On Sunday evening, after host Cynthia Erivo closed the Tony Awards 2025 with a powerful rendition of Dreamgirls’ “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” summing up the top moments of Broadway’s biggest night, a flurry of exclusive after-parties kicked off throughout New York City that went on until the early hours of Monday morning.
Darren Criss celebrated his two Tony wins by partying until 5 a.m. The former Glee star and Emmy-winning actor made Tony history by becoming the first actor of Asian descent (he’s half Filipino on his mother’s side) to earn best actor in a musical, for his uncanny performance of a lonely humanoid robot in Maybe Happy Ending. The original musical won the most awards at Sunday’s ceremony: six, including best musical, score, and director. Criss nabbed his second Tony for producing.
At 12:53 a.m, Criss arrived at the Maybe Happy Ending cast party held at the Bryant Park Grill. He arrived and was greeted by loud cheers and applause. He met up with his mother and his wife, Mia, whom he referenced in his acceptance speech. Ben Stiller and his daughter, Ella, soon said hello and Tony Award winner Lea Salonga gave him a hug.
“It’s enormously exciting. I’m just elated,” Criss told Vanity Fair about his historic win. “I’m honored that I can hold up the torch and be a small part of representation and visibility. Me winning signals what’s possible, and I’m proud to be a part of that.”
When Criss’s name was called as the winner, he was admittedly “nervous because I spent all night wondering what my night was going to be like,” he said. “And then there’s a speech…all I was thinking about is, I hope to articulate all the things I wanted to say and not get too frazzled, which I certainly did. I’m already going through all the things that I meant to say that were in my head, but didn’t come out the way I hoped. Hopefully people could feel it from my heart.”
So how did he celebrate? “The other half of me is Irish—a glass of scotch and dancing and singing with my friends,” he said. Around 3 a.m., Criss met with Julianne Hough to cohost an after-after Tonys celebration at the Crane Club, a swanky new cocktail lounge in downtown Manhattan, that raged until 5 a.m. Criss, dressed in a ruffled, sleeveless Christian Siriano top—his third look of the night—put on an invigorating rock concert by strapping on an electric guitar and singing a medley of hits from the ’90s that included Third Eye Blind’s “Semi-Charmed Life,” Sublime’s “Santeria,” and Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy.” He even persuaded Mia to join him for “What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes. For his finale, he belted out Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and started a mosh pit with the crowd that included Criss’s Glee costar Chris Colfer, Tony nominee Daniel Dae Kim, ’NSync’s JC Chasez and Joey Fatone, Ben and Ella Stiller, Zoey Deutch, Nina Dobrev, and Criss’s costars from Maybe Happy Ending.
Earlier in Midtown, at about 12:30 a.m, Cole Escola, who won the Tony for best actor in a play for their role as Mary Todd Lincoln in the outlandish farce Oh, Mary!, was visibly emotional at their show’s soirée at the Hard Rock Hotel’s Venue on Music Row. Escola, who is the first nonbinary actor to win in the category, started to cry when writer-director Ben Rimalower arrived at the party and congratulated them. “Ben was my friend who’s couch I used to live on for over a year,” Escola shared, moments after meeting with Rimalowe. “He used to direct my cabaret shows and he’s one of my oldest and best friends. My friend Jenn Harris has also seen me through some dark times. They both really supported me through so much. To have won a Tony now, it was something that never occurred to me. I didn’t think I could do any of it—write it, act it—or that it would be successful. I still can’t believe it.”
For the after-party, Escola changed out of their custom Wiederhoeft gown, which was inspired by Bernadette Peters’s 1999 Tony Awards look, and into a white dress and a blazer adorned with drama masks. Escola was back to smiling when they immediately met up with Sam Pinkleton, who took home the Tony Award for best direction of a play. Pinkleton helped shepherd Oh, Mary! from its beginnings off-Broadway to the Great White Way—defying expectations by selling out and running for almost a year now. “We had such a joyous time making it that I felt like no matter what happened, I would be able to stand by what we made. I was satisfied by what we made and how I made it,” Pinkleton said about the play’s bold premise. “So it’s fuckin’ real frosting on the cake that I have this Tony in my hand,” he said. “Cole has really taught me to be a better director and taught me to make what you love and not what you think people want to see.”
The cast and the creative team of Oh, Mary! were in full revelry as they grooved to pop hits like Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” on the dance floor, including Tony nominee Conrad Ricamora, who portrays Abraham Lincoln. Near the bar, Escola spent time posing for photos with friends. “At some point I’ll go eat something and go to sleep. That’s my big way of celebrating,” they said. “Maybe get some chips and hummus at the corner store.”
By 2:30 a.m., many of the nominees and presenters had trekked up to The Carlyle on the Upper East Side, where veteran Broadway publicist Rick Miramontez and producer John Gore were hosting their 13th-annual glitzy late-night party. The extravagant affair spans the entire ground floor of the storied hotel—including the lobby, hallways, and the famed Bemelmans Bar. Sadie Sink, nominated for lead actress in a play for John Proctor Is the Villain, met up with Andrew Scott for an animated conversation near the bar while six-time Emmy winner Jean Smart, who has returned to Broadway for the first time in over two decades in the one-woman play Call Me Izzy, socialized with acquaintances in a booth. Kristin Chenoweth was spotted making the rounds and newly minted Tony winner Nicole Scherzinger—who won best actress in a musical for Sunset Boulevard—hung out near the hotel’s lobby and posed for candid photos.
“It has been a really hard, long two years, and I’m so grateful for the theater community and people’s reaction to my performance,” Scherzinger said about nabbing her first Tony Award. “Knowing that it has been touching them in a spiritual and soulful way—that’s the ultimate reward. When you give all of your whole heart, and your soul into every performance, it’s so great that the people are connecting and that the work, blood, sweat, and tears are recognized.”
Ahead of The Carlyle bash, Scherzinger celebrated her win with Erivo at the Museum of Modern Art, where the official Tonys after-party was held for the first time, kicking off at about 11:30 p.m. Scherzinger clutched her Tony and embraced the Wicked star. The two laughed and posed for photographers who captured the sweet moment. Nearby, Tony winner Kara Young was mobbed by partygoers, including Daveed Diggs and Leslie Odom Jr., original cast members of Hamilton.
Young made history as the first Black person to win two acting Tonys back-to-back, for Purlie Victorious at the 2024 ceremony and for this year’s Purpose, which also won best new play. “I still have to pinch myself,” said Young about her consecutive wins. “I imagine that I will wake up tomorrow and think, Did this happen? I’m constantly feeling like I’m in a dream. But I’m going to be celebrating the rest of the night with my brother, my mom, and father. And have a martini. It’s been one of the best nights of my life. I’m very grateful.”
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The post From Darren Criss’s ’90s Rock Medley to Cole Escola’s Tearful Reunion, Tony Awards 2025 Winners Partied Till Dawn appeared first on Vanity Fair.
