The Outsiders, primarily based on the 1967 novel by S.E. Hinton and a 1983 film by Francis Ford Coppola, was a surprise winner for greatest musical at the 2024 Tony Awards, which have been presented on Sunday (June 16). The award was believed to be a close race amongst Suffs, a musical about American women’s suffrage movement, and Hell’s Kitchen, a musical loosely primarily based on Alicia Keys’ early life and music.

Stereophonic, a David Adjmi play with music, was named greatest play.  

The 77th Annual Tony Awards, which have been hosted by Ariana DeBose for the third consecutive year, aired reside on each coasts from the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City on Sunday, June 16 on CBS. The show also streamed on Paramount+ in the U.S.

Stereophonic was the year’s most-decorated production, winning 5 Tonys. It was followed by The Outsiders and a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, with 4 wins every. The original production of Merrily received just one particular nod in 1982 – original musical score. Two of the stars of the Merrily revival – Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe – won their initial Tonys for their performances. The New Broadway Cast recording of Merrily We Roll Along entered Billboard’s Cast Albums chart at No. 1 in November 2023.

This is the fifth time that a revival of a Sondheim show has won greatest revival of a musical. Into the Woods won in 2002 followed by Assassins in 2004, and Company in each 2007 and 2022. Sondheim died in 2021 at age 91.

Trailing Stereophonic, Merrily We Roll Along and The Outsiders in terms of most wins have been Appropriate, The Outsiders and Suffs, with 3 wins every Hell’s Kitchen, with two and Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, An Enemy of the People, The Great Gatsby, Illinoise, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding and Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cottom Patch, with one particular every.

Water for Elephants was shut out in spite of seven nominations. Also shut out in spite of huge numbers of nominations have been Here Lies Love, Mary Jane and Mother Play, with 4 nods every.

The Outsiders is the second greatest musical winner in the previous 4 years that was primarily based on a film, following Moulin Rouge!. Other winners considering the fact that 2000 that have been primarily based on films are The Producers (2001), Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002), Hairspray (2003), Spamalot (2005), Billy Elliot the Musical (2009), Once (2012) and The Band’s Visit (2007). The final-named title was primarily based on an Israeli film.

Angelina Jolie was amongst the producers of The Outsiders and now has a Tony to go along with the Oscar she won 24 years ago for greatest supporting actress for Girl, Interrupted.

Hillary Rodham Clinton was amongst the producers of Suffs, and received a thunderous ovation when she introduced a overall performance from the show. She was vying to grow to be the initial initial lady to win a Tony, just as she was the initial initial lady to win a Grammy, in 1997, for the audio book of her greatest-seller, It Takes a Village.

Alicia Keys’ AK Worldwide Media, Inc. and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation have been amongst the producers of Hell’s Kitchen. They lost the Tony for greatest musical, but they scored heavily on the telecast with a overall performance of “Empire State of Mind,” their Grammy-winning 2009 smash which is featured in Hell’s Kitchen.

Keys and Jay-Z weren’t the only music superstars to execute on the show. Pete Townshend also performed alongside the cast of The Who’s Tommy, which was nominated for greatest revival of a musical.

Shaina Taub won two Tonys – greatest original score and greatest book of a musical – for her function on Suffs. Taub is just the third lady in Tony history to win in each of these categories – and she’s the initial lady to win in each categories completely on her personal. Betty Comden won each awards in 1978 for On the Twentieth Century, but she had collaborators in each categories. Lisa Kron won each awards in 2015 for Fun Home, but she had a collaborator in the score category.

Jonathan Tunick won greatest orchestrations for the revival of Merrily. Tunick’s only prior Tony win was for Titanic (1997), which produced him the seventh EGOT winner. Three of the awards that make up Tunick’s EGOT have been for Sondheim-connected function. His only Oscar was for adapting the score for the 1978 film version of A Little Night Music. His only Grammy was for his arrangement of Cleo Laine’s recording of “No One Is Alone,” from Into the Woods.

George C. Wolfe and Jack O’Brien received lifetime achievement awards. Billy Porter received the Isabelle Stevenson Award, honoring humanitarian achievements. The show incorporated a tribute to Broadway legend Chita Rivera, who died in January. Rivera also closed the In Memoriam segment, which also incorporated actors Hinton Battle, Glynis Johns and Glenda Jackson and songwriters Richard Sherman and Sheldon Harnick, amongst other people.

The 2023-24 eligibility season started on April 28, 2023, and ended on Thursday, April 25, 2024. Tony Awards in 26 competitive categories have been voted on by 836 designated Tony voters inside the theatre neighborhood.

The Tony Awards have been developed in collaboration with Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, and White Cherry Entertainment. Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss have been showrunners and executive producers for White Cherry Entertainment, and Weiss served as director. Jack Sussman was also an executive producer.