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The night was hosted by a supremely confident and versatile (and recent Oscar winner) Ariana DeBose, who declared at the beginning that Broadway had gotten its groove back. "A Strange Loop" beat out crowd-pleasing fare like "Six: The Musical," a pop reimagining of the six wives of Henry VIII, and "MJ," about the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Jackson's 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner about a Black gay man writing a show about a Black gay man. The marquee award, best new musical, went to the highly innovative "A Strange Loop," Michael R.
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It just needs even more people filling the seats.īut if the ceremony was meant to recapture the razzle-dazzle of Broadway seasons past, marking the 75th anniversary of the Tonys with a dollop of nostalgia, it was also a celebration of groundbreaking work by a hugely diverse group of artists. The exuberant ceremony Sunday night was designed to answer that unthinkable possibility with an emphatic "No" - to make clear that whatever the ongoing difficulties, Broadway is back, with verve and creativity, and it is here to stay. NEW YORK - Surely many in the audience were thinking it, but "Company" director Marianne Elliott said it most directly at Sunday's Tony awards: In the devastating two years since the pandemic hit, it "felt at times that live theater was endangered."
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