The Complete List Of 2021 Tony Award Winners

Broadway is back! And its biggest night happened at long last, after 18 months of darkened stages and heroic efforts to revive the $15 billion industry. While excitement around the Tony Awards itself was tempered by the Delta variant and self-inflicted logistical chaos, over a dozen shows have reopened at full capacity, with more to come. As Arthur Miller famously wrote: Attention must be paid.

And it was – if unevenly. Here are the highlights:

• Moulin Rouge! led the pack with ten statuettes, including Best Musical, Best Direction, Best Actor (Aaron Tveit), and Best Featured Actor (Danny Burstein). It also resumed performances this week.
• The Inheritance picked up four: Best Play, Best Direction, Best Actor (Andrew Burnap), and Best Featured Actress (Lois Smith).
• Adrienne Warren picked up her first award for Best Actress in a Musical for her raved-about turn as Tina Turner in Tina. She is reprising the role for three weeks only, starting October 8.
• A Christmas Carol swept the design awards, and picked up Best Original Score, a category in which no musical was nominated.
• Alanis Morisette jukebox Jagged Little Pill picked up two trophies, for Best Book and Featured Actress (Lauren Patten). It resumes performances October 21.
• Two uncategorized shows – David Byrne’s American Utopia and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Freestyle Love Supreme – were awarded special prizes for their hit productions. (Both are returning to Broadway this fall). The Broadway Advocacy Coalition received one as well, for its role as an industry leader in anti-racism work.

The evening was split into two parts. Six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald hosted the presentation of the lion’s share of awards, streamed in full on Paramount+. Immediately following, Hamilton icon Leslie Odom Jr. hosted Broadway’s Back! a concert event on CBS featuring performances from Best Musical nominees, as well as long-running hits and a slew of celeb appearances. He also presided over the awarding of the evening’s Big Three categories: Best Play, Best Revival of a Play, and Best Musical.

The awards recognized the truncated 2019-2020 season, which was cut short in March 2020 by the pandemic. 15 shows are nominated in total, some of which opened and closed more than two years ago. Three – Mouling Rouge!, Jagged Little Pill, and Tina – are resuming performances this fall.

Here’s full list of nominees and highlighted winners:

Best Play 

Grand Horizons 

*WINNER* The Inheritance 

Sea Wall/A Life 

Slave Play 

The Sound Inside 

Best Musical 

*WINNER* Moulin Rouge! The Musical 

Tina – The Tina Turner Musical 

Jagged Little Pill 

Best Revival of a Play 

Betrayal 

Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune 

*WINNER* A Soldier’s Play 

Best Book of a Musical 

*WINNER* Jagged Little Pill , Diablo Cody 

Moulin Rouge! The Musical , John Logan 

Tina – The Tina Turner Musical, Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins 

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre 

*WINNER* A Christmas Carol, Christopher Nightingale  

The Inheritance, Paul Englishby  

The Rose Tattoo, Fitz Patton and Jason Michael Webb  

Slave Play, Lindsay Jones  

The Sound Inside, Daniel Kluger  

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play 

Ian Barford, Linda Vista

*WINNER* Andrew Burnap, The Inheritance

Jake Gyllenhaal, Sea Wall/A Life

Tom Hiddleston, Betrayal

Tom Sturridge, Sea Wall/A Life

Blair Underwood, A Soldier’s Play 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play 

Joaquina Kalukango, Slave Play

Laura Linney, My Name is Lucy Barton

Audra McDonald, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune

*WINNER* Mary-Louise Parker, The Sound Inside 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical 

*WINNER* Aaron Tveit, Moulin Rouge! The Musical 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical 

Karen Olivo, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Elizabeth Stanley, Jagged Little Pill

*WINNER* Adrienne Warren, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play 

Ato Blankson-Wood, Slave Play

James Cusati-Moyer, Slave Play

*WINNER* David Alan Grier, A Soldier’s Play

John Benjamin Hickey, The Inheritance

Paul Hilton, The Inheritance 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play 

Jane Alexander, Grand Horizons

Chalia La Tour, Slave Play

Annie McNamara, Slave Play

*WINNER* Lois Smith, The Inheritance

Cora Vander Broek, Linda Vista 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical 

*WINNER* Danny Burstein, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Derek Klena, Jagged Little Pill

Sean Allan Krill, Jagged Little Pill

Sahr Ngaujah, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Daniel J. Watts, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical 

Kathryn Gallagher, Jagged Little Pill

Celia Rose Gooding, Jagged Little Pill

Robyn Hurder, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

*WINNER* Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill

Myra Lucretia Taylor, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical 

Best Scenic Design of a Play 

Bob Crowley, The Inheritance

Soutra Gilmour, Betrayal

*WINNER* Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol

Derek McLane, A Soldier’s Play

Clint Ramos, Slave Play 

Best Scenic Design of a Musical 

Riccardo Hernández and Lucy Mackinnon, Jagged Little Pill

*WINNER* Derek McLane, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Mark Thompson and Jeff Sugg, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical 

Best Costume Design of a Play 

Dede Ayite, Slave Play

Dede Ayite, A Soldier’s Play

Bob Crowley, The Inheritance

*WINNER* Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol

Clint Ramos, The Rose Tattoo 

Best Costume Design of a Musical 

Emily Rebholz, Jagged Little Pill

Mark Thompson, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

*WINNER* Catherine Zuber, Moulin Rouge! The Musical 

Best Lighting Design of a Play 

Jiyoun Chang, Slave Play

Jon Clark, The Inheritance

Heather Gilbert, The Sound Inside

Allen Lee Hughes, A Soldier’s Play

*WINNER* Hugh Vanstone, A Christmas Carol 

Best Lighting Design of a Musical 

Bruno Poet, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

Justin Townsend, Jagged Little Pill

*WINNER* Justin Townsend, Moulin Rouge! The Musical 

Best Sound Design of a Play 

Paul Arditti & Christopher Reid, The Inheritance 

*WINNER* Simon Baker, A Christmas Carol

Lindsay Jones, Slave Play

Daniel Kluger, Sea Wall/A Life

Daniel Kluger, The Sound Inside

Best Sound Design of a Musical 

Jonathan Deans, Jagged Little Pill

*WINNER* Peter Hylenski, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Nevin Steinberg, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical 

Best Direction of a Play 

David Cromer, The Sound Inside

*WINNER* Stephen Daldry, The Inheritance

Kenny Leon, A Soldier’s Play

Jamie Lloyd, Betrayal

Robert O’Hara, Slave Play 

Best Direction of a Musical 

Phyllida Lloyd, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

Diane Paulus, Jagged Little Pill

*WINNER* Alex Timbers, Moulin Rouge! The Musical 

Best Choreography 

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Jagged Little Pill

*WINNER* Sonya Tayeh, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Anthony Van Laast, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical 

Best Orchestrations 

Tom Kitt, Jagged Little Pill

*WINNER* Katie Kresek, Charlie Rosen, Matt Stine and Justin Levine, Moulin Rouge! The Musical 

Ethan Popp, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

Noncompetitive Awards

Lifetime achievement in the theater

Graciela Daniele (read our profile of Daniele here)

Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award

Julie Halston

Special Tony Awards

The Broadway Advocacy Coalition

Freestyle Love Supreme

David Byrne’s “American Utopia”

Honors for excellence in the theater

New Federal Theatre, Woodie King Jr., founder

Irene Gandy

Fred Gallo

Beverly Jenkins

[Disclosure: Lee Seymour was a co-producer of The Inheritance]