Tony Awards: 23 records, milestones and fun facts about 2024’s winners

Out of all the winners (and also-rans) in the 26 competitive categories at the 2024 Tony Awards, 23 results stand out as particularly noteworthy when considered in the context of history. So what were this year’s most interesting facts, records, and milestones? Check out the complete list of winners here.

1. The productions that received multiple Tony nominations, but went home empty-handed were “Back to the Future,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” “Doubt,” “Grey House,” “Here Lies Love,” “Lempicka,” “Mary Jane,” “Mother Play,” “The Notebook,” “Prayer for the French Republic” and “Water for Elephants.”

2. The individuals who had multiple nominations this year, but went home empty-handed were songwriter/orchestrator Will Butler (“Stereophonic”), lighting designer Isabella Byrd (“Cabaret” and “An Enemy of the People”), scenic designer dots (“Appropriate” and “An Enemy of the People”), songwriters/orchestrators Jamestown Revival (“The Outsiders”), lighting designer Natasha Katz (“Grey House” and “Hell’s Kitchen”), book writer/songwriter/orchestrator Justin Levine (“The Outsiders”), projection designer Peter Nigrini (“Hell’s Kitchen” and “Lempicka”), actor/producer Leslie Odom, Jr. (“Purlie Victorious”) and actor/producer Eddie Redmayne (“Cabaret”).

3. The individual who has so far gone undefeated at the Tonys is Justin Peck (“Illinoise”). He previously won Best Choreography for “Carousel” in 2018.

4. The individual who previously went undefeated at the Tonys but lost for the first time is Bebe Neuwirth (“Cabaret”). She previously won Best Featured Actress in a Musical for “Sweet Charity” in 1986 and Best Actress in a Musical for “Chicago” in 1997.

5. The individual who won multiple Tonys this year was book writer/songwriter Shaina Taub (“Suffs”).

6. Noteworthy names who happen to have won Tonys for producing at least one Broadway show this year are: Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie (“The Outsiders”) and Tony-winning actress LaChanze (“The Outsiders”).

7. Two shows that previously earned one nomination but no wins in their original stage incarnations did better this time as their revivals took home at least one award: “Merrily We Roll Along” and “Purlie Victorious.”

8. This is the first time since 2016 where both costume design awards went to people of color. That year, it was Clint Ramos (“Eclipsed”) winning Best Costume Design of a Play and Paul Tazewell (“Hamilton”) winning Best Costume Design of a Musical. This year, it’s Dede Ayite (“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”) winning Best Costume Design of a Play and Linda Cho (“The Great Gatsby”) winning Best Costume Design of a Musical.

9. Dede Ayite (“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”) is also the very first Black woman in history to win Best Costume Design of a Play.

10. This is the first time since 2017 where a show managed to win a Tony on its only nomination. Back then, it was Nigel Hook winning Best Scenic Design of a Play for “The Play That Goes Wrong.” This year, it’s the aforementioned Linda Cho (“The Great Gatsby”).

11. Danya Taymor (“The Outsiders”) is the sixth woman in history to win Best Direction of a Musical following her aunt, Julie Taymor (“The Lion King,” 1998), Susan Stroman (“The Producers,” 2001), Diane Paulus (“Pippin,” 2013), Rachel Chavkin (“Hadestown,” 2019), and Marianne Elliott (“Company,” 2022).

12. Shaina Taub (“Suffs”) is the third woman to win Best Score without a writing partner following Cyndi Lauper (“Kinky Boots,” 2013) and Anaïs Mitchell (“Hadestown,” 2019).

13. This marks the first year that all the Best Play Revival nominees each took home at least one award since the category was established in 1994. “Appropriate” won that, Best Actress in a Play (Sarah Paulson), and Best Lighting Design of a Play (Jane Cox); “An Enemy of the People” won Best Actor in a Play (Jeremy Strong) and “Purlie Victorious” won Best Featured Actress in a Play (Kara Young).

14. David Adjmi‘s “Stereophonic” is the first American work to win Best Play since J.T. Rogers‘ “Oslo” back in 2017.

15. “Stereophonic” is also the first play to win the most awards of the night since “The History Boys” in 2006. That year “History Boys” won six. This year “Stereophonic” won five.

16. At age 21, Maleah Joi Moon (“Hell’s Kitchen”) is the third youngest winner for Best Actress in a Musical following Lea Salonga (“Miss Saigon”), who was 20 when she won in 1991, and Liza Minnelli (“Flora the Red Menace”), who was 19 when she won in 1965.

17. Jonathan Groff (“Merrily We Roll Along”) is the first performer to have won Best Actor in a Musical for a Stephen Sondheim show since Nathan Lane (“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”) back in 1996.

18. Groff is also the first individual to win Best Actor in a Musical for a revival since Neil Patrick Harris (“Hedwig and the Angry Inch”) in 2014.

19. Eddie Redmayne is the first actor to have lost a Tony race for playing the Emcee in “Cabaret.” The previous two, Joel Grey in 1967 and Alan Cumming in 1998, both won.

20. This is the first time since 2017 where each of the four musical acting awards were evenly won by two shows. That year, it was “Dear Evan Hansen” winning Best Actor in a Musical (Ben Platt) and Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Rachel Bay Jones) with “Hello, Dolly!” taking Best Actress in a Musical (Bette Midler) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Gavin Creel). This year it’s “Hell’s Kitchen” winning Best Actress in a Musical (Maleah Joi Moon) and Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Kecia Lewis) with “Merrily We Roll Along” taking Best Actor in a Musical (Jonathan Groff) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Daniel Radcliffe).

21. “Suffs” is the first show to win Best Book and Best Score but not Best Musical since “The Drowsy Chaperone” (which lost the top prize to “Jersey Boys”) in 2006.

22. “The Outsiders” is the first Best Musical champ to be adapted from a novel since “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” in 2014.

23. “The Outsiders” is also the first show to win Best Musical without a single prize for acting, book or score since “Fosse” in 1999. That year “Fosse” also took home Best Orchestrations (Ralph Burns and Doug Besterman) and Best Lighting Design (Andrew Bridge). This year “Outsiders” also took home Best Direction of a Musical (Danya Taymor), Best Sound Design of a Musical (Cody Spencer), and Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Brian MacDevitt and Hana S. Kim).

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