The 2023 Tony Awards, the 76th edition of Broadway’s biggest and most prestigious awards ceremony, took place on June 11 at the United Palace in Washington Heights. Kimberly Akimbo, a musical about a teenage girl with a medical condition that makes her age rapidly, led all productions with five awards, including the Tony for Best New Musical. Victoria Clarke, who played the title role in the musical, earned Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical. The ceremony also featured several firsts, most notably J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell becoming the first nonbinary actors to win Tonys.
Leopoldstadt, a drama that follows generations of Jewish families from the turn of the 20th century to beyond the Second World War, won the Tony for Best Play, beating out four other nominees. Brandon Uranowitz won Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for Leopoldstadt, while the production also garnered Tonys for Best Direction of a Play (Patrick Marber) and Best Costume Design of a Play (Brigitte Reiffenstuel). Tom Stoppard, the author of the play, has now had five plays win the Tony for Best Play, more than any other playwright in history.
Leopoldstadt, which more than anything highlights the resilience of the Jewish community during one of the most horrific periods in world history, was a personal project for many involved. Stoppard describes the play as “semi-autobiographical,” while Uranowitz shared during his victory speech that Nazis murdered some of his family members in Poland. Leopoldstadt premiered in London in 2020 and won the Olivier Award for Best New Play. It was shown on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre from October 2, 2022 to July 2, 2023.
Here’s a look at the other four outstanding nominees in the Best Play category at the 2023 Tony Awards.
Fat Ham
Fat Ham, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play written by James Ijames, is a modern reimagining of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The play’s protagonist, Juicy, is a queer college student in the Southern US struggling with his identity. While at a backyard barbecue celebrating the nuptials of his mother and uncle, he is visited by the ghost of his father who, like in Hamlet, demands vengeance for his murder and asks Juicy to kill his uncle. The play has comedic elements and covers themes such as sexuality, identity, and intergenerational trauma.
“In Fat Ham, violence is a birthright. Juicy’s father was a homophobic bully who killed and was gruesomely murdered in kind,” wrote Gloria Oladipo in her review of the play for The Guardian. “Rev, Juicy’s uncle turned stepdaddy, uses physical violence to taunt Juicy and his softness. Now, it’s Juicy’s turn to live out the family promise. But, unlike Hamlet, the violence in Fat Ham is often cooled with humor. It is a reminder that inherited trauma makes absurd creatures of us all.”
Fat Ham, which received four other Tony nominations, ran at the American Airlines Theatre from April 12 to August 6, 2023. Marcel Spears (Juicy), Billy Eugene Jones (Rev and Pap), and Chris Herbie Holland (Tio) were among the featured cast members.
Cost of Living
Shown at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre from October 3 to November 6, 2022, Cost of Living is a Pulitzer Prize-winning play that explores human connection, the forces that bring individuals together, and perceptions of privilege. These themes are brought to the forefront through a pair of relationships, one involving an unemployed truck driver and his recently paralyzed ex-wife and the other between a graduate student with cerebral palsy and his under-qualified caregiver.
Written by Martyna Majok, Cost of Living also received four other Tony nominations. Jo Bonney directed the production, while the cast included Gregg Mozgala (John) and Katy Sullivan (Ani), both of whom were making their Broadway debut.
Ain’t No Mo’
A thought-provoking play with elements of satire, sketch comedy, and avant garde theater, Ain’t No Mo’ focuses on the Black experience in the United States through an imagined future in which the US government offers all Black Americans one-way tickets to Africa in hopes of solving racism. The outlandish and chaotic play, written by Jordan E. Cooper, received five other Tony nominations. It ran at the Belasco Theatre from December 1-23, 2022.
Between Riverside and Crazy
Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis, Between Riverside and Crazy is a Pulitzer Prize-winning dark comedy that tells the story of ex-cop and single father Walter Washington and his son Junior, a former convict, and their fight to hold on to one of the few remaining rent stabilized apartments on Riverside Drive. The play premiered off-Broadway in 2014 at the Atlantic Theater Company and ran at the Helen Hayes Theatre from December 19 to February 19, 2023. Stephen McKinley Henderson, who played Walter, received a Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play.