On Sunday night, the 75th Tony Award ceremony was telecast from Radio City Music Hall. The big winners of the evening were the play "The Lehman Trilogy" and the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical "A Strange Loop." The evening was hosted by a charming and completely committed Oscar winner, Ariana DeBose, and as a result, the broadcast kept moving, filled with musical performances, emotional acceptance speeches and a Sondheim tribute. I'm Glen Weldon. And today we're talking about this year's Tony Awards on POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR from NPR. Joining me today is Soraya Nadia McDonald, senior culture critic for Andscape. Welcome back, Soraya.

SORAYA NADIA MCDONALD: Thank you for having me. It's nice to be back.

WELDON: It's always nice to have you. So the Broadway season this awards show celebrated was the first full season since the pandemic shuttered theaters for a year and a half. That's one reason a recurring theme of the evening was an appreciation of the understudies, swings and standbys who sub in for performers whenever they're out with COVID, as well as for the stage managers, dance captains and members of the tech crews that keep the shows going on - which is a bit odd as the so-called technical awards for choreography, design, costumes, etc. were handed out in a pre-ceremony that only subscribers to Paramount+ could watch, hosted by Darren Criss and Julianne Hough. Ariana DeBose kicked off the main telecast with a rousing, well-choreographed medley of Broadway favorites.

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ARIANA DEBOSE: (Singing in non-English language)

(Singing) If only you know it...

WELDON: The broadcast was studded with performances from nominated musicals, both new offerings - like "A Strange Loop," "Paradise Square," "Six: The "Musical," "Mr. Saturday Night," "MJ" and "Girl From The North Country" - as well as revivals - like "Company" and "The Music Man." Now, Soraya, you were there last night in the room. Let's dive in and talk about some of the major winners.

WELDON: First up, "A Strange Loop," which is a musical about a fat, Black, queer playwright trying to write a play about a fat, Black, queer playwright who's writing a play about a fat, Black, queer playwright.

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JAQUEL SPIVEY: (As Usher, singing) He has to show what it's like to live up here and travel the world in a fat, Black, queer body.

WELDON: It won for Best Musical. Michael R. Jackson, the playwright, won best book for a musical, which was kind of expected, I think, as it won the Pulitzer for drama. What did you think of the performance and of these wins?

MCDONALD: I think the performance was really charming and shows off what makes the show so fun while also still managing not to get CBS fined by the FCC. You know, a bit of a feat because in addition to being this big, Black, queer American Broadway show, it is quite profane at moments but completely hilarious and such a triumph for Michael R. Jackson, you know, who said in his acceptance speech, you know, he started working on this when he was 23, and he's now 41. You know, when he came backstage and we asked him, you know, what are the thoughts in your head - you know, who are basically the supporting characters...

MCDONALD: ...In the musical - you know, someone asked, well, what are the thoughts saying to you now? You know, I think he said that, you know, they're telling me to make more weird art.

WELDON: We'll come back to that, yeah. I mean, this show got the most nominations this year, 11, but it didn't start out the night winning as many awards as many people were predicting. It ended up taking home the big one. I haven't seen this personally, but I have been listening to this cast album on a loop - meh-heh (ph) - for months now. Michael R. Jackson, as you mentioned, did get a chance to make a very charming speech when he won for best book.

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MICHAEL R JACKSON: Y'all know I'm all about quality and high art. We talk a lot about representation. I'm all about representation. But let's make sure that we are staying on our grind and our art, that we are doing the very best work we can do. Jane Wyman once said, there's nothing that can replace quality. Never settle...

WELDON: We should also note that Jennifer Hudson was a producer of the show, along with RuPaul Charles, which means that J. Hud is now among the select group of EGOTs - winner of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. Before Sunday, she was just an EGO. Now, she's an EGOT. Next up, "The Lehman Trilogy" won best play. This is a play about the rise and fall of the Lehman Brothers investment firm. And in another sense, it's about New York City itself. Simon Russell Beale won actor in a leading role in a play. All three of the actors in this play, including Adrian Lester and Adam Godley, were up for actor in a leading role in a play. Sam Mendes won for best direction of a play. Es Devlin won for scenic design of a play. Jon Clark won for lighting design of a play. And something we both have seen actually is "Company." This won best revival of a musical. This is Stephen Sondheim's gimlet-eyed take on marriage and relationships. This is a gender-flipped version, which originated on the West End. Patti LuPone won actress in a featured role in a musical. She plays Joanne, who sings "Ladies Who Lunch." Matt Doyle won actor in a featured role in a musical. He plays Jamie, who sings "Getting Married Today." Marianne Elliott won best direction of a musical, and Bunny Christie won scenic design of a musical - any thoughts?

MCDONALD: You know, I think this was almost inevitable - right? - just as a tribute to one of the greatest composers in American history. This production in particular, I think, has its bright spots. Katrina Lenk, who recently won the Tony for "The Band's Visit," you know, is luminous in this role as Bobbie. I do think because of the fact that it's gender-flipped, there's still some moments that are kind of awkward and don't quite work. But overall, it's still an extremely pleasurable experience. You know, the other thing I thought that was sort of interesting about scenic design is as much as I think that set is beautiful, it starts out basically as one box, right? And slowly, you know, we shift to these different characters' lives in - you know, in their tiny New York apartment. On a practical level, that has been a set that maybe doesn't quite work all the way through the show sometimes - like, mechanically, doesn't work.

MCDONALD: But overall, you know, it's understandable to see a bunch of Tonys being showered on a Sondheim production so soon after his death.

WELDON: Yeah, yeah. It's not exactly groundbreaking that we'd be throwing some Tonys to Stephen Sondheim's way.

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CAST OF "COMPANY": (As characters, singing) That's what it's really about, really about. You I love and you I love and you and you and you I love and you I love and you I love. Company.

WELDON: The one thing I would say about the Tony performance is you didn't really get a sense why this won scene design from that number, because it is only, as you mentioned, the one box. And the set gets much more elaborate and much more complicated in the actual show, but of course, transporting that to the Radio City stage probably was a daunting task. There was a running gag throughout the evening that killed in the room, but I think might have left some folks a little bit confused, which is several winners who won from "Company" mentioned that producer Chris Harper pays their salary.

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PATTI LUPONE: Chris Harper, who pays my wages. And, of course, Marianne Elliott.

WELDON: Now, this was a reference to a viral moment a couple of weeks back when LuPone lambasted an audience member for not wearing their mask properly. The audience member said, we pay your salary, and LuPone responded, B.S. Chris Harper pays my salary. So that came back several times.

MCDONALD: Yeah, I'm not sure how many folks got that, but it was definitely quite riotous in the room.

WELDON: Next up is "Six The Musical." Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss won for best original score, Toby Marlow becoming the first openly nonbinary nominee to win a Tony in this category. Gabriella Slade won for best costume design of a musical. Now, I love this show. I'm happy it got some love. I was a bit worried it was going to beat out "A Strange Loop," which is just a fundamentally different show, a much chewier and thoughtful show than this little aperitif of a show is. What'd you think?

MCDONALD: Yeah, it really provides this sort of frothy delight. You know, I've seen it described as a feminist show. I don't know that I would go that far. I think it's more rooted in the more nebulous camp of women's empowerment, particularly because for the majority of the length of the show, the six wives of Henry VIII are sort of squabbling amongst themselves about which one he loved more, which one was more significant, you know, until they kind of have this epiphany that maybe we shouldn't be doing that at the end. But it's a really fun show. You know, what it does well is that spectacle that I think tourists come to expect from Broadway - the bright lights and lots of sequins and everything is kind of flashy because basically what it's doing is it's telling the story of each of these women in these different musical styles that are all basically, you know, different forms of pop music. And the costumes, again, are just really, really fun. Someone asked Gabriella when she was talking to media after she'd accepted her award if she would think about starting a clothing line. And she said basically, she doesn't have to because cosplayers have already, you know, sort of, like, flooded that zone and have really just kind of taken off with their own creativity.

WELDON: Absolutely. Absolutely. And yeah, the musical performance, the Tony performance of the number "Six" was exactly what I saw on Broadway. And it's exactly what I'm going to see at the Kennedy Center next month because this show is locked down.

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CAST OF "SIX THE MUSICAL": (As characters, singing) Switching up the flow as we add the prefix, everybody knows we use used to be six wives, but now we're ex-wives.

WELDON: Next up is "MJ." This is a Michael Jackson jukebox musical that traces his career. But as writers like yourself have pointed out, there is a lot that it leaves out. Myles Frost won actor in a leading role in a musical, Natasha Katz, lighting design of a musical, Gareth Owen, sound design of a musical, Christopher Wheeldon for choreography. Any thoughts here?

MCDONALD: So I think Myles Frost became the youngest man in Tony history to win in the category leading actor in a musical. And I think it's clear to see why. He's just shy of his 23rd birthday. And he really does sort of sparkle with this kind of childlike innocence. He brings just so much sweetness and depth and humanity to a man who often could be, you know, very difficult to understand. And so, you know, I think that is a win that is richly deserved. And I'm also just really excited to see what he does in the future. He basically sort of rose to prominence on the internet as a Michael Jackson impersonator. And I think what's worth saying about this performance is that it doesn't feel like an impersonation at all. It is a very grounded and sort of 360-degree performance that feels very lived-in and very human. The sky is the limit for him, I feel like. He can just do so much.

WELDON: Yeah. And speaking for those who saw the telecast at home, just from that performance alone, it makes sense to me that it won for choreography because Frost starts off that number by mentioning Jackson's influences - Fred Astaire, the Nicholas Brothers and Bob Fosse. The number really leans into the Fosse of it all. It is very crisp and very angular. It is sexy. The dancers are crazy hot, and you could totally see how intricate the choreography was and how that might stand out. Next up is "Take Me Out," which won for best revival of a play, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson won for actor in a featured role in a play. This play is about a closeted Major League Baseball player. You saw this play. What did you think?

MCDONALD: I was kind of mixed on this play. There are some parts I think that work well and, you know, remain salient in 2022. And there are others - you know, 'cause this play is about 20 years old. Jesse is delivering this really sort of natural lived-in performance of this awkward accountant, you know, who doesn't really think very much of himself, but who gets sort of wonderfully flustered by his very handsome client, who's played by Jesse Williams. You know, the thing I wish I had been able to ask - and that really kind of stuck with me - is the way that this play kind of alienates both its Asian and Latine characters because it's kind of relying consistently on - well they don't speak English - as sort of this running joke through the play to explain why we never really hear from them. You know, it tries, I think, sort of clumsily to kind of make up for that maybe in the third act a little bit.

When we're talking about revivals, really, we're talking about - OK, like, what is sort of the story behind the decision to resurrect this thing? And there were some really interesting revivals this season. You know, I think Thornton Wilder's "The Skin Of Our Teeth," which Lileana Blain-Cruz was nominated for directing, is really interesting, right? It feels like we're living in sort of grand existential crises happening, and that is what "The Skin Of Our Teeth" really embodies, right? You have this family called the Antrobus family that is sort of muddling through what feels like the end of the world, right? And yet it's so much fun, and so, you know, when we're thinking about revivals, I don't know that "Take Me Out" was necessarily my favorite or necessarily the best win of the season, but there are lots of things to enjoy and respect about it.

WELDON: Yes, and we should mention - I mean, I love the play "The Skin Of Our Teeth." I haven't gotten the chance to see this production, but this production won best costume design by Montana Levi Blanco.

Now, next up is a play I want to talk to you about because this is a couple of very interesting wins. This is "Dana H." - Deirdre O'Connell won for actress in a leading role in a play, and Mikhail Fiksel won for sound design of a play. These are a couple of interesting wins with the story behind them? The playwright's mother was kidnapped when he was a young man for many months, and he recorded a series of interviews with her where she tells that story. The actress, Deirdre O'Connell, personifies his mother by basically mouthing along to these tapes, and she spends most of the play alone on stage. It is a very unusual piece, and it was by no means a foregone conclusion that she would win, and she referenced as much in her acceptance speech.

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DEIRDRE O'CONNELL: Please let me standing here be a little sign to you from the universe to make the weird art.

WELDON: Now, Soraya, you saw "Dana H." What'd you make of it?

MCDONALD: It's one of my favorite works because it's so weird. It really depends on the audience to kind of trust Deirdre and go with her on this journey because it's not hiding anything, right? We see the sort of earpiece that she's got in her ear and the fact that she is really focused so heavily on syncing with every word and inflection and um and, you know, cough and everything Lucas Hnath's mother is doing in these interviews. And so rather than typing out a script and having her put her own spin on these - you know, her own interpretation, you know, it's got sort of elements of documentary in that way. And I was really heartened - you know, Deirdre O'Connell is a veteran of this sort of weird off-Broadway theater. And so it was just wonderful to see her honored. And also, you know, this makes me optimistic for the type of work, hopefully, that we'll see more of, you know, because that's always the sort of never-ending conflict with the Tonys and commercial theater in general versus the downtown theater folks in New York that we don't see enough weirdness on Broadway. And so I really hope this leads to more of that.

WELDON: Yeah, me too. Now, next up, Joaquina Kalukango won for best actress in a leading role in a musical for "Paradise Square." This is a musical set during the Civil War in the Manhattan neighborhood of Five Points, where a bar and a brothel frequented by both Black and Irish customers is threatened with violence. Kalukango plays the bar's proprietor and her Tony performance, I think it's safe to say, blew the roof off the dump.

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JOAQUINA KALUKANGO: (As Nelly O'Brien, singing) Let it burn.

MCDONALD: To see her sing "Let It Burn" in person, you get chills. You know, when I saw it, she got a standing ovation that just lasted and lasted and lasted. And you could absolutely understand why, you know, because she fully devotes herself and throws herself into that number eight times a week, right? She doesn't hold back the same way that you saw on that stage. When I saw it, I wrote in my notebook - I was like, oh, she's got the Viola Davis snot coming down her nose. But she also just has this big, rich, beautiful singing voice. And that's a new thing that I did not realize about her until I saw her in "Paradise Square" this season.

MCDONALD: I don't know if you remember, but last season, Joaquina was also nominated for a Tony for her role as Kaneisha in "Slave Play." Again, you know, this is someone who really seems to have a bright future ahead of them. I'm not going to go so far as to say she's going to be the next Audra McDonald because she doesn't have to. She can just be Joaquina Kalukango, and that is more than enough.

MCDONALD: But I'm very excited about her future.

WELDON: As for actress in a featured role in a play, Phylicia Rashad won for "Skeleton Crew." Talk to me about it.

MCDONALD: Yeah. So this is a really interesting play written by Dominique Morisseau. Helen Shaw, who's the theater critic for New York magazine, has called Dominique the bard of Detroit. I often refer to her as feminist August Wilson. So in this play, Phylicia is playing this really interesting character named Faye. She's a union rep at a sheet metal stamping plant that is very likely going to close, but of course, the supervisor is being awfully cagey about that. Faye also has a lot of her own issues that are going on. Things have not necessarily worked out too well for her financially, and so she's unhoused. And much to the ignorance of her boss, who is played by Brandon J. Dirden, she's also sleeping at the plant or in her car.

WELDON: So that's - we've hit some of the major categories. Now, let's move on to kind of broader thoughts on the telecast itself. Let's talk about Ariana DeBose as host. What'd you think?

MCDONALD: Wow, what a ball of energy.

MCDONALD: Oh, my goodness. You know, if you can't follow her through a program, I don't know, man. I...

MCDONALD: ...Check your pulse, maybe? But, man, there's just nothing she can't do.

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DEBOSE: (Singing) There's been too many shows over the years to list them top to bottom. So we've mashed up a few. Let's see if you can spot them.

WELDON: That opening medley struck exactly the right note for me, which is pure, unapologetic showbiz with just, like, a twist, a lemon squeeze of cringe - right? - because that bit about...

WELDON: ...We figured we'd remix it, and then they mimed the DJ scratching - that is so cheesy...

WELDON: ...But it is so knowing. They know exactly what they're doing. That's all they wanted. That is the perfect fuel mixture. We should also note that it's Pride Month, and it is the Tonys, so that opening number featured a kiss between two backup dancers who are boyfriends in real life, Charlie Williams and Ryan Steele. And in her opening, DeBose mentioned that, at least when it comes to the nominations, the Tonys are making some inroads towards greater inclusivity and diversity.

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DEBOSE: I feel like the phrase Great White Way is becoming more of a nickname as opposed to a how-to guide.

WELDON: Her hosting was completely on fire even when a bit didn't land. I don't think all the crowd work worked because crowd work is tricky. Yeah, I thought she was perfect. This is how you host a program like this, especially a program that goes three hours and change.

Let's talk about some of the other musical performances. "The Music Man," Sutton Foster, Hugh Jackman - what'd you think?

MCDONALD: It is that sort of classic performance that I think there is a subset of tourists who that is absolutely what they expect. It's what they want to see when they come to New York. Like, they have this vision of what a Broadway show looks like, and it is exactly that.

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HUGH JACKMAN: (As Professor Harold Hill, singing) Seventy-six trombones led the big parade with 110 cornets close at hand. They were followed by rows...

WELDON: Yeah, I felt a little nostalgic watching this. This was my father's - my late father's favorite musical. He would play "Seventy-Six Trombones" on the piano every Saturday morning. And I thought to myself, A, Sutton Foster can do no wrong. I'll watch her tap dance whenever. B, he would've loved this. This is for him.

WELDON: And then the Stephen Sondheim tribute with Bernadette Peters singing "Children Will Listen" from "Into The Woods" - to me, this struck exactly the right note.

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BERNADETTE PETERS: (Singing) Careful the things you say.

PETERS: (Singing) Children will listen. Careful the things you do. Children will see and learn.

MCDONALD: "Children Will Listen" is one of my favorite Sondheim songs. It's got this beautiful tenderness to it, again, that I really - I hope translates through the television. I'm not sure if it always does with theater. You know, I think that's why people think that theater people are freaks.

WELDON: I will say that, man, the choice of clips where he is talking about how any form of communication is a form of teaching and how in particular theater can be a form of teaching - it ties in so well with the theme of that song, the presentation of that song, the Bernadette Peters of it all.

WELDON: Man, it was a high point of the evening. All right, Soraya, big picture, state of the theater. What did this particular broadcast tell you about it?

MCDONALD: I'm very proud of this community and its resilience. New York was struck so hard by the coronavirus pandemic early in 2020. And so to see that engine get restarted brings about a great deal of much-needed hopefulness.

WELDON: I agree, I agree. Well, we want to know what you think about this year's Tonys. Find us at facebook.com/pchh and on Twitter @pchh. And that brings us to the end of our show. Soraya Nadia McDonald, thank you so much for being here.

MCDONALD: Thank you so much, Glen.

WELDON: And, of course, thank you for listening to POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR from NPR. This episode was produced by Mike Katzif and edited by Jessica Reedy, who are doing a very quick turnaround on this one. And Hello Come In provides the music you are bobbing your head to right now. Maybe you're not. Who knows? I'm Glen Weldon, and we will see you all on Wednesday.

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