The 2026 Tony Awards Celebrated Queer Joy (and Scott Rudin)

It was Broadway’s biggest night, and the messages they sent to the world were… mixed. The 2026 Tony Awards, hosted by Pink, was a reasonably predictable affair in terms of wins.

The latest revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, starring Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf, won six awards, including Best Revival of a Play, making it the most awarded play revival in the award show’s history. Nathan Lane accepted the award on behalf of the cast, and also its absent producer, Scott Rudin. He’ll get to keep the trophy, of course, but he smartly decided to avoid the show lest we be reminded of all the assistants he physically and emotionally tormented.

Bess Wohl’s Pulitzer-winning play Liberation was named Best Play, making her the first female playwright to win it since 2009, and only the fourth in history. Schmigadoon!, based on the Apple TV series, won Best Musical over The Lost Boys, while Ragtime beat Cats: The Jellicle Ball in Best Revival of a Musical.

John Lithgow became the oldest winner of Best Actor in a Play for his turn as Roald Dahl in Giant. He did not thank J.K. Rowling in his long acceptance speech.

The best speech of the night went to Ali Louis Bourzgui, winner of Best Featured Actor in a Musical for The Lost Boys, who spoke out in support of the queer community, “the beautiful tapestry of immigrant families who make this country really special”, and “the people of Palestine who deserve to live a fruitful life, a free life, a full life without occupation.”

There was a lot of love for the LGBTQ+ community, including the iconic Qween Jean winning for her costumes for Cats: The Jellicle Ball. This made her the first openly trans woman to win a Tony, following in the footsteps of trans and non-binary winners like Cole Escola and J. Harrison Gee. Dylan Mulvaney made an appearance and showed off her Protect the Dolls t-shirts, weeks after some UFC loser made an AI-generated video of himself attacking her.

Still, it was undeniably odd to see such celebration of queerness on Broadway and then have John “Well, J.K. Rowling’s always been nice to me” Lithgow win (and have Cole Escola give him the Tony.) The overall big wins were also more traditional, with voters picking Ragtime over Cats: The Jellicle Ball and yet another Death of A Salesman, as though Broadway doesn’t get one of those every four or so years.

Nominated shows that left empty-handed included The Rocky Horror Show, Chess, The Balusters, Titaníque, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) and Every Brilliant Thing.

Here are the winners.

Best musical
Schmigadoon!

Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical
Joshua Henry - Ragtime

Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical
Caissie Levy - Ragtime

Best revival of a play
Death of a Salesman

Best performance by an actor in a featured role in a play
Alden Ehrenreich - Becky Shaw

Best revival of a musical
Ragtime

Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a play
Lesley Manville - Oedipus

Best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical
Ali Louis Bourzgui - The Lost Boys

Best play
Liberation

Best performance by an actress in a featured role in a musical
Shoshana Bean - The Lost Boys

Best direction of a play
Joe Mantello - Death of a Salesman

Best direction of a musical
Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch - Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Best performance by an actress in a featured role in a play
Laurie Metcalf - Death of a Salesman

Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play
John Lithgow - Giant

Best choreography
Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons - Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Best scenic design of a musical
Dane Laffrey - The Lost Boys

Best scenic design of a play
Chloe Lamford - Death of a Salesman

Best lighting design of a musical
Jen Schriever and Michael Arden - The Lost Boys

Best lighting design of a play
Jack Knowles - Death of a Salesman

Best sound design of a musical
Kai Harada - Ragtime

Best sound design of a play
Mikaal Sulaiman - Death of a Salesman

Best book of a musical
Cinco Paul - Schmigadoon!

Best orchestrations
Doug Besterman and Mike Morris - Schmigadoon!

Best original score (music and/or lyrics) written for the theatre
Cinco Paul - Schmigadoon!

Best costume design of a musical
Qween Jean - Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Best costume design of a play
Jeff Mahshie - Fallen Angels