It was Broadway’s biggest night, but a handful of “Saturday Night Live” veterans and its creator, Lorne Michaels, commanded significant attention at the Tony Awards on Sunday in New York.
The presence of the sketch comedy show was hard to miss. The ceremony was announced by Darrell Hammond, who starred on “Saturday Night Live” from 1995 to 2009 (he is now that show’s announcer). Early on at the Tonys, Maya Rudolph, a cast member of “S.N.L.” from 2000 to 2007 who currently plays Mary Todd Lincoln in the farcical comedy “Oh, Mary!,” presented the night’s first award.
Before giving the prize for leading actor in a play to John Lithgow, for his work in “Giant,” Rudolph joked with Cole Escola, the creator of “Oh, Mary!,” that the nominees know not only the power of words but also the “courage it takes to say them in exchange for money.”
Elsewhere during the evening, two actors with extensive “S.N.L.” histories performed onstage and competed against each other in the category of featured performance by an actress in a musical: Rachel Dratch for the revival of “The Rocky Horror Show” and Ana Gasteyer for “Schmigadoon!” (Both lost to Shoshana Bean from “The Lost Boys.”)
Dratch, who spent seven seasons on “S.N.L.,” from 1999 to 2006, plays the Narrator in “The Rocky Horror Show.” In 2022, she was nominated for playing the U.S. president’s secretary in the feminist comedy “POTUS.”
Gasteyer, for her part, performed on “S.N.L.” from 1996 to 2002 and was nominated on Sunday for playing the Bible-thumping, book-burning Mildred in “Schmigadoon!” She made her Broadway debut as an usherette and Columbia in the 2001 revival of “Rocky Horror.” In 2006, she played both Mrs. Peachum in “The Threepenny Opera” and Elphaba in “Wicked.” Two years ago, Gasteyer appeared in a Broadway revival of “Once Upon a Mattress,” as Queen Aggravain.
Arguably the biggest “S.N.L.” moment of the night came at the very end, when “Schmigadoon!,” a musical theater satire, won the evening’s top prize: best new musical. The award is considered the most coveted because it often has the greatest impact on box-office sales. “Schmigadoon!” is produced by Broadway Video, the entertainment company founded by Michaels. He was also a key producer of the “Schmigadoon!” television series, which inspired the Broadway show.
Backstage after his win, Michaels told reporters that it was hard to be optimistic working in the arts these days. “Just singing, dancing, a lot of jokes and a happy ending seems like what we really want right now,” he said, referring to “Schmigadoon!”
The Tonys have recognized “S.N.L.” royalty before. Michaels was nominated as a producer for the musical “Mean Girls” in 2018, alongside Tina Fey, who wrote the book.
And the show’s ties to Broadway seem likely to continue to strengthen: Will Ferrell, who was nominated as a producer in 2009 for “You’re Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush,” is adapting his film “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” (2020) into a stage musical.
With such a strong presence during Broadway’s most important night, one question seemed unavoidable: Could there ever be an “S.N.L.” musical?
Perhaps, though as Michaels joked to reporters: “It won’t be me doing it.”
Malia Mendez contributed reporting.
Derrick Bryson Taylor is a Times reporter covering breaking news in culture and the arts.
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