Tony Awards’ biggest winners: ‘Maybe Happy Ending,’ Cole Escola, Nicole Scherzinger
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The 2025 Tony Awards have all been handed out, and the night’s big winners were led by the musical “Maybe Happy Ending,” which earned six awards including best musical as well as lead actor honors for Darren Criss. “Buena Vista Social Club” also did well, finishing with four awards.
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Pulitzer Prize-winner “Purpose” took best play honors over Cole Escola’s crowd-pleasing romp “Oh, Mary!” and Kimberly Belflower’s “John Proctor Is the Villain,” a reexamination of “The Crucible.” But Escola scored arguably the most thunderous applause of the night when Escola’s name was read as best lead actor in a play.
Cynthia Erivo brought down the house with a dazzling opening number, and the ceremony that followed was punctuated by plenty of Hollywood star power, including winner Sarah Snook as well as nominees George Clooney, Sadie Sink, Mia Farrow, Daniel Dae Kim, Bob Odenkirk, Conrad Ricamora and Jonathan Groff.
Here’s the complete list of winners:
Musical
WINNER: “Maybe Happy Ending”
“Buena Vista Social Club”
“Dead Outlaw”
“Death Becomes Her”
“Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical”
Revival of a musical
WINNER: “Sunset Blvd.”
“Floyd Collins”
“Gypsy”
“Pirates! The Penzance Musical”
Play
WINNER: “Purpose” by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
“English” by Sanaz Toossi
“The Hills of California” by Jez Butterworth
“John Proctor Is the Villain” by Kimberly Belflower
“Oh, Mary!” by Cole Escola
Revival of a play
WINNER “Eureka Day”
“Romeo + Juliet”
“Thornton Wilder’s Our Town”
“Yellow Face”
Cole Escola’s ‘Oh, Mary!’ is the front-runner in the Tony Award race for best play. But in one of the strongest playwriting categories in years, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ ‘Purpose’ deserves to win.
Lead actress in a musical
WINNER: Nicole Scherzinger, “Sunset Blvd.”
Megan Hilty, “Death Becomes Her”
Audra McDonald, “Gypsy”
Jasmine Amy Rogers, “Boop! The Musical”
Jennifer Simard, “Death Becomes Her”
Lead actor in a musical
WINNER: Darren Criss, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Andrew Durand, “Dead Outlaw”
Tom Francis, “Sunset Blvd.”
Jonathan Groff, “Just in Time”
James Monroe Iglehart, “A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical”
Jeremy Jordan, “Floyd Collins”
Lead actress in a play
WINNER: Sarah Snook, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Laura Donnelly, “The Hills of California”
Mia Farrow, “The Roommate”
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, “Purpose”
Sadie Sink, “John Proctor Is the Villain”
Lead actor in a play
WINNER: Cole Escola, “Oh, Mary!”
George Clooney, “Good Night, and Good Luck”
Jon Michael Hill, “Purpose”
Daniel Dae Kim, “Yellow Face”
Harry Lennix, “Purpose”
Louis McCartney, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Direction of a musical
Michael Arden, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Saheem Ali, “Buena Vista Social Club”
David Cromer, “Dead Outlaw”
Christopher Gattelli, “Death Becomes Her”
Jamie Lloyd, “Sunset Blvd.”
Michael Arden could follow his Tony win for directing ‘Parade’ with another Tony this year for ‘Maybe Happy Ending.’ Coming next: ‘The Queen of Versailles’ with Kristin Chenoweth and ‘The Lost Boys.’
Direction of a play
WINNER: Sam Pinkleton, “Oh, Mary!”
Knud Adams, “English”
Sam Mendes, “The Hills of California”
Danya Taymor, “John Proctor Is the Villain”
Kip Williams, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Featured actress in a musical
WINNER: Natalie Venetia Belcon, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Julia Knitel, “Dead Outlaw”
Gracie Lawrence, “Just in Time”
Justina Machado, “Real Women Have Curves: The Musical”
Joy Woods, “Gypsy”
Featured actress in a play
WINNER: Kara Young, “Purpose”
Tala Ashe, “English”
Jessica Hecht, “Eureka Day”
Marjan Neshat, “English”
Fina Strazza, “John Proctor Is the Villain”
Featured actor in a musical
WINNER: Jak Malone, “Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical”
Brooks Ashmanskas, “Smash”
Jeb Brown, “Dead Outlaw”
Danny Burstein, “Gypsy”
Taylor Trensch, “Floyd Collins”
Featured actor in a play
WINNER: Francis Jue, “Yellow Face”
Glenn Davis, “Purpose”
Gabriel Ebert, “John Proctor Is the Villain”
Bob Odenkirk, “Glengarry Glen Ross”
Conrad Ricamora, “Oh, Mary!”
Original score
WINNER: “Maybe Happy Ending” (music by Will Aronson, lyrics by Will Aronson and Hue Park)
“Dead Outlaw” (music and lyrics. by David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna)
“Death Becomes Her” (music and lyrics. by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey)
“Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical” (music and lyrics by David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts)
“Real Women Have Curves: The Musical” (music and lyrics by Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez)
Costume design of a musical
WINNER: Paul Tazewell, “Death Becomes Her”
Dede Ayite, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Gregg Barnes, “Boop! The Musical”
Clint Ramos, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Catherine Zuber, “Just in Time”
Costume design of a play
WINNER: Marg Horwell, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Brenda Abbandandolo, “Good Night, and Good Luck”
Rob Howell, “The Hills of California”
Holly Pierson, “Oh, Mary!”
Brigitte Reiffenstuel, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Scenic design of a musical
WINNER: Dane Laffrey and George Reeve, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Rachel Hauck, “Swept Away”
Arnulfo Maldonado, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Derek McLane, “Death Becomes Her”
Derek McLane, “Just in Time”
Scenic design of a play
WINNER: Miriam Buether and 59, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Marsha Ginsberg, “English”
Rob Howell, “The Hills of California”
Marg Horwell and David Bergman, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Scott Pask, “Good Night, and Good Luck”
Lighting design of a musical
WINNER: Jack Knowles, “Sunset Blvd.”
Tyler Micoleau, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Scott Zielinski and Ruey Horng Sun, “Floyd Collins”
Ben Stanton, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Justin Townsend, “Death Becomes Her”
Lighting design of a play
WINNER: Jon Clark, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Natasha Chivers, “The Hills of California”
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”
Choreography
WINNER: Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Joshua Bergasse, “Smash”
Camille A. Brown, “Gypsy”
Christopher Gattelli, “Death Becomes Her”
Jerry Mitchell, “Boop! The Musical”
Orchestrations
WINNER: Marco Paguia, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Andrew Resnick and Michael Thurber, “Just in Time”
Will Aronson, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Bruce Coughlin, “Floyd Collins”
David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber, “Sunset Blvd.”
Director Robert O’Hara’s noir version of ‘Hamlet,’ starring Patrick Ball and premiering at Mark Taper Forum, audaciously but incoherently toys with Shakespeare’s tragedy.
Sound design of a musical
WINNER: Jonathan Deans, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Adam Fisher, “Sunset Blvd.”
Peter Hylenski, “ Just in Time”
Peter Hylenski, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Dan Moses Schreier, “Floyd Collins”
Sound design of a play
WINNER: Paul Arditti, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
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”
Book of a musical
WINNER: “Maybe Happy Ending,” Will Aronson and Hue Park
“Buena Vista Social Club,” Marco Ramirez
“Dead Outlaw,” Itamar Moses
“Death Becomes Her,” Marco Pennette
“Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical,” David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts
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