79th Tony Awards: Schmigadoon!, Ragtime and Liberation share top Broadway honours

79th Tony Awards: Schmigadoon!, Ragtime and Liberation share top Broadway honours
Pink performs during the 79th Annual Tony Awards in New York City, U.S., 7 June, 2026
Reuters

The 79th Annual Tony Awards took place on Sunday (7 June) at Radio City Music Hall, celebrating the strongest performances of the Broadway season, with singer-songwriter P!nk hosting and delivering the opening performance alongside a host of musical guests.

Although the awards were spread across multiple productions, the evening was defined as much by its performances as its winners, with major shows sharing honours across acting, design and directing categories.

P!nk opened the ceremony dressed as Peter Pan, performing an aerial stunt sequence before returning later in the broadcast for a performance of Lady Marmalade alongside Megan Thee Stallion and a large ensemble of Broadway performers.

Leading productions

Best Musical went to Schmigadoon!, which also secured Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations, cementing its status as one of the night's most decorated productions.

Best Play was awarded to Bess Wohl's Liberation, marking a notable victory after it beat Giant, which had led nominations in several categories.

Best Musical Revival went to Ragtime, which also delivered major acting wins for Joshua Henry and Caissie Levy. Best Play Revival and Best Direction of a Play went to Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, which collected six awards in total.

Acting awards

In the leading performance categories, Lesley Manville won Best Actress in a Play for Oedipus, while John Lithgow took home Best Actor in a Play for Giant.

In the musical categories, Caissie Levy (Ragtime) won Best Actress in a Musical and Joshua Henry (Ragtime) won Best Actor in a Musical.

Supporting performance awards went to Alden Ehrenreich (Becky Shaw) for Best Featured Actor in a Play and Laurie Metcalf (Death of a Salesman) for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

In musicals, Ali Louis Bourzgui (The Lost Boys) won Best Featured Actor in a Musical, while Shoshana Bean (The Lost Boys) won Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Direction, choreography and design

Best Direction of a Musical was awarded to Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch for Cats: The Jellicle Ball, which also won Best Choreography for Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons, as well as Best Costume Design of a Musical for Qween Jean.

In the play categories, Chloe Lamford won Best Scenic Design for Death of a Salesman, while Jack Knowles won Best Lighting Design and Mikaal Sulaiman took Best Sound Design for the same production.

For musicals, Dane Laffrey won Best Scenic Design for The Lost Boys, while Jen Schriever and Michael Arden won Best Lighting Design and Kai Harada won Best Sound Design for Ragtime.

Best Costume Design of a Play went to Jeff Mahshie for Fallen Angels.

The design awards were streamed separately on Pluto TV ahead of the CBS broadcast.

The cast of Cats: The Jellicle Ball performs during the 79th Annual Tony Awards in New York City, U.S., 7 June, 2026
Reuters
Standout performances and star cameos

The ceremony featured appearances from Sting, Paul Rudd, Billy Crystal, Bernadette Peters and Adrien Brody, alongside cameos from former hosts Neil Patrick Harris and Ariana DeBose.

Performance highlights included The Rocky Horror Show cast performing Time Warp and a special rendition of All That Jazz from Chicago, featuring P!nk and the current Broadway cast.

Cats: The Jellicle Ball also received a strong audience reaction for its ballroom-inspired reinterpretation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical.

A season of experimentation

Commentators noted a Broadway season shaped by stylistic experimentation, with parody-driven works such as Schmigadoon! and Titanique reflecting a growing appetite for genre reinvention and camp reinterpretation.

While some revivals outperformed new productions, shows such as Ragtime and Cats: The Jellicle Ball were widely praised for their ambition, emotional scale and inventive staging.

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