Everything’s coming up roses for the Broadway community this Tony season. On Friday, Vanity Fair and UTA hosted a soirée celebrating Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, ahead of her big night hosting Tony Awards 2025 this Sunday. Although there’s plenty of drama to be found off stage this year (see: Patti LuPone’s colorful comments about Tony Award winners Audra McDonald and Kecia Lewis, and the ensuing brouhaha) the vibes on the terrace of the Times Square Edition were refreshingly relaxed as the stars of Broadway toasted to an incredible season.
“It’s mad,” says Erivo, using a Britishism to describe the bustling scene at The Edition. Even before the event, the Tony-winner had a whirlwind of a day, releasing her album I Forgive You and prepping to host Broadway’s biggest night. She was soon ensconced in a conversation with legendary Lion King director Julie Taymor and snagged a picture with Vanity Fair’s acting editor in chief Daniel Kile before she had to depart—somehow, she’s headlining D.C. pride on Saturday.
“She’s such an extraordinary human being and artist,” said Patrick Herold, the co-head of theater at UTA with Rachel Viola, of their client Erivo. “When you sit with her, she feels so authentic, so real. This incredible energy that comes off of her.”
Jay Gassner, UTA partner and co-head of talent, shared the sentiment. “It’s exciting that we’re honoring Cynthia, and we have the most nominations we’ve ever had,” he said. “This is the best year we’ve ever had as a group, and we’re just getting started.”
Decorated with white roses and the scent of Parfums de Marly wafting through the air, the Times Square Edition was transformed into the perfect venue to fête Broadway’s hottest stars. Tony nominee Jak Malone, decked out in pearls and a blue sweater, and the cast of the British musical Operation Mincemeat were right on time, as were Tony nominees Julia Knitel, Jeb Brown, and others from another best musical nominee Dead Outlaw, both talking shop in their own respective corners. There were also allies to the theater industry as well, like actor and singer Joshua Bassett, the one-time subject of both Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter songs, and choreographer Justin Peck, who last year won a Tony for Illinoise.
“It feels like Broadway is really back,” said Tony-winner Kara Young. Although she’s nominated for best supporting actress in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Pulitzer Prize-winning best play nominee Purpose, Young has already made history as the first actress to receive four consecutive Tony nominations in a row, all in the best supporting actress category. Broadway is so back that Young had to rush out the door to get to her evening performance in time.
Joy Woods and Lewis also had call times to make. The Broadway stars chatted in the corner of the party, discussing the grind of Tony season on top of performing eight shows a week. “I know what I’m wearing. I know what time I got to be where I got to be. I’m gonna call one out on Sunday,” said Woods, who’s nominated for best supporting actress for her role as Louise opposite McDonald’s towering Mama Rose in Gypsy. “The fact that they don’t even just give you that day as a paid day off, that’s the gag,” added Lewis, who won best supporting actress in a musical last year for Hell’s Kitchen. “I’m taking a day off, and I ain’t even going to the damn Tonys. ’Cause I’m tired.” It’s part of the reason she’s moving into producing. “Actors feel resistance that producers can fix, and won’t. It’s not okay.”
While some of the theater community is exhausted, others are simply happy to be there. “I am so excited,” said Gracie Lawrence. The actor and lead singer of indie band Lawrence scored her first nomination for best supporting actress in a musical for portraying Connie Francis in Just In Time opposite Jonathan Groff. “There’s all this pressure that comes over the past few weeks, but now that it’s here I’m just purely excited,” she said. And there’s another reason she’s looking forward to Sunday: “Also, my dress is really cute.”
Though Lawrence, like Lewis, Woods, and Young had to bounce from the party a bit early to make it to their respective shows, best actor in a musical nominee James Monroe Iglehart was able to continue mixing and mingling while dining on light bites and bespoke, Broadway-themed cocktails like the Highball on the High Note. LaChanze, a producer and Broadway star who won a Tony for originating the role of Celie in The Color Purple—the same part that would launch Erivo to fame 20 years later—was one of the stars who stuck around. “I’m so excited about this season because of the diversity of shows, from Dead Outlaw to Buena Vista Club, you name it,” she said. “There’s such a variety of genres and artists that are being premiered this season, which for me gives me hope for the future of inclusivity for theater. I think that’s how we’re going to really grow our audience.”
Speaking of growing, Little Shop of Horrors stars Liz Gillies and Milo Manheim also made it to the function, thankfully leaving their carnivorous plant at home. For Gillies, returning to the theater this season has been the “most meaningful experience that I’ve had in a very long time,” she said. The actor got her start in the industry starring in 13: The Musical on Broadway opposite her best friend, Ariana Grande. Now, she’s returned to the boards, starring as Audrey in the hit Off-Broadway production and she’s got no plans of leaving the stage just yet. “I’m so looking forward to continuing. I felt my time wasn’t quite done yet,” she said.
At the party, she was able to reunite with 13: The Musical composer, Tony-winner Jason Robert Brown, who was also in attendance despite his glitzy-revival The Last Five Years (which stars Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren) not earning any Tony nominations. Brown was rather circumspect about the problems facing the theater industry. “There’s this real tension in this city, in this particular theater community about how much everything costs versus how much everyone is compensated. That tension colors the work and it colors what’s happening on stage, but it doesn’t make its way into the audience,” he explained. “It’s very scary to do new work in an environment with that kind of tension around it. That’s exactly the kind of tension that doesn’t help new work.”
Nevertheless, he’s excited to see new productions thrive in an environment that he finds more hostile than the past. “It’s been very encouraging to see shows like Maybe Happy Ending or John Proctor Is the Villain, managed to get traction in spite of a commercial environment that seems, to me, to be fighting against them.”
His wife, composer Georgia Stitt, is happy that theater is even happening given how uncertain and precarious the last few years have been for the industry following COVID-19. “We were all writing and trying to figure out what we were doing and nothing was getting produced,” she said. “I remember thinking, ‘I’m writing theater. I don’t know if theater is ever going to happen again. We were working and it was illegal to sing. What if you spit on each other?”
Others remain optimistic about the enduring power of the artform. “It’s never going to go away,” said Arian Moayed, the Succession star and Tony nominee who starred opposite Jessica Chastain in Jamie Lloyd’s revival of A Doll’s House. “It’s from the beginning of time, the theater. It’s outlasted everything. We’re going to gather and see shows.”
More Great Stories From Vanity Fair
-
Your Guide to the 2025 Tony Awards
-
The Chaos Inside Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s Wedding
-
What Is Going On With Patti LuPone? A Guide
-
Molly Gordon’s So Much More Than The Bear’s Dream Girl
-
The Unsinkable Kathy Bates
-
From RFK Jr. to Patrick Schwarzenegger, a Brief Guide to the Kennedy Family
-
Mariska Hargitay Was “Living a Lie” for 30 Years. Now She’s Embracing Her Mother—and Her Biological Father
-
The 42 Best Romantic Comedies of All Time
-
From the Archive: Watergate’s Last Chapter
The post Vanity Fair and UTA Toast Cynthia Erivo and the Broadway Community at Tony Awards Party appeared first on Vanity Fair.
