side of the screen being very visibly moved and already in tears right away by Darren's win. All right, before we get to some big takeaways, we're going to take one more break to talk about another sponsor for this week. Cast Cash App. Grace, anybody who followed along with your weekend over social media knows how crazy your weekend was. You were going from one event to another, one restaurant to another, one party to another. I have no doubt that there were many a bill that was split amongst you, your colleagues, your friends. You were at a very fancy hotel. You were doing all of the glam stuff. I am sure that there was money flowing between every single person. And I can only hope. Hope that you took your own advice and used Cash App to make sure that everybody was being sent the money that they needed to be made whole. Because there is no better way to send money, to receive money, to transfer money than Cash App. It is quick. It is fast. It is safe. There are no big fees. You get your money when you need it because it is your money.
- [28:21]
Grace Aki
So famously, it's crazy out here. And none of us. Us. None of us have time to be arguing over the bill and who's getting what and how is someone putting down cash. No, no, no. We have Cash App. We have something literally for this very reason, a lot of us don't want to deal with the uncomfortability of talking about money. And it's all annoying. And like, there's always this, like, split of who got this drink and who got what. With Cash app, they make it very easy. You're able to actually send a personalized request and you're able to get it sent to you immediately. It is so lovely. It is so fast. It is so easy. It's so efficient. That is one thing that all of us need. Regardless of if you're in a major city or in a small town, this is the app that you need.
- [29:02]
Matt Tamminini
So for a limited time only, new Cash app users can use our exclusive code to earn some additional cash. For real. There is no catch. Just download Cash app and sign up. Use our exclusive referral code Broadway in your profile. Send $5 to a friend within 14 days and you'll get $10 dropped right into your account. Terms apply. That's money. That's Cash app. All right, Grace, I want to wrap up with talking about some of the big takeaways from the night because what I thought was really kind of lovely in was emblematic of the fact that as you were talking about, there was some really great shows this season, some really wonderful art, and some things that kind of went outside the traditional box of what we consider Broadway shows. But there were 10 shows that split the 26 Tonys last night. Maybe Happy Ending led the way with six. Buena Vista Social Club had four. Sunset Boulevard and Stranger Things. The first Shadow both had three. But there were 10 total shows that were able to say that they won a Tony on Sunday night. And I love that. Like, I think that that's a sign of a great season and was really. Even if, you know, a show like Stranger Things only won in the technical categories, that won three Tonys. And I hope that everybody who loves that show and everybody who is a part of that show recognizes how special that is, because I think it was just a really lovely way to honor, you know, a quarter. I think there was 41 or 42 shows this Broadway season. A quarter of them went home with Tony's, which I think is pretty awesome.
- [30:47]
Grace Aki
There were so many good wins. I could go on and on, but you know what I mean? Like, it was. Yes, the. The. The reference that you're making is correct. Like, these are good things. And like, even a quarter is like, yeah, it's great. It's great. But there were so many shows that weren't that were even Represented with just one nomination or didn't get any nominations that are either like still running or like, you know, you know, ran for only a short time. But there was a lot of good stuff out there and there's a lot of good stuff that's running currently that may have not gotten anything last night. It doesn't change how good the work is and like if that show is enjoyable or you know, there's, there's elements that you enjoy like all of this stuff. As much as I just like gushed about how much I love so many of the winners, there's so much that does not get recognized because you can't give an award to every single thing and everyone. But there, you know, there are a lot of, there's, there's a good wealth going on on Broadway right now and that I just encourage people to go see the things that they're enjoying or something st out to you that you were like, okay, they didn't maybe win blank blank blank. But like I still liked the idea of it or like I liked that performance. So you should go. Just go.
- [31:57]
Matt Tamminini
And one of the takeaways that I had and I was sitting with some friends who are like theater fans but like not necessarily die hard Broadway followers. Two of them have theater degrees so they like, they understand what's going on and it was really kind of special for me to kind of help introduce them to like some of the talents that I think are going to be future stars. We saw two people who I think are going to eventually go down as two of the greats of all time win their second Tonys on, on Sunday night you had Michael Arden for direction and Kara Young with her back to back Tonys for best featured actress in a play. Like I've said this a lot recently because it's something that popped in my head. So I'm going to say it many, many times now. But like I think Michael Arden's going to go down as one of the greatest directors in theater history because none of his shows look alike. I love Jamie Lloyd, but he has a conceit that he has worked with a lot recently of taking these iconic shows and stripping them back. And that's great. I think it works. I think he's brilliant. But Michael Arden, I mean just to look at Parade, maybe Happy Ending once on this Island, A Christmas Carol, all of these shows are so different and I think that he's a genius. I think Kara Young is obviously we gush about her all the time. Like I think she is going to go down as one of, if not the greatest actors to ever grace a Broadway stage. And I think it was so special to see them win but also continue to be moved by the fact that they 1. It obviously means a lot to them. And I don't know, there was just something about those two wins that really stuck with me on Sunday night. All right, Grace, any parting thoughts, any words of wisdom, any snappy asides from the Tony Awards on Sunday night at Radio City Musical?
- [33:50]
Grace Aki
I want to leave you with this, Brandon. Jacob Jenkins put it much better than me, but go see regional theater. Go google your local theater. If you enjoyed last night and you are not in the New York area, go support theater. Because theater is not born in New York City. It just comes to New York City and all the people from all over the country and all over the world get their start somewhere else, right? So I think that was the biggest, most lovely global or nationwide takeaway from the night that I encourage everyone to do so as well.
- [34:23]
Matt Tamminini
All right, everybody, that's all that we have for today. Thanks for listening to today on Broadway. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram broadwayradio. And you can also find us us@patreon.com broadwayradio Grace, where can people find you?
- [34:32]
Grace Aki
You can find me hopefully asleep at It's Grace Hockey.
- [34:35]
Matt Tamminini
All right, everybody, have a wonderful Tuesday. We'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.