Bette Midler won best actress in a musical while an edgy new tale of millennial angst scooped six awards including best musical at Broadway’s equivalent of the Oscars for U.S. theatre.
The glitzy revival of Hello, Dolly! starring the 71-year-old Midler and the breakout Dear Evan Hansen, about the need to belong and the might of social media, spotlighted different sides to New York’s famed district, which last season grossed a record $1.45 billion in earnings.
Politically restrained
If other award ceremonies have featured a never-ending stream of jokes about President Donald Trump, Sunday’s Tony Awards ceremony, hosted by double Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey, was more politically restrained.
The gong was Midler’s first Tony in a competitive category and comes half a century after the famed, Grammy-winning singer and songwriter made her Broadway debut.
Hello, Dolly! won four Tonys, including best revival of a musical but Dear Evan Hansen was the star of the night with six, including best musical and leading actor for its 23-year-old star Ben Platt.
The homegrown production, which started Off-Broadway, tells the story of Evan Hansen, a high-school senior with social anxiety whose life is turned upside down after a classmate commits suicide.
Another new U.S. production, Oslo, that was inspired by the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and Norwegian husband and wife diplomats behind the 1993 Oslo Accords won best play.