The 2025 Tony Nominees React

The nominations for the 2025 Tony Awards were announced today, and we’ve been chatting with several of the nominees. You can read their reactions here:

Michael Arden, Best Director of a Musical, Maybe Happy Ending
“I am truly overwhelmed and deeply honored to be nominated for best direction of a musical for my work on Maybe Happy Ending. Collaborating with this incredible team of artists on Will Aronson and Hue Park’s brilliant musical has been a highlight of my career and life as an artist. I am also so proud of the work done by our stars Helen J Shen, Darren Criss, Dez Duron, and Marcus Choi. Special thanks to Justin Scribner, our steadfast PSM and the incredible crew at the Belasco Theater who make the magic happen nightly. Bravo and congrats to all the shows on Broadway this season!”

Andrew Durand, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, Dead Outlaw
“I’m feeling great. I don’t know that I will need my coffee this morning. My phone has not stopped exploding. I’m so happy for Julia Knitel and Jeb Brown, and I’m just so thrilled that this cool piece of art that we made off-Broadway had such an undeniable response that it had to come to Broadway so more people could see it.”

David Henry Hwang, Best Revival of a Play, Yellow Face
“This morning’s nomination is a joyful affirmation of the work director Leigh Silverman and I have done over 20 years, to create and refine Yellow Face into a play which can bring audiences together, to laugh and think about how to move our country forward. Thank you so much to the nominators!”

Jennifer Simard, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, Death Becomes Her
“I’m so happy that I get to be on this ride with my friend Megan. It’s just wonderful. In my opinion, Death Becomes Her is a classic Broadway show that we needed since the pandemic. It’s a big, old Broadway musical and I love it.”

Francis Jue, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play, Yellow Face
I’m flabbergasted. The first news that I saw was Daniel Dae Kim getting nominated, and that’s history. It’s the first time ever that an Asian actor has been nominated for a leading actor in a play by the Tonys, so I was just dancing around my living room in my pajamas when the other awards got in. I’m accustomed not to expecting anything, so I’m in my PJs with my husbandm Randy Adams, and we’re in the living room watching on his computer and that’s where I found out. I’ve got to catch up on things like where to buy clothes [for the Tony Awards], I guess! I haven’t even thought that far because I truly was not expecting anything. At the same time, it’s been 18 years coming since I first started working on Yellow Face, so it’s really just huge for me.

James Monroe Iglehart, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, A Wonderful World
To be perfectly honest, I’m absolutely shocked! I’m not even going to lie. I will probably be telling this story forever: my wife and I were asleep, absolutely asleep. My phone started buzzing and I was like, “Something’s going on.” I was hoping no one in the family was hurt or sick or something, and I looked up and it was my [guys] from Freestyle Love Supreme going, “Congratulations!” and I was like, “On what?!” and then I was like, “Oh snap, I got nominated for a Tony!” So right now it’s utter shock and excitement and pure happiness, but when I say I didn’t see this coming, I so didn’t see this coming. It’s one of those moments where I’m so proud of our show and so proud of what we were able to do, and the fact that I got to share the stage with those four amazing ladies because Louis wouldn’t be anything without the wives, so I was so excited. I had kind of resigned myself to … you know, we closed early, so whatever happens happens and it’ll be OK. We got to do what we came to do, which is tell the story about this great man, and anything else after that is kind of like sprinkles on a cake. Right now I’m sending love out to the rest of my crew who helped build the show. I’ll probably go out with the family because all my cast members are working! But we’ve been texting and I ran up to get the phone to contact all of them and say, “I love you all and I would be nothing without you,” because that’s the truth—all my crew and our directing team and the writers, because it takes a village to build a show. You put one person out there as the nominee but we all had to work to make this happen, so I’m going to contact all of them, and then tonight my wife and I are just going to probably go someplace to eat and relax and just kind of celebrate and go, “Wow, how the hell did that happen?”

Itamar Moses, Best Book of a Musical, Dead Outlaw
“When you’re working on a show that’s odd and outside the box, but that we all believed in, getting it to Broadway sort of feels like the triumph. Anything else is gravy. It’s a true ensemble show, both onstage and extending to every department. Orchestrations, band, design. Even the way the book and music talk to one another. It’s greater than the sum of its parts. I’m glad they’re spreading the wealth.”

Tom Francis, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, Sunset Boulevard
“Oh, my God. I genuinely can’t compute it. It’s been a long time that we’ve been doing this show, and I’m so proud of everyone that works on it. It literally takes so many people to make us all feel great. I’m so excited. I might do a pirouette on 44th Street tonight, we’ll see.”

David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna, Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre, Dead Outlaw
David: It’s Erik’s first show and his first nomination. I’m vicariously enjoying his enjoyment.
Erik: I feel … artistically validated. Is that fair to say?
David: I have to disabuse of you that at some point, but I’m glad you feel that way.
Erik: I have no doubt I will be smacked back in line.
David: I’ll smack you back, physically.
Erik: So that’s how I feel. We’ve been pondering this for a long time. David longer than I. The meaning of the story and writing the music for it has taken many different angles that come together, and now to get nominated is … validating.”

Natalie Venetia Belcon, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, Buena Vista Social Club
“This is amazing. It’s everything to me. Everybody knows I’ve been gone for a good little bit, and to come back this way is very special to me.”

Jonathan Spector, Playwright, Best Revival of a Play, Eureka Day
“I feel great. It’s surreal but wonderful. It’s incredible to be acknowledged by the theater community in this way. This play has had such a long and circuitous route to Broadway and I feel so grateful to the many people who’ve been part of that journey, especially Lynne Meadow and MTC, and Anna D. Shapiro, and the incredible artists.”

Christopher Gatelli, Best Direction of a Musical and Best Choreography, Death Becomes Her
“I’m so proud of our show. This is icing on the cake of a great process and collaboration with the cast and team. This is my first time out as a director-choreographer, so I’m just beside myself with joy. It’s crazy over here. I can’t get over it.”

Jeb Brown, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical, Dead Outlaw
“I think ‘TheaterMania’ pretty much describes my feeling. It’s a good label for the kind of day it’s becoming. I’m just so happy for the group and for all seven nominations. We tell a true story and I’m telling you the truth right now: We are so in this together and that’s the important thing. I made my Broadway debut at the age of 10. That’s 50 years ago. Five decades of on and off-Broadway and regional theater. I keep flashing through the scrapbook of my mind and all the things that lead to a moment like this. It’s not a moment that I’ve been waiting for, so it’s a nice surprise.”

Marco Pennette, Best Book of a Musical, Death Becomes Her
“If someone said this eight years ago when I started this, I would’ve laughed in their face. This has been my dream since I was 5 years old!”

Wendy Federman, Producer, Buena Vista Social Club, Dead Outlaw, Sunset Blvd., and Gypsy
“This marks my 18th year as a Tony Award nominee, I remain deeply proud to be part of this vibrant creative community. Congratulations to the nominees from my shows—Buena Vista Social Club, Dead Outlaw, Sunset Blvd., Gypsy, Smash, and Glengarry Glen Ross—and to all the nominees: enjoy this moment. You’ve earned it.”

Jerry Mitchell, Best Choreography, BOOP! The Musical
“This nomination represents a tireless cast of dancers dedicated to sharing a tsunami of joy with audiences eight times a week. I am grateful to their full-out dedication to every step, kick, tap and turn. Nothing makes me happier than being in a room creating dance, Broadway dance that makes audiences hearts cheer.”

Justina Machado, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, Real Women Have Curves
“It’s surreal and exciting. It’s really, really exciting. It means everything to me. I moved from Chicago to New York in the ’90s to do just this, and then my life took me to Los Angeles. I didn’t get back to what I always wanted to do, but I always had this dream. In the Heights was the first time I was able to experience that, but I always wanted to originate a character. This is truly the epitome of everything I ever dreamed.”

Marg Horwell, Best Scenic Design of a Play, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“I’m having an out-of-body experience. I feel exhilarated, incredibly grateful, very surprised that our whole creative team was nominated. It’s almost one a.m. in Sydney, I think I’m going to celebrate with a glass of whiskey and going to bed. We’re really touched by how well the show has been received.”

Jon Michael Hill, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, Purpose
I’m grateful that so many elements of this production are being recognized for their brilliance. I think Branden really gave the community a seminal, special piece of work that should live on. I think I’ve said before: I’ve got a front row seat to what all the other actors are doing onstage, so I get to be amazed by what they’re doing with Branden’s words every night, and that has been the great gift of my career. Doing the play is going to be the best celebration—bringing this energy into the whole reason we’re all here: to give life to this production which Phylicia Rashad has designed with us and Branden. The greatest way to celebrate is to do the work.

Jessica Hecht, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, Eureka Day
“I feel very touched. Working with that ensemble was uniquely awesome. I am part of a lot of ensembles and the grace of that group of people was beyond anything I’ve experienced. I know everyone says it, but I credit them for keeping me afloat, and I feel very lucky.”

Marco Ramirez, Best Book of a Musical, Buena Vista Social Club
“It’s a very good feeling. A lot of hard work went into this. It is thrilling and really exciting. The feeling I have is just gratitude, to the creative team and the audience. What we did was kind of create a new genre of musical, and I’m grateful for the leap of faith that everyone has taken along with us.”

Marjan Neshat, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, English
“I feel really excited! I feel overwhelmed. I feel very emotional, but in a good way. It means the world to me. When we started this play off-Broadway, no one expected Broadway, to be on a big stage. The fact that we got there and were sold out from our short run, and that everyone who saw it came up to me and said, ‘That play got to me.’ It’s moving to know.”

Jak Malone, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical, Operation Mincemeat
“I’m so glad that my instincts about Minceneat are correct. I knew it was an amazing show and would be a tour de force. I’m happy to be vindicated more than anything else. When I joined the show I could never have anticipated the bounty of gifts. When I was given the character, I did the little research I could do, but there was so little to find out about her. This beautiful, wonderful, vibrant community that has come up around the show has done the work and plucked her from obscurity and into the history books. My small involvement has helped put this great woman on the map.”

Kip Williams, Best Direction of a Play, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“I’ve got so much adrenaline that I don’t know how to sleep. I’ve had a glass of gin and it’s pretty exiting here in Sydney right now. This production means so much to me. It’s one of the most significant works I’ve ever done. The production is a love letter to Oscar Wilde and to theatermaking and filmmaking and the live experience that happens when you fuse those two artforms. To have Broadway embrace it is a dream anyway.”

Julia Knitel, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, Dead Outlaw
“I am in a state of shock. It feels like such a cliché to say it’s a dream come true, but it really is. This show means so much to me and it’s been a dream from the very first workshop. To see it through, to have it received the way it was, and then to be recognized for my performance is the icing on top. I’m overwhelmed.”

59, Best Scenic Design of a Play, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
“We’re delighted to be nominated alongside Miriam Buether for the scenic design of Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Working with Sonia Friedman Productions, Netflix and the entire creative team provided an incredible opportunity to bring the world of Stranger Things to life on stage—and to explore new and exciting approaches to the craft of stage design. We feel honored to be included in such a talented field.”

Jamie Harrison, Chris Fisher, Gary Beestone, and Edward Pierce; Special Award for Illusions & Technical Effects; Stranger Things: The First Shadow
“We are absolutely thrilled to be recognized by the Tony Awards for the Illusions & Technical Effects of Stranger Things: The First Shadow. This is a tribute to the power of collaboration between our creative team and the dozens of artisans and behind-the-scenes workers to pull off this ambitious visual production.”

Harry Lennix, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, Purpose
I woke up this morning to a text from my manager and I was a little confused by it at first, but I continued to read and I gleaned from the text that I had been nominated … but I thought that it was in the best supporting category! I talked to her on the phone and she told me that it was actually the lead actor category, which was a very pleasant shock. I don’t know how happy Jon’s going to be to see me because I’m his competition—I’m coming after him! No, I’m so happy for him, and I think we’re all delighted. In many ways [the Tonys are] the American theater’s biggest night, so be so considered is the honor of my theatrical career, I feel in many ways, I guess, relieved, and in many ways overjoyed, it’s kind of hard to balance all the ways I feel. It’s a mix of gratitude and humility and pride.

Taylor Trensch, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical, Floyd Collins
“I suspect foul play. But seriously, it’s deeply meaningful to be nominated the same year as so many of my friends. Kimberly Belflower was my roommate when she first moved to New York! It’s the greatest feeling to watch the people you love and admire be metaphorically hoisted up into the air while people sing ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.’”

Gregg Barnes, Best Costume Design of a Musical, BOOP! The Musical
“As amazing as it feels to be nominated—and it does feel amazing—nothing is better than sharing a fitting room with the magical company of actors of BOOP! I share this honor with them.”

Manhattan Theatre Club
“We’re thrilled the Tonys recognized MTC’s production of Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day, one of the most important and timely stories of the moment. The play contains one of the best comedic scenes ever seen on Broadway and is an empathic portrayal of a group of people grappling with the hot-button issue of vaccinations—including one particularly complicated character portrayed beautifully by Tony nominee Jessica Hecht. There’s a reason Eureka Day was such a hit on Broadway and will be produced across the country next season: though it was written 10 years ago, it speaks to today’s audiences—and it’s a great evening of theater! We’re also proud to have partnered with Sonia Friedman to bring The Hills of California to Broadway, and are very grateful for all the nominations that Sam Mendes’ virtuosic production of Jez Butterworth’s brilliant play garnered.”

Dan Moses Schreier, Best Sound Design of a Musical, Floyd Collins
“I first worked on Floyd Collins in 1996 when the show premiered off-Broadway. What a gift to be able to revisit the show as a more experienced artist and be able to bring a new level of work and insight to the productions. It’s an incredible honor for the work to be recognized by the Tony committee after all these years.”

Jeremy Jordan, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, Floyd Collins
“What an honor and the deepest privilege, not only to be recognized, but given the opportunity to tackle this role of a lifetime. I did not know what to do with myself this morning. Cut to me getting my daughter ready for school and suddenly full-out weeping into her backpack. My wife had to tell her they were ‘happy tears.’ If you know me, that just about says it all.”