A strange loop was named Broadway’s Best Musical of the 2021-22 season, and in two of the evening’s biggest surprises, Joaquina Kalukango of Paradise Square and newcomer Myles Frost from GM won honors for best acting.

In the first big surprise of the night, Kalukango won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in place of paradise, beat the favorite Caroline, or change star Sharon D. Clarke. Frost, who portrays adult Michael Jackson in MJ, was less of a surprise, though. A strange loopJaquel Spivey was generally favored to win the award.

75th Annual Tony Awards: Full Deadline Coverage

Deirdre O’Connell was named Best Actress in a Play for her captivating performance in Dana H., which used actual recordings of an abduction victim and featured O’Connell’s lip-synching to the tapes.

“Let me be a little sign for you from the universe,” O’Connell told budding theater artists in her acceptance speech. “Make weird art.”

Tony Awards: Check Out the Best Red Carpet Looks – Photo Gallery

The Lehman Trilogy won the Tony Award for Best Play Tonight, with co-writer Ben Power thanking director Sam Mendes and everyone else who stuck with the play for the 577 days between “fourth preview and fifth preview” – referring to how long the show was shut down due to the Covid pandemic.

The play also nabbed the Best Leading Actor award for Simon Russell Beale.

“The Lehman Trilogy”, from ideas to sketches to the scene – A photo tour with designer Es Devlin: Deadline Tony Watch Exclusive

Company Producer Chris Harper accepted the Tony Award for Best Musical Cover, saying he was honored to pay Patti LuPone’s salary, after she noted him on stage earlier in the evening.

The award was the latest in a string of wins for Company. Matt Doyle, whose quick performance of “Getting Married Today” is a highlight of the revival, won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

‘You’ll need to sit down for this one’: Emails between Stephen Sondheim and Marianne Elliott tell of birth of 21st century ‘business’

Doyle thanked, among others, Company composer Stephen Sondheim, specifically highlighting Broadway’s late genius for reworking, with director Marianne Elliott, the 1970 musical to encompass the gay characters.

The win wrapped up nicely in a tribute to Sondheim, who died in November, which included taped interviews with the composer and a performance of “Children Will Listen” by In the woodsinterpreted by Bernadette Peters, collaborator and frequent muse of the composer.

Deaths in Hollywood and in the media in 2022: photo gallery

take me out, the cover of Richard Greenberg’s play that received widespread critical acclaim – and some unwanted headlines when an audience member recorded and posted nude scenes on social media – was named the best cover of a piece by Tony voters tonight.

Company’by Marianne Elliott and The Lehman TrilogySam Mendes won for directing a musical and a play, respectively, while Patti LuPone won best actress/musical for her performance in Company, and Phylicia Rashad won Best Actress in a Play for Skeleton crew.

LuPone thanked ‘Chris Harper who pays my salary’ producer and ‘everybody in Covid safety’ in a speech that referenced the recent viral big Broadway moment in which she took on an unmasked audience member at Company Answer.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in take me out.

Tony Awards host Ariana DeBose hails Broadway diversity in high-energy show opener: ”The Great White Way’ is becoming more of a nickname than a how-to guide”

Hosted by West Side Story oscar winner and hamilton Original Ariana DeBose, the 75th Annual Tony Awards, broadcast live coast-to-coast from New York’s Radio City Music Hall on CBS and Paramount+.

Tony Awards: Creative Arts Award to “MJ” for Choreography, “The Lehman Trilogy” for Set Design, “Six” for Music; After

Here’s the full list of winners from the 75th Annual Tony Awards, including the “Act One” preshow:

MAIN SHOW

Best Musical
A strange loop

Lead Actress/Musical
Joaquina Kalukango, Paradise Square

Lead Actor / Musical
Myles Frost, GM

Lead actress/play
Deirdre O’Connell, Dana H.

Main Actor/Play
Simon Russell Beale, The Lehman Trilogy

best game
The Lehman Trilogy

Best Revival of a Musical
Company

Best Book of a Musical
A strange loop Michael R. Jackson

Featured Actor/Musical
Matt Doyle, Company

Best alarm clock / game
take me out

Best Featured Actress/Play
Phylicia Rashad, Skeleton crew

Best Direction / Musical
Marianne Elliott, Company

Best Directing/Game
Sam Mendes, The Lehman Trilogy

Best Featured Actress/Musical
Patti LuPone, Company

Best Featured Actor/Play
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, take me out

WINNERS OF THE “ACT ONE” PRE-SHOW

Best Choreography
Christopher Wheeldon, GM

Best Orchestrations
Simon Hale, North country girl

Best Sound Design of a Play
Mikhail Fiksel, Dana H.

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Gareth Owen, GM

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theater
Six: The Musical Lyrics and music: Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss

Best Costume Design of a Play
Montana Levi Blanco, The skin of our teeth

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gabriella Slade, SIX: The Musical

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Es Devlin, The Lehman Trilogy

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Christie Rabbit, Company

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Jon Clark, The Lehman Trilogy

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Natasha Katz, GM