It’s the 78th Annual Tony Awards, and all the stars are coming out to help celebrate Broadway’s big night.
This year’s awards are hosted by Cynthia Erivo, best known to younger fans for her role as Elphaba in the Wicked movie, though seasoned theater goers know she is a Tony winner herself thanks to her memorable work in The Color Purple. Speaking of which, Oprah Winfrey is expected at the show tonight as a presenter, along with other luminaries including Charli D’Amelio, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, Adam Lambert, and Keanu Reeves. Additionally, tonight’s broadcast will feature performances from 11 of this season’s Broadway musicals, including Buena Vista Social Club, Gypsy, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical, Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Sunset Boulevard, and Real Women Have Curves. Plus a very special reunion of the original cast of Hamilton, including the show’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, to mark its 10th anniversary.
This was a packed season on the Great White Way, with 21 plays and 21 musicals eligible for awards in 26 competitive categories. (For those with a reasonable bedtime, fear not, as some of those are presented before the main broadcast.) The most-nominated shows are the musicals Buena Vista Social Club, based on the lives of the Cuban musicians who recorded the popular 1997 album, Death Becomes Her based on the 1992 Robert Zemeckis film, and an original creation, Maybe Happy Ending. They each have 10 nominations.
While the competition is fierce this year—two of the shows up for Play of the Year have already won the Pulitzer Prize: Purpose by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and English by Sanaz Toossi—some awards have already been announced. The on-stage band from Buena Vista Social Club is earning an award and Stranger Things: The First Shadow, is taking home a special effects prize. Four-time Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein will get a special award for lifetime achievement in the theater and Celia Keenan-Bolger will receive the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award, which honors a member of the theater community who has “made a substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian, social service or charitable organizations,” according to the Tony Awards.
As for who else will take a title, we will recap it all right here, but keep an eye on Audra McDonald, who is up for her record-breaking 11th nomination for playing Mama Rose in the revival of Gypsy, Sarah Snook, who won an Emmy playing Shiv Roy on HBO’s Succession, started off the evening by taking home her first Tony for playing 26 characters in a high-tech adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Plus, Cole Escola, the creator and star of the comedy Oh, Mary! might just take a best lead actor win over George Clooney.
Read more: Audra McDonald Is Our Greatest Living Stage Actor
Best Reminder
Cynthia Erivo opened the show with a serious history lesson for anyone who forgot that way before she was starring in Wicked she was earning her stripes on stage. The night’s host is an incredible performer who just happens to be one Oscar short of an EGOT. Her performance of “Sometimes All You Need Is a Song” was a stunning reminder for anyone who’s only familiar with her work in green face paint. In her opening speech Erivo pointed out that Broadway had its most profitable season ever, thanks in part to a small Hollywood invasion of the boards. She gave a nod to “up and comer” George Clooney, nominated for his work in Good Night, and Good Luck, and joked that “Broadway is officially back so long as we don’t run out of members of Succession.” Sarah Snook, who played Shiv Roy on that HBO drama, was nominated (and went on to win!), following in the footsteps of her costars Jeremy Strong and Keiran Culkin.
Best Reunion
Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, better known to many as Bill and Ted, came together to present the first award of the evening—and tease their on-stage reunion later this year in a new stage production of Waiting for Godot.
Most Undercompensated Winner
Unsurprisingly, Sarah Snook won her first Tony. The surprise was that she didn’t win 26 of them for playing 26 different characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Most Impressive Costume Change(s)
Megan Hilty is nominated for her work in Death Becomes Her and truly showed off her talent by simultaneously belting out the show’s “For the Gaze” while conducting a mind-blowing number of costume changes (including The Wizard of Oz‘s Dorothy and the daughter of the actor who played her, Liza Minnelli). They should give a Tony for Best Multitasking.
Best Memento
When Francis Jue picked up the top prize for his performance as a featured actor in Yellow Face, he was wearing a tuxedo that had been handed down to him by the late actor Alvin Ing. “He had it made for himself for the opening of Pacific Overtures on Broadway in 1976, and when he gave it to me 20 years ago, he told me he wanted me to wear it when I accepted my Tony Award,” Jue said. “I’m only here because of the encouragement and inspiration of generations of wonderful, deserving Asian artists who came before me and never got the opportunities that I’ve had.”
Most Wanderlust-Inducing Performance
The cast of Buena Vista Social Club took Tony viewers straight to Cuba, no airfare required, with a brilliant, buzzy performance of “Candela.” The show has 11 nominations, including wins for Best Choreography, and the musicians received a Special Tony Award in recognition of their musical excellence.
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