Tony Awards 2025: Cynthia Erivo kicks off show with advice from Oprah; Sarah Snook wins
Succession" star Sarah Snook took home the first acting Tony Award on Sunday, winning the trophy for leading actress in a play for "The Picture of Dorian Gray," in which she plays all 26 roles, reprising a performance that won her an Olivier Award.
Who won at the Tony Awards this year?
"This means so much for a little Australian girl," she said. She thanked her husband, Dave Lawson, for "holding down the fort and keeping our family together." Francis Jue won best actor in a featured role in a play for his work in a revival of "Yellow Face." He said he was gifted the tux he was wearing from another Asian actor who wanted him to wear it to the Tonys.
"I'm only here because of the encouragement and inspiration of generations of wonderful deserving Asian artists who came before me," he said. "To those who don't feel seen," he added, "I see you." Jak Malone won best actor in a featured role in a musical for the British import "Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical," playing a woman every performance. He hoped his win could be a powerful punch for trans rights.
The host with the most First-time host Cynthia Erivo kicked off the show from her dressing room in Radio City Music Hall, urged by the stage manager to get to the stage. He asked if she had an opening number and she replied she hadn't figured it out yet.
As she made her way through the backstage warren, she ran into various people offering advice until she reached Oprah Winfrey, who advised, "The only thing you need to do is just be yourself." Erivo then appeared at the Radio City stage in a red, spangly gown with white accents, hip cocked, as she launched into the slow-burning original song "Sometimes All You Need Is a Song," written by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
Alone onstage with just a pianist, Erivo's soaring voice was soon joined by dozens of members of the Broadway Inspirational Voices choir, all dressed in white, making her look like a powerful strawberry in a bowl of whipped cream. She went into the audience and got front-row guests to sing along, including Adam Lambert.
"So I took in all the voices that told me what to do/And I looked through all the choices and I found one thing is true/It's really very simple/It's the thing that makes you sing, that makes you soar/Sometimes, sometimes all you need is a song." In her opening comments, she singled out first-time nominees Louis McCartney, Sadie Sink, Cole Escola and "an up-and-comer that I think you're going to really be hearing quite a bit about — George Clooney." She noted that the 2024-2025 season took in USD 1.9 billion, making it the highest-grossing season ever and signalling that Broadway has finally emerged from the COVID-19 blues.
"Broadway is officially back," Erivo said. "Provided we don't run out of cast members from Succession," a nod to appearances this season by former co-stars Snook and Kieran Culkin and last season by Jeremy Strong.