Lamar Richardson Becomes Youngest Black Lead Producer to Win a Tony Award

Following Ragtime‘s win for Best Revival of a Musical, Lamar Richardson, 33, has made history as the youngest Black lead producer ever to win a Tony Award in one of the ceremony’s top production categories.

Richardson takes over the title from Ken Harper, who was 36 when he won the Best Musical Tony for producing The Wiz in 1975.

Ragtime is produced by Lincoln Center Theater in association with commercial producers Tom Kirdahy, Kevin Ryan, Robert Greenblatt, and Richardson. The award marks Richardson’s third Tony Award overall. He previously received Tony-winning co-producer credits for the 2024 revivals of Appropriate and Merrily We Roll Along.

Prior to the Tonys, he hosted the inaugural Black Broadway Nominee Soirée at the Skylark, which celebrated the season and drew a crowd that included notables like Angela Bassett, Lena Waithe, Cedric the Entertainer, Anika Noni Rose, Christiani Pitts, Nicholas Christopher, Deborah Cox, Kara Young, IBrandon J. Dirden, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Whitney White, Zhailon Levingston, and Qween Jean.