By Ron Wynn
NASHVILLE, TN — The pandemic wiped out most of the 2020 Broadway season, including the annual Tony Awards. While Broadway has only been reopened a few weeks, the theatrical industry decided it was finally time to recognizeTony winners from the previous season. They were announced last night in a split ceremony, with many of them presented in a one-hour special shown only on CBS-TV’s Paramount Plus streaming service. A handful of other awards were presented within a two-hour “Broadway Is Back” special that aired immediately afterwards. Audra McDonald hosted the first half, and Leslie Odom Jr. the second.
After waiting 346 days to determine exactly who won, there was lots of anticipation regarding which shows and performers would win. The biggest winner was “Moulin Rouge: The Musical, which earned 10 Tonys, among them Best Musical. A major winner also was “A Soldier’s Play,” Charles Fuller’s original play from 1981 that has also been made into a film and a television story. David Alan Grier won a Tony for his role, earning the Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Play. “A Soldier’s Play” also won a Tony for Best Revival of a Play. “A Soldier’s Play” earned seven nominations overall.
Director Kenny Leon, in accepting the award for best play revival for his direction of “A Soldier’s Play,” invoked the names of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Kobe Bryant and Melvin Van Peebles. He reminded the Winter Garden Theatre audience that they were seated on Native American land and urged Broadway to tell the stories of all Americans. “We need to hear all of the stories,” Leon said. “When we hear all of the stories we are better.”
One disappointment was the treatment of “Slave Play,” the controversial, groundbreaking and much-discussed play by Jeremy O. Harris. Despite getting 11 nominations, including five acting nominees, Best Play and director Robert O’Hara, “Slave Play was shut out. “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” received nine nominations, and Adrienne Warren won Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for her performance.
