‘Maybe Happy Ending,' ‘Sunset Blvd.' Win Key 2025 Tony Awards: Full Winners List
Maybe Happy Ending was the top winner at the 2025 Tony Awards, winning six awards including best musical, best original score written for the theatre and best book of a musical. Will Aronson and Hue Park were winners in all three categories – with Aronson and Park being among the producers of the musical. Maybe Happy Ending is based on a South Korean one-act musical. The musical follows two life-like helper-bots, who discover each other in Seoul in the late 21st century.
The 78th Annual Tony Awards, hosted for the first time by Cynthia Erivo, were held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Sunday (June 8). The show was broadcast live coast-to-coast on CBS, and streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S.
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Darren Criss, who was part of the chart-conquering Glee phenomenon and has had such solo successes as A Very Darren Crissmas, won two Tonys for Maybe Happy Ending – best actor in a leading role in a musical and as one of the producers of the show. The versatile performer won a Primetime Emmy for his role as spree killer Andrew Cunanan in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (2018).
Nicole Scherzinger, who had four top 10 hits on the Hot 100 with The Pussycat Dolls, won best actress in a musical for Sunset Blvd. Glenn Close won in the same category for the original production in 1995.
Scherzinger beat Audra McDonald for a revival of Gypsy. McDonald has won more Tonys than any other performer (six), but has now lost in her last three nominations – for Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (2020), Ohio State Murders (2023) and now Gypsy.
Trailing Maybe Happy Ending on the list of shows with the most awards were: Buena Vista Social Club with four awards; Sunset Blvd. and Stranger Things: The First Shadow, with three; and Purpose, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Oh, Mary! with two each.
The productions that experienced the biggest shut-outs, going home empty-handed, were: Dead Outlaw, John Proctor Is the Villain and The Hills of California, each of went 0-7 on the night, and Floyd Collins and Just in Time, each of went 0-6; and English, Good Night, and Good Luck and Gypsy, each of went 0-5.
Sunset Blvd. also won best revival of a musical (beating Gypsy, among others). The original production won best musical in 1995. Greg Berlanti is among the producers of the revival.
Buena Vista Social Club features music recorded by Buena Vista Social Club. The musical is set in Havana, Cuba and follows the lives of four musicians, and their eventual collaboration in 1997 on the landmark album Buena Vista Social Club. The music in the show is presented entirely in Spanish. The original album was inducted into the National Recording Registry in 2022 and the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2024. This musical is based on a 1999 documentary about the making of the album that received an Oscar nod for documentary (feature).
Several people won for their Broadway debuts, including Sarah Snook, best performance by an actress in a leading role in play for The Picture of Dorian Gray; Jak Malone, best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical for Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical; and George Reeve, best scenic design of a musical for Maybe Happy Ending.
Snook won a Primetime Emmy in 2023, outstanding lead actress in a drama series for her role as Shiv Roy in HBO Max's Succession.
Paul Tazewell won best costume design of a musical for his work on Death Becomes Her. Tazewell won an Oscar earlier this year for best costume design for Wicked. 'A Black queer boy from Canton, Ohio had no idea that in 2025 he would have the year he has had,' Tazewell said in a accepting his Tony.
Cole Escola won best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play for playing Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary! Julie Harris won best actress in a leading role in a play in 1973 for playing the former first lady in The Last of Mrs. Lincoln.
Kara Young won best performance by an actress in a featured role in a play for Purpose. She won in that category last year for Purlie Victorious. She's the second actress to win two years running in that category. The first was Judith Light in 2012-13 for Other Desert Cities and The Assembled Parties. Moreover, she's the first Black actor to win back-to-back Tonys in any category.
Erivo and Sara Bareilles sang 'Tomorrow' from Annie over the In Memoriam segment. It was an apt choice, as that song's composer, Charles Strouse, died in May. Also in the spot: actors including Richard Chamberlain, Linda Lavin, Jean Marsh, Gavin Creel and James Earl Jones and producer Quincy Jones.
Here's the full list of 2025 Tony nominations, with winners marked:
Buena Vista Social Club – Producers: Orin Wolf, John Styles, Jr., Barbara Broccoli, Atlantic Theater Company, Viajes Miranda, LaChanze, David Yazbek, John Leguizamo, David F. Schwartz, Zak Kilberg, J. Todd Harris, Cabo Productions, Roy Furman, Hannah Rosenthal, Jamie deRoy/Marvin Rosen, Grove • REG & Frank Marshall, F.K.R.J. Productions, Patrick Milling-Smith/Brian Carmody, DJ Stage Productions, Palitz Wiesenfeld Productions, Richard & Roberta Shaker, Front Row Productions, Cathy Dantchik, Brooke & Brian Devine, Gilad Rogowsky, MacPac Entertainment, No Guarantees Productions, Rhythm & Rain Productions, Hadley Schnuck, James Francis Trezza, Yonge Street Theatricals, Patrick Daly, Olympus Theatricals/Firemused Productions, Ioana Alfonso/Eric Stine, William Berlind/W.M. Klausner, Creative Endeavor Office/Untitled Theatricals, Ruth Hendel/The Kaplans, Pam Hurst-Della Pietra/Philip Van Dijk, Debbie Ohanian/Stone Arch Theatricals, Composite Capital Partners, Larry Levien, Matt Murphy, Marc Platt, Sandy Robertson, Iris Smith, Thomas Steven Perakos/Douglas A. Fellman, Brad Blume/The Klaes', Ankit Agrawal/Constance Cincotta, Independent Presenters Network, Nick & Nicky Gold, HoriPro Inc., Playful Productions UK, The Shubert Organization, Frederick Zollo, John Gore Organization, Nederlander Presentations Inc., Marco Ramirez, Allan Williams
Dead Outlaw – Producers: Lia Vollack Productions, Sonia Friedman Productions, Roy Furman, Ken & Janet Schur, Cue to Cue Productions, James Bolosh/Hillary Wyatt, Carl Moellenberg/Ricardo Hornos, Carl & Jennifer Pasbjerg/H2H Concord Theatricals, Masquerade Partners, Douglas Denoff, John Gore Organization, GFour Productions, Brian Hedden, KFRJ Productions, Lang Entertainment Group, James L. Nederlander, Marvin Rosen, Stanely S. Shuman, James L. Walker, Jr., Winkler & Smalberg, 42nd.club/Aligned Theatricals, Craig Balsam/Richard Batchelder, Jane Bergère/Willette and Manny Klausner, The Broadway Investor's Club/Eastern Standard Time, Barbara Chiodo/Adam Cohen, Merrie L. Davis/Tony Spinosa, Noah Eisenberg/Sue Drew, Robin Gorman Newman/Laurence Padgett Productions, LLPR Productions/Patinogal, Mary Maggio/Janet Rosen, Thomas Swayne, Lawryn LaCroix, Audible
Death Becomes Her – Producers: Universal Theatrical Group, James L. Nederlander, Steven Spielberg & Kate Capshaw, Jason Blum & James Wan, Debra Martin Chase, John Gore Organization, Marc Platt, Lowe Cunningham, Marcia Goldberg
WINNER: – Producers: Jeffrey Richards, Hunter Arnold, Darren Criss, Dr. Pam Hurst-Della Pietra & Stephen Della Pietra, NHN Link Corporation, Greg & Lisa Love, Kayla Greenspan, Jayne Baron Sherman, Louise Gund, Spencer Ross, Yonge Street Theatricals, Ruth Hendel, Kaplan-Gopal-MMC, Adam Zotovich, At Rise Creative, Broadway Strategic Return Fund, Curt Cronin, Fahs Productions, Greg Field, Paul Gavriani/Michael Patrick, Rebecca Gold, Grace Street Creative Group, John Gore Organization, Willette & Manny Klausner, Kent Knudsen, James L. Nederlander, Salmira Productions, The Shubert Organization, Jacob Stuckelman & John Albert Harris, Wooran Foundation, You Should Smile More Productions, Mark and David Golub Productions, Diego Kolankowsky, Takonkiet Viravan, Brad Blume, Will Aronson & Hue Park, Hugo Six, Clarissa Cueva, Ali Daylami, Maia Kayla Glasman, Patrick W. Jones, Brandon J. Schwartz, Allan Williams
Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical – Producers: Avalon, SpitLip, Jon Thoday, Richard Allen-Turner, Bryan McCaffrey, Walport Productions, LeftNoRing Productions, Barbara Chiodo, Feuille Dooley North Productions, The Shubert Organization, Ken Davenport, Steve & Paula Reynolds, Concord Theatricals, Byron Grote & Susan Miller, John Gore Organization, M. Kilburg Reedy, Sony Music Entertainment, You Should Smile More Productions, Tom Smedes & Peter Stern, Judith Ann Abrams Productions/The Broadway Investor's Club, Lang Entertainment Group, Alli Folk/Evelyn Hoffman & Gregory Stern, Nick Flatto/Evan & Claudia Caplan Reynolds, Larry Hirschhorn & Ricardo Hornos/Carl & Jennifer Pasbjerg, Independent Presenters Network/Lloyd Tichio Productions, Kendall Kellaway III/Megan Minutillo, Blume Johnson Rubin & Silver, Russell Citron, The Council, Jamie deRoy & Brian Rooney/Corey Brunish & Matthew P. Hui, Dodge Hall Productions, 42nd.club, IJB Productions, Mickey Liddell & Pete Shilaimon, Stephanie P. McClelland, James L. Simon, Mark Weinstein, Adam Cohen/Nick Padgett, Vibecke Dahle Dellapolla/Lynnette Barkley, Willette & Manny Klausner/Elizabeth Faulkner Salem, Michael Page/Burnt Umber Productions, Wallace-Phoebe/Laurie Oki & Alexander Oki, Margot Astrachan/TT Partners, Andrew Fell
Floyd Collins – Book/Additional Lyrics: Tina Landau; Music & Lyrics: Adam Guettel; Producers: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Adam Siegel, Naomi Grabel, Ira Weitzman, Creative Partners Productions, Mark Cortale & Charles D. Urstadt
Gypsy – Producers: Tom Kirdahy, Mara Isaacs, Kevin Ryan, Diane Scott Carter, Wendy Federman & Heni Koenigsberg, Roy Furman, Viajes Miranda, Kerry Washington, Peter May, Thomas M. Neff, Cynthia J. Tong, Adam Hyndman, A Perfect Team Productions, Cue to Cue Productions, Da Silva Stone, DMQR Productions, Grant Spark Productions, Marguerite Steed Hoffman, KarmaHendelMcCabe, James L. Nederlander, Janet and Marvin Rosen, Archer Entertainment, Dale Franzen, 42nd.club, Rob Acton, All That JJAS, Mike Audet, Patty Baker, Cohen Soto, Concord Theatricals, Creative Partners Productions, Crumhale Taylor Productions, Ken Davenport, DJD Productions, Flipswitch Entertainment, Frankly Spoken Productions, Roy Gabay, Happy Recap Productions, Sandra and Howard Hoffen, John Gore Organization, Johnson Maggio Productions, Willette and Manny Klausner, Kors Le Pere Theatricals, LaCroix Eisenberg, David Lai, Little Lamb Productions, Bill and Sally Martin, Mohari Media, No Guarantees Productions, Pam Hurst-Della Pietra and Stephen Della Pietra, Regian Davison, Lamar Richardson, Patti and Michael Roberts, RTK Rose, Score 3 Partners, Silva Theatrical Group, Some People, Stone Arch Theatricals, Storyboard Entertainment LE, Mary and Jay Sullivan, The Adams Hendel Group, The Array VI, The Broadway Investor's Club, Theatre Producers of Color, Tom Tuft, TreAmici Gooding, Waiting in the Wings Productions, Whitney Williams, Sara Beth Zivitz, Jamila Ponton Bragg, The Industry Standard Group
Pirates! The Penzance Musical – Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Scott Ellis, Sydney Beers, Christopher Nave, Steven Showalter, James L. Nederlander, Fran and Paul Turner, ATG Productions/Gavin Kalin Productions
WINNER: – Producers: The Jamie Lloyd Company, ATG Productions, Michael Harrison for Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals, Gavin Kalin Productions, Wessex Grove, Christopher Ketner, Aleri Entertainment, Sonia Friedman, Roth-Manella Productions, Winkler Smalberg, Caitlin Clements, 42nd.club, Abrams Johnson, Aron on Broadway, The Array V, At Rise Creative, Bad Robot Live, Craig Balsam, Greg Berlanti, Boardman Cannova Productions, Bob Boyett, Burnt Umber Productions, Patrick Catullo, Crane McGill Trunfio, Core Four Productions, Nicole Eisenberg, The Factor Gavin Partnership, Federman Jenen Koenigsberg, Forshaw Turchin, John Gore, Jake Hine, LAMF Secret Hideout, Jack Lane, Lang Entertainment Group, Lelli Armstrong, Alex Levy, Luftig Reade St. Kawana, Mary Maggio, Jay Marcus, Stephanie P. McClelland, James L. Nederlander, No Guarantees Productions, P3 Productions, Thomas Steven Perakos, Pam Hurst-Della Pietra, Shari Redstone, Regian Davison Buckman, Sand & Snow Entertainment, SBK Productions, The Shubert Organization, Smedes Stern Productions, Tilted, Willowrow Entertainment, WMKlausner
WINNER: Darren Criss,
Andrew Durand, Dead Outlaw
Tom Francis, Sunset Blvd.
Jonathan Groff, Just in Time
James Monroe Iglehart, A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical
Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins
Megan Hilty, Death Becomes Her
Audra McDonald, Gypsy
Jasmine Amy Rogers, BOOP! The Musical
WINNER: Nicole Scherzinger,
Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her
Brooks Ashmanskas, SMASH
Jeb Brown, Dead Outlaw
Danny Burstein, Gypsy
WINNER: Jak Malone,
Taylor Trensch, Floyd Collins
WINNER: Natalie Venetia Belcon,
Julia Knitel, Dead Outlaw
Gracie Lawrence, Just in Time
Justina Machado, Real Women Have Curves: The Musical
Joy Woods, Gypsy
Dead Outlaw, Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna
Death Becomes Her, Music & Lyrics: Julia Mattison and Noel Carey
WINNER: , Music: Will Aronson; Lyrics: Will Aronson and Hue Park
Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical, Music & Lyrics: David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts
Real Women Have Curves: The Musical, Music & Lyrics: Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez
Buena Vista Social Club, Marco Ramirez
Dead Outlaw, Itamar Moses
Death Becomes Her, Marco Pennette
WINNER: , Will Aronson and Hue Park
Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical, David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts
Saheem Ali, Buena Vista Social Club
WINNER: Michael Arden,
David Cromer, Dead Outlaw
Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
Jamie Lloyd, Sunset Blvd.
Joshua Bergasse, SMASH
Camille A. Brown, Gypsy
Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! The Musical
WINNER: Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck,
Andrew Resnick and Michael Thurber, Just in Time
Will Aronson, Maybe Happy Ending
Bruce Coughlin, Floyd Collins
WINNER: Marco Paguia,
David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sunset Blvd.
Rachel Hauck, Swept Away
WINNER: Dane Laffrey and George Reeve,
Arnulfo Maldonado, Buena Vista Social Club
Derek McLane, Death Becomes Her
Derek McLane, Just in Time
Dede Ayite, Buena Vista Social Club
Gregg Barnes, BOOP! The Musical
Clint Ramos, Maybe Happy Ending
WINNER: Paul Tazewell,
Catherine Zuber, Just in Time
WINNER: Jack Knowles,
Tyler Micoleau, Buena Vista Social Club
Scott Zielinski and Ruey Horng Sun, Floyd Collins
Ben Stanton, Maybe Happy Ending
Justin Townsend, Death Becomes Her
WINNER: Jonathan Deans,
Adam Fisher, Sunset Blvd.
Peter Hylenski, Just in Time
Peter Hylenski, Maybe Happy Ending
Dan Moses Schreier, Floyd Collins
English – Author: Sanaz Toossi; Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Scott Ellis, Sydney Beers, Christopher Nave, Steven Showalter, Atlantic Theater Company
The Hills of California – Author: Jez Butterworth; Producers: Sonia Friedman Productions, No Guarantees Productions, Neal Street Productions, Brian Spector, Sand & Snow Entertainment, Stephanie P. McClelland, Barry Diller, Reade St. Productions, Van Dean, Andrew Paradis/We R Broadway Artists Alliance, Patty Baker, Wendy Bingham Cox, Bob Boyett, Butcher Brothers, Caitlin Clements, Kallish Weinstein Creative, Michael Scott, Steven Toll & Randy Jones Toll, City Cowboy Productions/Jamie deRoy, JKVL Productions/Padgett Ross Productions, Koenigsberg Riley/Tulchin Bartner Productions, Todd B. Rubin/Carlos Medina, Silly Bears Productions/Omara Productions, Michael Wolk/Cali e Amici, Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Chris Jennings
John Proctor is the Villain – Author: Kimberly Belflower;Producers: Sue Wagner, John Johnson, John Mara, Jr., Runyonland, Eric Falkenstein, Jillian Robbins, Jen Hoguet, Rialto Productions, Corets Gough Kench Cohen, The Shubert Organization, James L. Nederlander, John Gore Organization, Patty Baker, Cue to Cue Productions, Echo Lake Entertainment, Harris Rubin Productions, Klausner & Zell, Jennifer Kroman, Mickey Liddell & Pete Shilaimon, Mahnster Productions, Nathan Winoto, The Cohn Sisters & Stifelman-Burkhardt, Astro Lab Productions, Creative Partners Productions, Sarah Daniels & Christopher Barrett, Frimmer & Benmosche, Joan Rechnitz, Melissa Chamberlain & Michael McCartney, Pam Hurst-Della Pietra & Stephen Della Pietra, McCaffrey & Demar, Alan & Peggy Mendelson, Newport & Smerigan, Jamie deRoy, Jaime Gleicher, Wes Grantom, Meena Harris & Jessica Foung, Los Angeles Media Fund, Corey Steinfast, SunnySpot & Valentine, Turchin Clements, Jane Bergère & Douglas Denoff, Amy Wen & Meister Leonard, 7th Inning Stretch & Stella La Rue, Indie Slingshot, Annaleise Loxton
Oh, Mary! – Author: Cole Escola; Producers: Kevin McCollum & Lucas McMahon, Mike Lavoie & Carlee Briglia, Bob Boyett, The Council, Jean Doumanian Productions, Nicole Eisenberg, Jay Marcus & George Strus, Irony Point, Richard Batchelder/Bradley Reynolds, Tyler Mount/Tommy Doyle, Nelson & Tao, Palomares & Rosenberg, ShowTown Productions
WINNER: – Author: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins; Producers: David Stone, Debra Martin Chase, Marc Platt, LaChanze, Rashad V. Chambers, Aaron Glick, Universal Theatrical Group, Eastern Standard Time, Trate Productions, Nancy Nagel Gibbs, James L. Nederlander, John Gore, ATG Entertainment, The Shubert Organization, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
WINNER: – Author: Jonathan Spector; Producers: Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Chris Jennings
Romeo + Juliet – Producers: Seaview, Harbor Entertainment, Kevin Ryan, Eric & Marsi Gardiner, Roth-Manella Productions, Kate Cannova, J + J Productions, Julie Boardman, Alexander-Taylor Deignan, Atekwana Hutton, Bensmihen Mann Productions, Patrick Catullo, Chutzpah Productions, Corets Gough Willman Productions, Dave Johnson Productions, DJD Productions, Hornos Moellenberg, Pam Hurst-Della Pietra & Stephen Della Pietra, Mark Gordon Pictures, Oren Michels, No Guarantees Productions, Nothing Ventured Productions, Strus Lynch, Sunset Cruz Productions, Dennis Trunfio, Stephen C. Byrd, Fourth Wall Theatricals, Level Forward, Soto Productions, WMKlausner
Thornton Wilder's Our Town – Producers: Jeffrey Richards, Samsational Entertainment, Louise Gund, Eric Falkenstein, Suzanne Grant, Patty Baker, Daryl Roth/Tom Tuft, Ronald Frankel, Rebecca Gold, Gabrielle Palitz, Brunish-Rooney-Hui/Laura Little, Thom and Karen Lauzon, Pamela Hurst-Della Pietra & Stephen Della Pietra, Score 3 Partners, Secret Hideout, David S. Stone, Craig Balsam, John Gore Organization, Caiola Productions, Concord Theatricals, Melissa & Bradford Coolidge, Irene Gandy, Kenny Leon, Willette & Manny Klausner, Andrew Marderian-Davis, Ellen Susman, Leslie Rainbolt, Randy Jones Toll & Steven Toll, James S. Levine, Hank & Kara Steinberg, Alexander 'Sandy' Marshall, Ken & Rande Greiner/David Schwartz & Trudy Zohn, Patrick W. Jones, Maia Kayla Glasman, Brandon J. Schwartz, The Shubert Organization
Yellow Face – Author: David Henry Hwang; Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Scott Ellis, Sydney Beers, Christopher Nave, Steven Showalter
George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck
WINNER: Cole Escola,
Jon Michael Hill, Purpose
Daniel Dae Kim, Yellow Face
Harry Lennix, Purpose
Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California
Mia Farrow, The Roommate
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Purpose
Sadie Sink, John Proctor is the Villain
WINNER: Sarah Snook,
Glenn Davis, Purpose
Gabriel Ebert, John Proctor is the Villain
WINNER: Francis Jue,
Bob Odenkirk, Glengarry Glen Ross
Conrad Ricamora, Oh, Mary!
Tala Ashe, English
Jessica Hecht, Eureka Day
Marjan Neshat, English
Fina Strazza, John Proctor is the Villain
WINNER: Kara Young,
Knud Adams, English
Sam Mendes, The Hills of California
WINNER: Sam Pinkleton,
Danya Taymor, John Proctor is the Villain
Kip Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Marsha Ginsberg, English
Rob Howell, The Hills of California
Marg Horwell and David Bergman, The Picture of Dorian Gray
WINNER: Miriam Buether and 59,
Scott Pask, Good Night, and Good Luck
Brenda Abbandandolo, Good Night, and Good Luck
WINNER: Marg Horwell,
Rob Howell, The Hills of California
Holly Pierson, Oh, Mary!
Brigitte Reiffenstuel, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Natasha Chivers, The Hills of California
WINNER: Jon Clark,
Heather Gilbert and David Bengali, Good Night, and Good Luck
Natasha Katz and Hannah Wasileski, John Proctor is the Villain
Nick Schlieper, The Picture of Dorian Gray
WINNER: Paul Arditti,
Palmer Hefferan, John Proctor is the Villain
Daniel Kluger, Good Night, and Good Luck
Nick Powell, The Hills of California
Clemence Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray
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The other five are Tony-nom first-timers: Scherzinger, 46, formerly of the Pussycat Dolls; Criss, 38, Glee star and Emmy winner for The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story; and Snook, 37, who shot to fame on Succession, for which she won an Emmy last year. Escola, 38, who uses they/them pronouns, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and McCartney, 21, making his professional stage debut, are the season's breakouts. The group was diverse in more ways than one. Criss, at one point, marveled: 'We have a Gen Z from Belfast who's playing an American [McCartney]. We have a Czech-Filipino-Hawaiian girl playing Norma Desmond [Scherzinger]. We have a non-binary person playing Mary Todd Lincoln [Escola], an Australian woman playing several Englishmen [Snook], a gay farm boy from Pennsylvania playing Bobby Darin [Groff], a Black girl from Fresno playing Rose [McDonald] and a white passing Asian-American as a robot [Criss himself]. Like, what the fuck is going on here? That's incredible!' You can watch the entire conversation — or read a transcript of it edited for clarity and brevity — below. Before we dive into your shows, can you talk about a person who provided you with the tools to perform eight shows a week, at the level at which you are doing it, without losing your mind or body? DARREN CRISS I think anybody here with kids has to give full unbridled credit to our partners, because it's a Herculean task to be a parent — a present one — and to have the commitment that doing a Broadway show demands. To quote Wicked, because I'm a theater geek, 'Magic is a demanderating mistress,' and it does not let up. I'd also like to shout out a movement professor I had at the University of Michigan, Malcolm Tulip. He helped to unlock my interest in physical theater. It was just a niche interest for me that I never thought would come up in any other realm in my life. Cut to 20 years later, I find myself in a situation where I call upon the skillsets that he introduced to me. LOUIS MCCARTNEY One of our directors, Justin Martin. He's been one of the people who stepped up when I moved away from home, as a director and being there for me as a bro, just hanging out and keeping me going through the hard times. AUDRA MCDONALD Zoe Caldwell, who I did Master Class with in 1996. I didn't know what I was doing and I was very frightened about working with her, because she was such grand lady and one of the greatest actresses of the theater. But she ended up becoming such a mentor that I named one of my daughters after her. I learned from Zoe by watching how disciplined she was about the preparation for each performance, about knowing everybody's name at the theater, making sure that she was thanking everybody on a nightly basis. I have adopted a lot of her methods, one of which is making sure that I'm at the theater a good three hours before showtime. I don't want the train to be about to take off and I'm just getting to the theater. I'm going to be the one to make sure that the train is ready to go. JONATHAN GROFF Our choreographer, Shannon Lewis, is a prolific Broadway dancer, but Just in Time was her choreographic debut. I've never really danced before this, and she was, 'I got you.' She gave me 10 weeks of dance lessons, three times a week, before the first day of rehearsal. She taught me this thirty-minute physical warm-up of five different songs that she has on a playlist, and I do it every day before doing the show. COLE ESCOLA Darren's wife. [laughs] Actually, there's this great interview where Zoe Caldwell is telling this anecdote about when she stepped in for Anne Bancroft in The Devils, and she's recalling a line off the cuff and turns her head and goes right into character. The lights don't actually change, but you feel like there's a lighting change and a temperature drop — I'm getting goosebumps now just thinking about it. But it reminded me, 'Oh, it's just about having immediate and free access to your imagination.' So, Darren's wife and Zoe Caldwell. SARAH SNOOK The vocal coach that I worked with in Australia, Geraldine Cook. I hadn't done theater since 2016, and needed to get my instrument back into shape and to get the athleticism going for this particular show, with so many different characters and talking for two hours straight, yelling and speaking quietly and all of that. And she was really instrumental in being able to switch them on quickly, and to also know that I have something to go back on when, in the 10th week, you're like, 'My voice is shot. What am I going to do?' NICOLE SCHERZINGER It's not necessarily a person for me, it's a higher power, because it's so much bigger than me — as we all know, it is a lot. So I'd have to say a higher power, and my ancestors. Cole, you'd been thinking about doing something about Mary Todd Lincoln for 15 years. Why her? ESCOLA I had the idea, 'What if Abraham Lincoln's assassination was a good thing for Mary Todd?' [laughs] But it's really a story about someone with a dream that everyone around her thinks is stupid — and that's how I felt about this idea, so it's very meta. It's Mary's story, and then it's my story with the show— SCHERZINGER And Norma's story. ESCOLA And Rose's story. My deep fear is that I'm irredeemably annoying. So I thought, 'Can you root for someone who's completely annoying, with no redeeming qualities? Can you have the audience on her side by the end, even though she's just id the whole time? That was my hope.' Audra, at the age of 10, you were part of a production of at a dinner theater in Fresno? MCDONALD Yes, I was one of Uncle's Jocko's buddies. [laughs] Over the years since, was it even an aspiration of yours to be a part of a Broadway production of it? Where did the idea come from? MCDONALD Gavin Creel [the Tony-winning actor who died of cancer last year just 48], who was a wondrous friend to many of us here. He brought Sara Bareilles to Thanksgiving dinner at our house, and my older daughter was obsessed with Sara, so at one point Gavin said to her, 'Why don't you go talk to her?' And then, as I was nursing my younger daughter upstairs, I heard Sara at the piano and my older daughter, who plays the bass, playing 'Who Made You King of Anything?' I ran downstairs to take pictures, and then Gavin said, 'Oh, honey, I want to talk to you about something! Come here!' And he dragged me into the garage and told me his idea that I should play Rose in Gypsy. SCHERZINGER Wow, that's an amazing story! MCDONALD So it's a tribute to Gavin. He's the one who put it in my head. Jonathan, you portray Bobby Darin from around 19 to 31, and he died at 37. Your association with this project goes back to 2018? GROFF Eight years ago, [producer] Ted Chapin asked me to do a night of Bobby Darin music at the 92nd Street Y. Sort of like you, Cole, part of my inspiration is watching clips of divas singing, so I went home and watched Bobby Darin performing on YouTube, and I had this reaction that I normally feel when I watch Barbra [Streisand] or Judy [Garland] or Beyoncé — it's usually reserved for a female performer, but he was singing for his life. Then I started learning about him, that he was told that he was going to die by the time he was 16, so from 16 to 37 was all borrowed time for him, and is reflected in the primal way that he's leaping, in these black and white clips, off of my computer screen. I read this quote that, 'At the end of the day, he was a nightclub animal,' which is now a line at the end of our show. So at the Y, we started doing his music live, which was really fun, but then all of a sudden, in the space between audience and performer, it felt spiritual. For the last seven and a half years, we've been trying to make it happen [on Broadway]. And now we're at Circle in the Square, finally getting to do it for an audience, and it's like drugs. It's great. Nicole, the world first got to know you through the Pussycat Dolls — you ladies were together from 2003 through 2010 — but from what I understand, your interest in and involvement with theater predated that, and you've been on a quest to get back to it. In fact, I was invited to something at the Pendry Hotel in LA in 2022, and I wasn't sure what was behind it, but I was thrilled to get to see you— SCHERZINGER You went?! Yes. This was an intimate performance that you gave, which sort of connects to , right? SCHERZINGER I got my first job when I was about 14 at the Actors Theatre of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky — which, for Louisville, Kentucky, is big time, y'all — and I was in a youth performing arts high school. That's where I found my tribe. I always felt, since I was a little girl, that I didn't really fit in and didn't really feel comfortable in my skin, but then I went to this performing arts school and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, these humans are just like me!' I started out in voice and learned to read music and sang in the choir; and then I went to musical theater. Ms. Mateus cast me in Alice when I was 15— ESCOLA Alice in Wonderland? SCHERZINGER Alice in Wonderland. ESCOLA Okay. It could have been Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. [laughs] SCHERZINGER And that was big-time for me because back then people didn't cast roles like that. I was like, 'Yo, you're casting a Hawaiian-Ukrainian-Filipina girl as Alice?!' So, that's where my love affair began with musical theater. I went on to college and to do a lot more musical theater — summer stock in many different places around the country — so yes, this is over 30 years in the making. In the Dolls we have a song called 'When I Grow Up [I Want to Be Famous],' and we were shooting that music video on Hollywood Blvd. in front of the Pantages, and there's actually a video where I go, 'I always thought I'd end up on that side of the street,' and it pans to the Pantages with Wicked. I was fortunate enough to do Rent at the Hollywood Bowl 10 years ago. Neil Patrick Harris directed it and it had a beautiful cast— CRISS I saw that! It was fantastic. You smoked that. SCHERZINGER Around 2017 or 2018, I was like, 'Can I please audition for things?' And people wouldn't even allow me to audition. So I created my own show and put it on in London, New York at the Django, and then in LA [at the Pendry]. I was like, 'I'm just going to go put it on myself and invite people to come.' It was all the roles that I wanted to be cast in and all the songs that I wanted to sing. And that's what you saw. You obviously achieved your objective, because Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jamie Lloyd approached you about — and I know you sort of thought at the time, 'Is it a great compliment or insult to be asked to play Norma Desmond?' But I think the ultimate compliment came after Andrew Lloyd Webber later said that your performance is the best thing that he's ever seen in anything that he's been a part of, which is high praise. ESCOLA He didn't see me in Cats. [laughs] Darren, is an original musical. How did it get on your radar and how did you wind up bringing it to Broadway? CRISS I think all the best stories that we weren't really prepared to hear — Batman or Star Wars are examples. If you were trying to elevator-pitch any of them, people would be like, 'What the fuck are you talking about? That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard.' So it is fun to be part of something so singular. I was telling Audra that I name-drop her every night when people come by to say hello. I say, 'I don't envy the Herculean task that Audra has. First, it's over three hours of ripping your soul out vocally, emotionally, all these things. But because it's such a known piece, people also come in with comparisons and expectations, which isn't fair to her— MCDONALD And singing along! [laughs] CRISS Because I've done shows like Little Shop [of Horrors, Off Broadway] and Hedwig [and the Angry Inch, on Broadway] where people know the material, that can also be an obstacle and something that you have to overcome, for better or for worse. For me, I've never been a part of anything where audience has been completely unencumbered by expectation or experience. That in itself is an obstacle, because now I have to try and convince them that this is something somewhat worthwhile, but it is amazing to feel that the gasp of, 'What is going on?!' But in short, this came to me in 2018, and it was just a matter of being available — the pandemic and then a strike and so many things that happened until finally the stars aligned in a way that I'm so grateful for. Sarah, was never done for the stage until 2020, when it was first performed in Australia. How did you wind up attached to it? SNOOK Kip [Williams, the playwright] and I had a conversation about it around March of 2023. I was about to go and shoot the final scenes in Barbados for season four of Succession. I went, 'This is an amazing thing that's about to end, and this is something else that I could go on to.' The question, first of all, was, 'What's the earliest you think you could do this? We have a theater we're looking at in August.' [laughs] I was like, 'I have a baby I'm currently cooking. She's due in April. So there's no way I can make August work. The earliest I could do it is this time next year.' And so they accommodated that. You're used to having to perform a lot of lines very quickly, between Sorkin's with and , among other things, but doing so while also literally running from one character into another, as you do in , is different. SNOOK It's different. And it's prose that has been turned into dialogue and that has to be spoken in a way that the audience can receive it, to understand it, to be engaged with it — finding places to be incredibly swift with it, because we need to be moving on and get the audience leaning forward, and then also to allow them to sort of sit back for a second and enjoy the pretty pictures. And I think, ironically, that having a baby and doing this show was maybe a good choice because it means that you stay very straight and narrow. You're not going out after the show to have a drink or wind down. It's like, 'No, I've got to go breastfeed in two hours, so I'm going to try to get another hour-and-a-half of sleep now, wake up and feed, and then go back to sleep.' Louis, you're only 21. What was going on in your life when you first heard about ? Were you already a watcher of ? MCCARTNEY I was just moving out of Dublin. My dad and I were doing our little YouTube channel, which is how they [the show's producers] got wind of me, and how my agent got wind of me me as well. I was finishing up season three of Hope Street, which was the soap I did. And then I got wind of this 'untitled Netflix play directed by Stephen Daldry,' and I did three to four months of auditions, and was flying back to Belfast, and finally we got word that it was Henry Creel, so all my focus then turned on Jamie Campbell Bower [who played the character on the TV show] and his performance in season four. I think he's phenomenal — I wanted to emulate that, but also create my own line of Henry Creel because he's a kid in the show, and we're dealing with this idea, 'What if he's a good boy? What if he just wants to go to school and get a girlfriend?' At the start of the process, I judged him and thought that he was a bad kid, but now I think he's a really good kid and it's his conditioning and the people around him that shaped him. But that's the question of our play. It's quite a psychological Greek take on Stranger Things. You've got the mother archetype and you have the tragic hero, very Hamlet, and there's lots of questions to the stars, 'Why me and why am I like this?' But also keeping with the mythology of Stranger Things and honoring the fans. It has now been 10 years since the opening on Broadway of a little show called , which Mr. Groff here helped to bring to life. Jonathan, 10 years later, what do you believe is the greatest legacy of ? GROFF That Lin-Manuel Miranda is a fucking genius and wrote an unparalleled work of art. I replaced Brian d'Arcy James in the show Off Broadway at the Public Theater. He originated the role of the King, so I got this really interesting experience with the show because I always felt outside of it and inside of it at the same time. Lin and I became friends when I was doing Spring Awakening and he was doing In The Heights, and we had stayed in touch, and then Brian had to leave and Lin texted me, 'What are you doing next month? Can you come be in the show that I wrote for a couple months Off Broadway?' I was like, 'Sure.' I went on a Friday and was in the show on Tuesday. When I saw it, I was like, 'Oh my God!' I mean, we all had that experience seeing it. The King is only on stage for nine minutes; when we moved to Broadway to the Richard Rodgers, I would peek through the curtain, watching the show. Lin is such a brilliant performer, he has such an awareness of storytelling and audience, and he knew how to keep everyone's attention for two-and-a-half, three hours. Even when I'm listening to the mashup that we're doing on the Tonys I'm like, 'Oh my God, Hamilton is so good!' Now it's been around for a decade and you're like, 'Oh, yeah, it's Hamilton' — it's the poster and it's 'send all your friends to see it' and whatever. But every time I re-engage with the material, it's just pure genius. Audra, yours is the sixth Broadway incarnation of , and you are the first person of color to play Rose. You've been navigating this conversation your whole life, or at least since you were 16 and playing Eva Perón in . Also, you received your first Tony nomination for , for a part that had been played by white people. Can you take us into your experience with nontraditional casting? MCDONALD I was very lucky growing up in Fresno, California, and having two parents who needed something for their very hyperactive, over-emotional, over-dramatic child who was struggling deeply. They found this dinner theater for me, and I went and auditioned and became a part of the little junior troupe. And once I was a part of that troupe, like when all of us kind of find theater, it was, 'Oh, here I am!' ESCOLA 'Bye, everyone!' MCDONALD 'I know who I am now.' Or, 'I know that there are a lot of people like me,' whether we know who we are or not. But in that theater in Fresno, I at one point was cast to play the Servant Girl in The Miracle Worker — I just ran out and auditioned for it and got the part — and my parents said, 'Absolutely not. You will not be playing that part. We don't need to have you out there perpetuating stereotypes. There are other roles for you.' From then on, it was, 'What role do you think you can play? And make them say no to you.' So when the call came to audition for Carousel, I think that helped me. I'm trying to find who a person is, not what they look like; that's a part of it, but, 'Who are they? And is there something in my soul that can help illuminate who that character is?' And that's what I feel about what's happened with Rose. The main thing with me playing Rose as a Black woman is we are not shrinking away from it. We have not changed a single line. We have not changed any of the grammar. A lot of people come to this show and say, 'Oh, well Rose is saying 'that ain't this' and 'that ain't that' — I'm like, 'That's what Arthur Laurents wrote!' I felt I just knew who she was, and why couldn't it be a Black woman's story? Why couldn't it be an Asian woman's story? It could be anybody's story! Cole, you're a bit of a trailblazer yourself. Over the last few years, there have been a couple of non-binary performers who have been recognized, but not many. Some award shows have adopted gender-neutral awards. That is not the case obviously at the Tonys, so you had to weigh in on which of the existing categories you wanted to be eligible for, and selected best actor in a play. But how did you feel about having to make that call? And is that something that you hope changes? ESCOLA I do hope it changes, yeah. I didn't love having to make that choice. There are arguments, 'Well, women are given so little, and that would take more away from them,' but at the Drama Desks last year, best performer went to Sarah Paulson and Jessica Lange; no men won, and I think the same thing happened in the supporting category. So I don't know, it's such a weird thing, it's almost arbitrary — 'Well, a man couldn't play this same role that a woman can play.' Well, an eighty-year-old couldn't play Juliet — well, I shouldn't say that. An eighty-year-old could play Juliet. But where the lines are drawn, I guess, doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Best director is gender-neutral. Every other category is. ESCOLA Every other category. MCDONALD It makes for a shorter night. [laughs] ESCOLA It makes for a shorter night. I don't know. I just want to do my show and be myself, and I don't want to push people's buttons — well, that's not true. [laughs] I do want to push people's buttons, but not those buttons. Another topic of conversation in the community is the role that technology is playing. Sarah and Nicole have camera rigs on stage with large screens that give us a look into things that people never would've been able to see on Broadway until a few years ago. Louis, some of the effects in your show are unbelievable, and probably wouldn't have been possible pre-, the effects of which were handled by some of the same people who worked on your show and are getting a special Tony for them. In the case of the three of your shows, the technology helps to connect the stories to the world of today, especially for younger audiences, wouldn't you say? SNOOK Yeah, absolutely. Technology is always going to advance — we invent things and we find ways to incorporate them into our lives. And we've always had theater — it's an ancient art form. So inevitably you're going to incorporate technological advancements into theater in some ways. And as long as it has a dramaturgical purpose and an active influence on the audience, I think there's a place for it. This show wouldn't be possible without the camerawork that the camerapeople do, and also the video they record, edits that we've created beforehand. And it's amazing to work inside of that. Nicole, how did you acclimate to acting while there are people with cameras running around you? SCHERZINGER I guess I'm kind of used to cameras with singing, but I didn't have a choice. It makes sense, obviously, because Norma is a film star, that he incorporated that. And we don't have a set or props or anything, so we're able to tell that story on stage and then to be a little bit more intimate when the camera is involved. But yeah, as pop star, this [points to the left side of her face] is my good side. I'm sitting on my bad side [points to the right side of her face] today. [laughs] So I've had to throw all that down the drain. He [director Jamie Lloyd] has taken me out of my comfort zone, but it's what's got me here today. It's supposed to emanate from within, anyway. We've established that unbelievable physicality is demanded of each of you in these roles. Audra, you've said that you've never played a more exhausting part. Darren, I don't know how you don't need a chiropractor walking around with you all day. SCHERZINGER I have several good ones. CRISS I've got to ask Nicole. What do you do for yourself physically between performances? CRISS I'm really militant about contrast therapy. It's this ancient Norwegian stuff. It's being in a hot bath and a cold plunge. I'll do a sauna and a steam. I do this two, three times a week for about a half hour. MCDONALD Do you have a sauna in your dressing room?! SCHERZINGER And a cold plunge?! CRISS I do not. I wish I did. I'll go to a place that has a sauna. I'll do a steam room for 15 minutes, a cold plunge for three minutes, and a sauna for 15. I'll do it in-between shows. It's a meditative thing. It's good for my respiratory system, circulatory system and immune system, and that is how I keep my battery charged. It's a reset. It's my time to just relax. I feel I'm on a beach. I close my eyes and just drown out the world. MCDONALD I would never come for the second show. [laughs] CRISS Well, it's that cold plunge at the very end, sitting in 45-degree water for three minutes. After that I'm like, 'All right, let's go, we've got another one!' SNOOK I just sleep. I think it's so important. I mean, for me, I need eight hours. ESCOLA Between shows? [laughs] SNOOK You've got to have the deep-sleep recovery because it heals your body. SCHERZINGER That's how I feel too. I have to tell myself, 'It's a new day, it's a new performance.' ESCOLA It's reminding me of that Ethel Merman quote: 'Warm up? That's what the opening number's for!' [laughs] I can't rest between shows because then I wouldn't get up. MCDONALD I can't either. Other shows I've been able to, but I can't sleep in between this one. Our show is basically three hours, so especially on a Wednesday matinee, we've got a 2pm and a 7:30pm, so I only have enough time to do PT and then sit down for a few minutes and stare at a wall. ESCOLA Yeah, exactly. The wall stare. You all move back and forth between screen and stage work. When you go from one to the other, what is the thing that you most consciously have to remind yourself to do differently? ESCOLA I don't [do things differently], and that's why I always get told on [a film or TV] set, 'Just less.' [laughs] MCDONALD 'Think louder.' I used to be so afraid of the camera. Once I figured out that the camera is the audience, I realized that I could think louder and the camera will pick it up. ESCOLA Oh, I've got to write that down. SCHERZINGER I'm taking that. Speaking of moving back and forth between the stage and screen, some people will discover you through one and not even know that you do the other. Darren, you told me a funny story about this earlier today. CRISS There's no prerequisite for you to know anything about a person's career. I'll never forget, I saw this queen [McDonald] a long time ago at one of her shows in Los Angeles, and there was a woman next to me who loved Private Practice [the ABC TV series on which McDonald appeared from 2007 through 2011]. We were just small-talking before you went on, and I mentioned Ragtime and all these shows that I've loved your performances in. And she says, 'I didn't know she was a singer.' And I'm like, 'You best buckle up, you're about to get served some serious fucking shit!' [laughs] I just was so moved by that because, again, there's no prerequisite here. Her gateway drug was Private Practice. We take all kinds. We're happy to have you! MCDONALD No, it's true. People who don't usually come to see theater, but come for some reason — 'Well, I love Nicole from the Pussycat Dolls, so I'm coming to see her' or 'I love Sarah from Succession' or whatever — what usually happens is they get bit by the theater bug. They get a taste, and then they want more. Let's close with some fun rapid-fire stuff. Excluding relatives, who's the person whose attendance at one of your performances of your current show has meant the most to you? ESCOLA Elaine May. GROFF Tom Hanks. MCCARTNEY Tom Hanks as well. SNOOK Bette Midler. CRISS Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber. SCHERZINGER Glenn Close or Oprah. What's the most unusual thing in your dressing room? ESCOLA Me. [laughs] MCCARTNEY Dried lavender that I have yet to buy a vase for. SNOOK I've got a little crochet doll of the characters of Dorian and Jane from Predestination [a 2014 film in which she starred] and my Met Gala outfit, which this incredibly talented young woman crocheted. I love them, and so does my daughter — she loves to play with them. What's the most annoying thing that audience members are doing at Broadway shows in 2025? SNOOK I don't get particularly annoyed by it because I know the impulse, but I do just want to make a PSA that we can see your phones when they're up. It's a reflective surface reflecting back onto the stage. I can see you filming. [laughs] MCDONALD We can't do anything about phones. It is what it is. But at curtain call, it's almost like no one's applauding anymore because they're all filming! It's the weirdest thing to me. 'Well, then we'll just go.' SCHERZINGER Because they're trying to catch that legacy, honey! They got to get it. [laughs] Also, we can hear you eating. Sometimes with the rustling, I'm like, 'Did you get it? Did you?' Last one. If you could snap your fingers and make it so, what would be the ideal number of performances you would perform per week? SCHERZINGER That is a great question. MCDONALD That is a really good question. CRISS Do you get to decide when they are? Absolutely. MCDONALD Wednesday matinée is gone. SNOOK Yeah, I think seven is good. MCCARTNEY We do a double-double — two on Saturday and two on Sunday — so we don't have a Wednesday matinée. SNOOK The Sunday matinée is not something that exists in London, but it's fantastic. SCHERZINGER Delightful. SNOOK Because then you get a spare night! SCHERZINGER Six would be lush. You could just do it forever then. A version of this story appeared in the June 4 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025 Harvey Weinstein's "Jane Doe 1" Victim Reveals Identity: "I'm Tired of Hiding" 'Awards Chatter' Podcast: 'Sopranos' Creator David Chase Finally Reveals What Happened to Tony (Exclusive)
