10 Tony Wins I’d Like to See This Year
by Chris Peterson
The Tony Awards are almost here, which means it is time for everyone to pretend they are calmly making predictions while quietly rooting like maniacs for their favorites.
This is not a predictions list. This is a “who I would like to see win” list, which is much more fun and probably much less accurate. But that is fine. The Tonys are supposed to celebrate the work that made this season feel alive, exciting, messy, and worth talking about. And there are a few wins this year that would just feel right.
Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons, Cats: The Jellicle Ball for Best Choreography
If there is one category where the Tonys have a chance to recognize something truly thrilling, it is this one. Cats: The Jellicle Ball reimagined the show's entire physical language through ballroom culture, movement, identity, and joy.
Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, Cats: The Jellicle Ball for Best Director of a Musical
Direction matters most when a production makes you see something familiar in a completely new way. That is what Levingston and Rauch pulled off here. Cats has always been an odd beast, and I say that with affection. But The Jellicle Ball found the soul inside the spectacle and gave it a reason to exist now.
Linda ChoRagtime, Schmigadoon! in Costume Design
Linda Cho being nominated twice in the same category for Ragtime and Schmigadoon! feels correct. Annoying for her odds, perhaps, but correct. Whether it is the sweep and weight of Ragtime or the heightened musical theatre vocabulary of Schmigadoon!, I would love to see her walk away with this one. Either one. I am not picky here.
Shoshana Bean, The Lost Boys for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Shoshana Bean winning a Tony would just make sense, this is her third nomination in this category. At this point, she has earned one of those career-recognition-but-also-for-this-specific-performance wins, which are sometimes the best kind. Bean has long been one of those performers theatre people talk about with a certain reverence because the voice is obviously there, but so is the instinct.
Daniel Radcliffe, Every Brilliant Thing for Best Actor in a Play
Daniel Radcliffe has become one of the most interesting stage actors of his generation. He keeps showing up in projects that ask for real vulnerability. Every Brilliant Thing is the kind of piece that liveson the connection to the audience. I would love to see him recognized for that.
Caissie Levy, Ragtime for Best Lead Actress in a Musical
Mother can be played as dignified, restrained, and lovely, but the role needs more than that. Levy has the voice, of course. But more importantly, she has the emotional clarity. Would love to see her win here.
Scott Rudin losing every category his shows are nominated in
Yes, I said it.
There are a lot of talented artists involved in Scott Rudin-produced shows, and I do not say this casually. But at some point, the industry has to decide whether consequences are real or whether everyone just has to wait out a bad press cycle. I am not rooting against anyone involved in his productions. I am rooting against the continued idea that Broadway cannot help itself when a powerful producer wants back in the room.
Joshua Henry, Ragtime for Best Lead Actor in a Musical
Henry has always brought a thrilling mix of power and control to the stage. “Coalhouse” cannot just be sung beautifully. It has to carry pride, hurt, romance, rage, and dignity all at once. Henry winning for Ragtime would feel like one of the night’s easiest wins to cheer for.
Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Best Revival of a Musical
A revival should not just remind us that a show exists. It should make an argument for why it deserves to exist again. Cats: The Jellicle Ball does exactly that.
Through ballroom culture, Cats suddenly feels sharper, more human, and much more moving. It gives it community. It gives it stakes. It takes a musical plenty of people have made jokes about for decades and says, “Actually, there is something here. You just needed to look at it differently.”
That is the kind of revival I want the Tonys to reward. Not the safest one. Not the prettiest one. The one that changed the conversation.
Schmigadoon!, Best Musical
I would be delighted to see Schmigadoon! win Best Musical because it understands musical theatre with actual affection. Too often, shows that parody the form secretly seem embarrassed by it. Schmigadoon! works because it knows the joke, loves the joke, and still believes in the thing it is joking about. That is harder than people think.
Also, Broadway could use more shows that remember joy is not a lesser artistic goal. A musical can be crowd-pleasing and still have craft behind it. In fact, that is usually the trick.
So those are the wins I would like to see. Will all of them happen? Absolutely not. This is the Tonys. They will thrill us, annoy us, confuse us, and then somehow convince us to watch again next year.