Tony Awards Snubs and Surprises: ‘Death Becomes Her' Goes One for 10 as ‘Purpose' Scores Upset Best Play Win

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Early in the 2025 Tony Awards, host Cynthia Erivo singled out an 'up-and-comer' who landed his first nomination this year: George Clooney.
The Oscar-winning actor-director was going places, Erivo suggested, but just hours later Clooney, who got a number of onstage shout-outs during the awards ceremony that aired live on CBS, left the Tonys without the Broadway play receiving a single award, despite being nominated for five honors, including a best actor in a play nod for Clooney, which he lost to Oh, Mary!'s Cole Escola.
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The play, which has been breaking records with its multimillion-dollar weekly box office grosses, closed out its run with a matinée performance before Sunday's awards, after which Clooney quickly went back to his natural hair color, which he'd dyed brown for the show, and Saturday night's performance aired live on CNN in a highly touted special.
Similarly, the latest revival of Gypsy, which landed five nominations, including an historic 11th nod for Audra McDonald, making her the most Tony-nominated performer in history in addition to holding the record for most awarded performer in Tonys history, was also shut out Sunday night, with McDonald losing the best actress in a musical award to Nicole Scherzinger for Sunset Blvd.
Other notable shutouts included Dead Outlaw and John Proctor Is the Villain (seven nominations each), Floyd Collins and Just in Time (six nominations each) and Real Women Have Curves (two nominations), with Real Women's best shot at a win coming in the score category, where it lost to Maybe Happy Ending.
Indeed, though Maybe Happy Ending had already received multiple awards by the time Darren Criss' name was called as the best actor in a musical winner, his win, on his first nomination, was still somewhat of a surprise as he was in a tight race with Jonathan Groff, who was gunning for his second Tony in a row.
Death Becomes Her only won one award, for best costume design, given to Oscar-winner Paul Tazewell, despite the musical going into the Tonys in a three-way tie with Maybe Happy Ending and Buena Vista Social Club for the most nominations with 10 apiece.
In an upset, Purpose won the Tony Award for best play, besting Oh, Mary! and John Proctor Is the Villain, starring Sadie Sink, both of which had been buzzed about — at the box office and in the industry — and considered top contenders for the Tony. But Purpose, which follows a powerful family in Black American politics recovering from scandal, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama earlier this year and saw five of its cast members nominated for Tony Awards, including Kara Young, who won a Tony for the second year in a row.
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, the playwright of Purpose, also won best revival of a play last year for Appropriate, starring Sarah Paulson.
The play category was particularly stacked this year, however, as it also included Sanaz Toossi's English, which won the Pulitzer in 2023.
Caitlin Huston contributed to this report.
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