Theater News

2018 Emmys Give Top Prizes to Broadway Vets Jeff Daniels, Rachel Brosnahan, and More

Darren Criss was also among the stage alums to win their categories at last night’s ceremony.

Rachel Brosnahan won for her lead role on the Amazon series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel at the 2018 Emmy Awards.
Rachel Brosnahan won for her lead role in the Amazon series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel at the 2018 Emmy Awards.
(© David Gordon)

The theater community was well represented among last night’s winners at the Primetime Emmy Awards. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which boasts a cast of Broadway vets, took home the top prize for Best Comedy Series (the first streaming series to do so), along with the Lead Actress Award for Rachel Brosnahan (last seen onstage in New York Theatre Workshop’s 2016 production of Othello), and directing and writing awards for the show’s creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino (Tony-nominated producer of Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2014 revival of Violet).

Also among the winners was two-time Tony nominee Jeff Daniels (Blackbird, God of Carnage), who won the award for Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his role in Godless (his fellow Godless actor Merritt Wever, who has performed in both MCC Theater and Signature Theatre productions, won her supporting actress category as well).

Daniels, who returns to Broadway this winter as Atticus Finch in Aaron Sorkin’s stage adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, was also in contention for the award for Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his work in The Looming Tower but was bested by fellow Broadway vet Darren Criss (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, How to Suceed…), who won for his performance as Andrew Cunanan in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. The Assassination of Gianni Versace went on to win for Limited Series and pick up a directing award for Ryan Murphy (producer of the Broadway revival of The Boys in the Band, which ran at the Booth Theatre earlier this summer).

Peter Dinklage, who starred this past summer in Cyrano at Goodspeed Musicals, added a third Emmy to his collection for his role as Tyrion Lannister in the hit HBO series Game of Thrones. Comedian John Mulaney, meanwhile, won his second career Emmy — this time for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City. In his acceptance speech, he gave shout-outs to his director Alex Timbers (director of the Broadway-bound Beetlejuice) and set designer Scott Pask, both of whom collaborated with Mulaney on his Broadway debut comedy Oh, Hello on Broadway in 2016.

Stage and screen are working together, and it’s a beautiful thing.

For the complete list of 2018 Emmy Award winners, click here.