The 2025 Tony Awards Was a Big Night for 'Glee' Fans and Pussycat Dolls

It was Broadway’s biggest night, and that meant lots of toe-tapping, sobbing, and tributes to the gays. Yup, it was Tony Awards night. The 78th American Theater Wing’s Tony Awards were hosted by Cynthia Erivo and saw a few surprises amid the expected wins. If you had money on Audra McDonald winning her 7th Tony last night, my apologies to you.

Maybe Happy Ending, an English-language adaptation of a Korean musical about robots falling in love, went into the evening as one of three shows tied for most-nominated productions of the season. It was something of an underdog for much of the season as a small show not based on a major Hollywood IP, but it ended up winning six awards last night, including Best Musical. Darren Criss also won Best Leading Actor in a Musical, beating out the likes of Jeremy Jordan and Jonathan Groff. Yes, the guy from Glee is now halfway to the EGOT.

The Best Play Tony went to Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Purpose, the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about the lives of an Illinois family of civil rights leaders. Jacobs-Jenkins made history as one of only three playwrights who have won back-to-back Tonys, and he’s the first Black playwright to achieve that honor. Its star, Kara Young, also made history as she became the first Black actor to win Tonys in consecutive seasons (she has four nominations to her name now.) The big revival winners were the radical reinvention of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Blvd., which also saw Nicole Scherzinger win Best Lead Actress in a Musical, and the satire Eureka Day.

Scherzinger beat Audra, whose performance of ‘Rose’s Turn’ from Gypsy was a startling highlight of the evening’s ceremony. Sarah Snook is also halfway to the EGOT after winning Lead Actress in a Play for playing 26 roles in a one-woman version of The Picture of Dorian Gray. See, Shiv is Logan’s favourite.

Cole Escola made history as the first openly non-binary actor to win Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for their work as Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary! Escola’s play, a comedic version of the story of Lincoln in the weeks leading up to her husband’s assassination, was one of the biggest hits on Broadway all season.

Alas, some shows went home empty handed, like Dead Outlaw, a rock musical based on the true story of a corpse that became a fairground attraction, and John Proctor is the Villain, a play that tackles one of the true masterpieces of theatre, The Crucible, through a modern feminist lens. Even George Clooney didn’t take home anything, except for the fact that he’s George Clooney.

It was a night where the big winners were shows featuring diverse casts, deeply political stories, proudly queer narratives, and odes to change. Sounds gay. I’m in. Here are the winners of this year’s Tony Awards!

Best Musical
Maybe Happy Ending

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Nicole Scherzinger — Sunset Blvd.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Darren Criss — Maybe Happy Ending

Best Revival of a Musical
Sunset Blvd.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Cole Escola — Oh, Mary!

Best Direction of a Musical
Michael Arden — Maybe Happy Ending

Best Direction of a Play
Sam Pinkleton — Oh, Mary!

Best Revival of a Play
Eureka Day

Best Play
Purpose

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Natalie Venetia Belcon — Buena Vista Social Club

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Kara Young — Purpose

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Jak Malone — Operation Mincemeat: The Musical

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Francis Jue — Yellow Face

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Sarah Snook — The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Maybe Happy Ending — Will Aronson (music and lyrics) and Hue Park (lyrics)

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Paul Tazewell — Death Becomes Her

Best Costume Design of a Play
Marg Horwell — The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Dane Laffrey and George Reeve — Maybe Happy Ending

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Miriam Buether and 59 — Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Jack Knowles — Sunset Blvd.

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Jon Clark — Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Best Choreography
Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck — Buena Vista Social Club

Best Orchestrations
Marco Paguia — Buena Vista Social Club

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Jonathan Deans — Buena Vista Social Club

Best Book of a Musical
Will Aronson and Hue Park — Maybe Happy Ending

Best Sound Design of a Play
Paul Arditti — Stranger Things: The First Shadow