Predictions: Which Revivals Will Win Tony Awards in 2022?

As the June 12 Tony Awards draw nearer, our critics are predicting the winners. They have already given their thoughts on musical actors, actors in plays, directors and choreographers, and book/score. Now, here are their predictions when it comes to the revival categories:

Best Revival of a Play

THE NOMINEES:
American Buffalo
for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf
How I Learned to Drive
Take Me Out
Trouble in Mind

Zachary Stewart:
Will win: How I Learned to Drive
Should win: Trouble in Mind

The revival of How I Learned to Drive (which is actually that play's Broadway debut) is an excellent production of an extraordinary play — but the same could be said of Alice Childress's Trouble in Mind. Since How I Learned to Drive is still open, I'm giving it the edge; but Trouble in Mind was a perfect Broadway debut for a great American playwright whose belated moment has finally arrived.

Hayley Levitt:
Will win: Take Me Out
Should win: for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf

I'd give both productions the Tony Award for Best Revival if that were an option. It feels nonsensical to even compare the two: Take Me Out, Richard Greenberg's heady yet comedic dive into sexuality via the national pastime; and for colored girls… Ntozake Shange's abstract choreopoem about being Black and female in America. Each production is both acted and directed beautifully, mining the darker corners of American culture while also highlighting its bright spots of hope. I just have a hunch Greenberg's traditionally structured play will win the deciding votes this time around.

David Gordon:
Will win: Take Me Out
Should win: Trouble in Mind

I thought this one had How I Learned to Drive's name all over it until Take Me Out won the Outer Critics Circle Award, so now I'm not so sure. I think my pick, for the poetic justice of it all, would be Trouble in Mind, a 50-year-old play that only now got to Broadway and had more to say about contemporary society than anyone could ever have expected. Honestly, as long as it's not American Buffalo, I'm good.

Pete Hempstead:
Will win: Take Me Out
Should win: Trouble in Mind

I'm going to agree with my colleague David Gordon here. Putting aside all the deserved (and distracting) attention Take Me Out has received, I predict that this solid and worthy production will in all likelihood take home the Tony. But if I had my druthers, I would give my vote to Trouble in Mind, a revival that was brilliantly executed, from its memorable performances by LaChanze and Chuck Cooper, to Charles Randolph-Wright's insightful direction. Alice Childress's timeless work is finally being given its due, and nothing would please me more than to see it recognized with a Tony.

Best Revival of a Musical

THE NOMINEES:
Caroline, or Change
Company
The Music Man

Zachary Stewart:
Will win: Company
Should win: Company

There would be no better tribute to Stephen Sondheim than Marianne Elliott's gender-bending Broadway revival of Company, which opened just after the death of its legendary composer. Simultaneously groundbreaking yet steeped in Broadway tradition, it hits the sweet spot of Tony voters, and rightfully so.

Hayley Levitt:
Will win: The Music Man
Should win: The Music Man

I have to admit, I was fully in the Music Man doubters club before seeing Jerry Zaks's revival at the Winter Garden Theatre. A belter playing Marian? Blasphemy! But between Sutton Foster's original take on a role that seemed to have no sides left to unearth, Hugh Jackman's blissfully smarm-free showmanship, and Warren Carlyle's exhilarating choreography, The Music Man in all its old-fashioned musical theater glory turned out to be one of my favorite shows of the entire season. I doubted Broadway's tolerance for joy, but I think the Tony voters will be with me on this one.

David Gordon:
Will win: Company
Should win: Company

In a Tonys ceremony that will undoubtedly celebrate the legacy of Stephen Sondheim, Company, the last of his musicals that he'd ever see on Broadway (only a week before his passing, no less), will take this one and it deserves it. I've seen at least half-a-dozen productions of Company, and it's the most fun I've ever had at that show.

Pete Hempstead:
Will win: Company
Should win: Company

Of the three nominees this year, Company is the one that sticks out in my mind as the most memorable and innovative. Marianne Elliott directed a phenomenal cast in a revival that felt fresh and electric, and made something familiar feel bright and new. Caroline and The Music Man, while both terrific, simply did not wow me in the same way.