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At the 2025 Tony Awards held on Sunday night, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ’ Purpose took home the prestigious Best New Play trophy, capping off a landmark year for the acclaimed playwright. The drawing-room drama about a successful Black family confronting buried truths during a snowed-in gathering has already won the Pulitzer Prize, and its triumph at the Tonys marks a rare double honour.

Jacobs-Jenkins made history as the first Black playwright to win Best New Play at the Tonys since August Wilson’s Fences in 1987. Just a year ago, Jacobs-Jenkins won the Tony for Best Revival of a Play for Appropriate. In his acceptance speech, he urged audiences and the industry to support regional theatre, noting that Purpose was developed in Chicago.

Another milestone moment came for Kara Young, who became the first Black performer to win two Tony Awards in consecutive years. She earned the Featured Actress in a Play award for her role in Purpose, making it her fourth consecutive Tony nomination. Young gave thanks to her parents, Jacobs-Jenkins, her fellow cast members, and director Phylicia Rashad.

Australian actress Sarah Snook won Leading Actress in a Play for her demanding performance in The Picture of Dorian Gray, where she plays all 26 characters. “I don’t feel alone any night that I do this show,” she said, crediting her team on and off stage.

In the Best Actor in a Play category, downtown cabaret star Cole Escola beat out Hollywood names including George Clooney and Daniel Dae Kim for their outrageous portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary!. The play’s director, Sam Pinkleton, also won Best Direction and thanked Escola for inspiring him to "do what you love, not what you think people want to see."

Francis Jue won Best Featured Actor in a Play for Yellow Face, wearing a tuxedo gifted by another Asian actor in solidarity. In an emotional speech, he said, “I’m only here because of the encouragement and inspiration of generations of wonderful, deserving Asian artists who came before me,” adding, “To those who don’t feel seen—I see you.”

In the musical categories, British actor Jak Malone won Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his gender-bending role in Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical. Malone, who plays a woman in each performance, used his platform to advocate for trans rights.

Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day, a sharply written satire about liberal parents clashing over a school’s vaccine policy, won Best Revival of a Play. Originally staged off-Broadway in 2019, the play found new resonance in today’s post-pandemic world.

The night also included a show-stopping moment from the original cast of Hamilton, who reunited for a special medley to celebrate the musical’s 10th anniversary. Dressed in all black, Lin-Manuel Miranda and his castmates performed fan favourites like “My Shot,” “The Schuyler Sisters,” and “The Room Where It Happens,” marking a decade of cultural impact on Broadway.


Best play
English
The Hills of California
John Proctor is the Villain
Oh, Mary!
Purpose – WINNER

Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical
Megan Hilty, Death Becomes Her
Audra McDonald, Gypsy
Jasmine Amy Rogers, BOOP! The Musical
Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Boulevard – WINNER!
Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her

Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical
Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending – WINNER!
Andrew Durand, Dead Outlaw
Tom Francis, Sunset Boulevard
Jonathan Groff, Just in Time
James Monroe Iglehart, A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical
Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins

Best revival of a musical
Floyd Collins
Gypsy
Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Sunset Boulevard – WINNER!

Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play
George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck
Cole Escola, Oh, Mary! – WINNER!
Jon Michael Hill, Purpose
Daniel Dae Kim, Yellow Face
Harry Lennix, Purpose
Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Best direction of a musical
Saheem Ali, Buena Vista Social Club
Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending – WINNER!
David Cromer, Dead Outlaw
Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
Jamie Lloyd, Sunset Boulevard

Best direction of a play
Knud Adams, English
Sam Mendes, The Hills of California
Sam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary! – WINNER!
Danya Taymor, John Proctor is the Villain
Kip Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best revival of a play
Eureka Day – WINNER!
Romeo + Juliet
Our Town
Yellow Face

Best performance by an actress in a featured role in a musical
Natalie Venetia Belcon, Buena Vista Social Club – WINNER!
Julia Knitel, Dead Outlaw
Gracie Lawrence, Just in Time
Justina Machado, Real Women Have Curves: The Musical
Joy Woods, Gypsy

Best performance by an actress in a featured role in a play
Tala Ashe, English
Jessica Hecht, Eureka Day
Marjan Neshat, English
Fina Strazza, John Proctor is the Villain
Kara Young, Purpose – WINNER!

Best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical
Brooks Ashmanskas, Smash
Jeb Brown, Dead Outlaw
Danny Burstein, Gypsy
Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical – WINNER!
Taylor Trensch, Floyd Collins

Best performance by an actor in a featured role in a play
Glenn Davis, Purpose
Gabriel Ebert, John Proctor is the Villain
Francis Jue, Yellow Face – WINNER!
Bob Odenkirk, Glengarry Glen Ross
Conrad Ricamora, Oh, Mary!

Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a play
Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California
Mia Farrow, The Roommate
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Purpose
Sadie Sink, John Proctor is the Villain
Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray – WINNER!

Best book of a musical
Marco Ramirez, Buena Vista Social Club
Itamar Moses, Dead Outlaw
Marco Pennette, Death Becomes Her
Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending – WINNER!
David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical

Best original score (music and/or lyrics) written for the theatre
David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna, Dead Outlaw
Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, Death Becomes Her
Will Aronson (music and lyrics) and Hue Park (lyrics), Maybe Happy Ending – WINNER!
David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical
Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, Real Women Have Curves: The Musical

Best sound design of a play
Paul Arditti, Stranger Things: The First Shadow – WINNER!
Palmer Hefferan, John Proctor is the Villain
Daniel Kluger, Good Night, and Good Luck
Nick Powell, The Hills of California
Clemence Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best sound design of a musical
Jonathan Deans, Buena Vista Social Club – WINNER!
Adam Fisher, Sunset Boulevard
Peter Hylenski, Just in Time
Peter Hylenski, Maybe Happy Ending
Dan Moses Schreier, Floyd Collins

Best orchestrations
Andrew Resnick and Michael Thurber, Just in Time
Will Aronson, Maybe Happy Ending
Bruce Coughlin, Floyd Collins
Marco Paguia, Buena Vista Social Club – WINNER!

Best choreography
Joshua Bergasse, Smash
Camille A. Brown, Gypsy
Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! The Musical
Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck, Buena Vista Social Club – WINNER!

Best lighting design of a musical
Jack Knowles, Sunset Boulevard – WINNER!
Tyler Micoleau, Buena Vista Social Club
Scott Zielinski and Ruey Horng Sun, Floyd Collins
Ben Stanton, Maybe Happy Ending
Justin Townsend, Death Becomes Her

Best lighting design of a play
Natasha Chivers, The Hills of California
Jon Clark, Stranger Things: The First Shadow – WINNER!
Heather Gilbert and David Bengali, Good Night, and Good Luck
Natasha Katz and Hannah Wasileski, John Proctor is the Villain
Nick Schlieper, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best scenic design of a play
Marsha Ginsberg, English
Rob Howell, The Hills of California
Marg Horwell and David Bergman, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Miriam Buether and 59, Stranger Things: The First Shadow – WINNER!
Scott Pask, Good Night, and Good Luck

Best scenic design of a musical
Rachel Hauck, Swept Away
Dane Laffrey and George Reeve, Maybe Happy Ending – WINNER!
Arnulfo Maldonado, Buena Vista Social Club
Derek McLane, Death Becomes Her
Derek McLane, Just in Time

Best costume design of a play
Brenda Abbandandolo, Good Night, and Good Luck
Marg Horwell, The Picture of Dorian Gray – WINNER!
Rob Howell, The Hills of California
Holly Pierson, Oh, Mary!
Brigitte Reiffenstuel, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Best costume design of a musical
Dede Ayite, Buena Vista Social Club
Gregg Barnes, BOOP! The Musical
Clint Ramos, Maybe Happy Ending
Paul Tazewell, Death Becomes Her – WINNER!
Catherine Zuber, Just in Time