Cynthia Erivo shines as host in star-studded 2025 Tony Awards
By Jessica Coates, PA
Wicked star Cynthia Erivo led a star-studded night at the 2025 Tony Awards.
The evening’s big winners included Succession star Sarah Snook and Cole Escola, who took home awards for leading actress and actor in a play.
In the musical categories, Glee alum Darren Criss was named best leading actor in a musical, while Nicole Scherzinger earned best leading actress for her turn as Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd.
The show celebrated a blend of Broadway newcomers, veterans, and Hollywood stars with performances, tributes, and surprises throughout the night.
Erivo, the English stage and screen actress who won a Tony in 2016 for her role in The Colour Purple, kicked off the festivities from her dressing room at Radio City Music Hall in New York, where her stage manager asked if she had an opening number prepared.
She joked she was still figuring it out.
As she made her way to the main stage, she ran into several people offering advice, until she met Oprah Winfrey, who simply told her: “The only thing you need to do is just be yourself.”
On stage, Erivo launched into the original number Sometimes All You Need Is a Song, written by Scott Wittman, Marc Shaiman, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul.
In her opening monologue, Erivo paid tribute to first-time nominees Escola, Sadie Sink, Louis McCartney and “an up-and-comer that I think you’re going to really be hearing quite a bit about: George Clooney”.
At one point, Erivo was ed on stage by singer Sara Bareilles for a rendition of Tomorrow from the musical Annie, in tribute to those in the theatre community who had died throughout the year.
A star-studded lineup of presenters included Samuel L Jackson and wife LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Ben Stiller and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Calling back to Winfrey’s talk show days, Erivo told her to check under her chair, where she found a gift bag containing a toy car.
“You get a car!” Erivo said.
“I’ve been waiting all night to do that.”
Maybe Happy Ending, a romantic comedy about a pair of androids, picked up awards for best new musical, best original score written for theatre and best scenic design of a musical and best direction of a musical.
Criss, the show’s lead actor, thanked his wife in an emotional acceptance speech.
“Your love and your for me and our beautiful children, combined with the miracle of working on something as magical as Maybe Happy Ending, has been and will always be award enough,” he said.
Purpose, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ drawing-room drama won best new play, while Sam Pinkleton won best director of a play for Oh, Mary!
“Broadway is officially back,” Erivo told the crowd during the show, referencing the industry’s highest-grossing season on record.
Delighting the audience, the original cast of Hamilton reunited to perform a medley to celebrate the show’s 10th anniversary.
Francis Jue, who won as best featured actor in a play for Yellow Face, paid tribute to those struggling in the current political climate.
“To those who don’t feel seen, to those who are being targeted in these authoritarian times, I see you at its best,” he said.
“This community sees you.”
