In a surprise to no one, Aaron Tveit won the award for best leading actor in a musical for Moulin Rouge! The Musical. That’s because he was the only person nominated in the category. He thanked a long list of people, including his parents, brother, agents, manager and the cast and crew. “We are so privileged to get to do this,” he said, tearing up. “Because what we do changes peoples’ lives.”
Burstein, who won for featured actor in a musical and had not won six previous times, thanked the Broadway community for supporting him after the death last year of his wife, Rebecca Luker. “You were there for us, whether you just sent a note or sent your love, sent your prayers—sent bagels—it meant the world to us, and it’s something I’ll never forget.”
David Alan Grier won featured actor in a play for his role in A Soldier’s Play, which dissects entrenched Black-white racism as well as internal divisions in the Black military community during World War II. “To my other nominees: Tough bananas, I won,” he said. On stage, the director Kenny Leon recited the names Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, killed by police. “We will never, ever forget you.”
Adrienne Warren won the Tony for best leading actress in a musical for her electric turn as Tina Turner in Tina—The Tina Turner Musical. Warren was considered the front-runner for the award thanks to becoming a one-woman fireball of energy and exhilaration. She dedicated the win to three family members she lost while playing Turner—and thanked Turner herself.
Mary-Louise Parker won her second best lead actress Tony Award, winning for playing a Yale professor who treasures great literature but has made no room in her life for someone to share that love with in The Sound Inside. She thanked her dog, whom she was walking in the rain when she bumped into Mandy Greenfield from the Williamstown Theatre Festival, who told her about the play.
Burnap made his Broadway debut in The Inheritance. He thanked his mom, and the University of Rhode Island and joked that he felt grateful because “I got to act for seven hours.”