# 72nd Tony Awards

The 72nd Annual Tony Awards were held on June 10, 2018, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2017–18 season. The ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, and was broadcast live by CBS. Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban served as hosts.
The Band's Visit was the most winning production of the season, with 10 awards, including Best Musical, Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for Tony Shalhoub, Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for Katrina Lenk, and Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for Ari'el Stachel. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child won six awards, including Best Play, while Angels in America won three, including Best Revival of a Play.
The ceremony received positive reviews, with many highlighting the performances of Bareilles and Groban as hosts. At the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards, it was nominated for four awards Outstanding Variety Special (Live), Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special, Outstanding Lighting Design / Lighting Direction for a Variety Special and Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.

## Eligibility

The official eligibility cut-off date for Broadway productions opening in the 2017–2018 season was April 26, 2018.
Notes
* In November 2017, the Broadway production of 1984, which ran from May 18 through October 8, 2017 at the Hudson Theatre, was deemed ineligible for competition at the 72nd Tony Awards. In April 2018, the Tony Awards Administration Committee reversed its decision and allowed 1984 to be considered for nominations.

## Awards events
### Nominations

The Tony Award nominations were announced on May 1, 2018 by Hamilton alum Leslie Odom Jr. and Katharine McPhee, who was starring in Waitress on Broadway at the time.
Mean Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants each received 12 nominations, tying as the most-nominated shows of the season. The Band's Visit received 11 nominations, as did the revivals of Angels in America and Carousel. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and the Lincoln Center Theater revival of My Fair Lady each received ten nominations.
Angels in America broke the record for most nominations for a play in Tony Awards history with 11 nominations, beating the record previously held by 2007's The Coast of Utopia and the 2010 revival of Fences.

### Other events

The annual Meet the Nominees Press Reception took place on May 2, 2018, at the InterContinental New York Hotel. The annual Nominees Luncheon took place on May 22, 2018, at the Rainbow Room. A cocktail party was held on June 4, 2018, at the Sofitel New York Hotel to celebrate the season's Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre and Special Award recipients.

### Creative Arts Awards

The Creative Arts Tony Awards were presented prior to the televised ceremony. The hosts are Brandon Victor Dixon and Marissa Jaret Winokur. This ceremony presents awards in technical categories and several previously announced special awards.

## Ceremony
### Presenters

The ceremony's presenters included:

### Performances

The following shows and individuals performed on the ceremony's telecast:

## Non-competitive awards

The Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre was presented to Chita Rivera and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre was awarded to photographer Sara Krulwich, costume beader Bessie Nelson, and Broadway dry cleaning service Ernest Winzer Cleaners.
The Excellence in Theatre Education Award was presented to Melody Herzfeld of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The Isabelle Stevenson Award was presented to Nick Scandalios, who is the Executive Vice President of the Nederlander Organization.
The Regional Theatre Tony Award was awarded to La MaMa E.T.C. (Experimental Theatre Club) of New York City, which has a monetary grant of $25,000.
The Special Tony Award was given to John Leguizamo and Bruce Springsteen.

## Winners and nominees

Source:
| Best Play ‡ | Best Musical ‡ |
| Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Jack Thorne The Children - Lucy Kirkwood Farinelli and the King - Claire van Kampen Junk - Ayad Akhtar Latin History for Morons - John Leguizamo | The Band's Visit Frozen Mean Girls SpongeBob SquarePants |
| Best Revival of a Play ‡ | Best Revival of a Musical ‡ |
| Angels in America The Iceman Cometh Lobby Hero Three Tall Women Travesties | Once on This Island Carousel My Fair Lady |
| Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play | Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play |
| Andrew Garfield – Angels in America as Prior Walter Tom Hollander – Travesties as Henry Carr Jamie Parker – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as Harry Potter Mark Rylance – Farinelli and the King as Philip V of Spain Denzel Washington – The Iceman Cometh as Theodore "Hickey" Hickman | Glenda Jackson – Three Tall Women as A Condola Rashād – Saint Joan as Joan of Arc Lauren Ridloff – Children of a Lesser God as Sarah Norman Amy Schumer – Meteor Shower as Corky |
| Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical | Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical |
| Tony Shalhoub – The Band's Visit as Tewfiq Zakaria Harry Hadden-Paton – My Fair Lady as Henry Higgins Joshua Henry – Carousel as Billy Bigelow Ethan Slater – SpongeBob SquarePants as SpongeBob SquarePants | Katrina Lenk – The Band's Visit as Dina Lauren Ambrose – My Fair Lady as Eliza Doolittle Hailey Kilgore – Once on This Island as Ti Moune LaChanze – Summer: The Donna Summer Musical as Diva Donna / Mary Gaines Taylor Louderman – Mean Girls as Regina George Jessie Mueller – Carousel as Julie Jordan |
| Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play | Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play |
| Nathan Lane – Angels in America as Roy Cohn Anthony Boyle – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as Scorpius Malfoy Michael Cera – Lobby Hero as Jeff Brian Tyree Henry – Lobby Hero as William David Morse – The Iceman Cometh as Larry Slade | Laurie Metcalf – Three Tall Women as B Susan Brown – Angels in America as Hannah Pitt, Ethel Rosenberg, et al. Noma Dumezweni – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as Hermione Granger Deborah Findlay – The Children as Hazel Denise Gough – Angels in America as Harper Pitt |
| Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical | Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical |
| Ari'el Stachel – The Band's Visit as Haled Norbert Leo Butz – My Fair Lady as Alfred P. Doolittle Alexander Gemignani – Carousel as Enoch Snow Grey Henson – Mean Girls as Damian Hubbard Gavin Lee – SpongeBob SquarePants as Squidward Tentacles | Lindsay Mendez – Carousel as Carrie Pipperidge Ariana DeBose – Summer: The Donna Summer Musical as Disco Donna Renée Fleming – Carousel as Nettie Fowler Ashley Park – Mean Girls as Gretchen Wieners Diana Rigg – My Fair Lady as Mrs. Higgins |
| Best Direction of a Play | Best Direction of a Musical |
| John Tiffany – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Marianne Elliott – Angels in America Joe Mantello – Three Tall Women Patrick Marber – Travesties George C. Wolfe – The Iceman Cometh | David Cromer – The Band's Visit Michael Arden – Once on This Island Tina Landau – SpongeBob SquarePants Casey Nicholaw – Mean Girls Bartlett Sher – My Fair Lady |
| Best Book of a Musical | Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre |
| Itamar Moses – The Band's Visit Jennifer Lee – Frozen Tina Fey – Mean Girls Kyle Jarrow – SpongeBob SquarePants | David Yazbek – The Band's Visit Adrian Sutton – Angels in America Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez – Frozen Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin – Mean Girls The Composers of SpongeBob SquarePants |
| Best Scenic Design of a Play | Best Scenic Design of a Musical |
| Christine Jones – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Miriam Buether – Three Tall Women Jonathan Fensom – Farinelli and the King Santo Loquasto – The Iceman Cometh Ian MacNeil and Edward Pierce – Angels in America | David Zinn – SpongeBob SquarePants Dane Laffrey – Once on This Island Scott Pask – The Band's Visit Scott Pask, Finn Ross, and Adam Young – Mean Girls Michael Yeargan – My Fair Lady |
| Best Costume Design of a Play | Best Costume Design of a Musical |
| Katrina Lindsay – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Jonathan Fensom – Farinelli and the King Nicky Gillibrand – Angels in America Ann Roth – Three Tall Women Ann Roth – The Iceman Cometh | Catherine Zuber – My Fair Lady Gregg Barnes – Mean Girls Clint Ramos – Once on This Island Ann Roth – Carousel David Zinn – SpongeBob SquarePants |
| Best Lighting Design of a Play | Best Lighting Design of a Musical |
| Neil Austin – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Paule Constable – Angels in America Peggy Eisenhauer and Jules Fisher – The Iceman Cometh Paul Russell – Farinelli and the King Ben Stanton – Junk | Tyler Micoleau – The Band's Visit Kevin Adams – SpongeBob SquarePants Peggy Eisenhauer and Jules Fisher – Once on This Island Donald Holder – My Fair Lady Brian MacDevitt – Carousel |
| Best Sound Design of a Play | Best Sound Design of a Musical |
| Gareth Fry – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Adam Cork – Travesties Ian Dickinson – Angels in America Tom Gibbons – 1984 Dan Moses Schreier – The Iceman Cometh | Kai Harada – The Band's Visit Mike Dobson and Walter Trarbach – SpongeBob SquarePants Peter Hylenski – Once on This Island Scott Lehrer – Carousel Brian Ronan – Mean Girls |
| Best Choreography | Best Orchestrations |
| Justin Peck – Carousel Christopher Gattelli – My Fair Lady Christopher Gattelli – SpongeBob SquarePants Steven Hoggett – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Casey Nicholaw – Mean Girls | Jamshied Sharifi – The Band's Visit John Clancy – Mean Girls Tom Kitt – SpongeBob SquarePants Annmarie Milazzo and Michael Starobin – Once on This Island Jonathan Tunick – Carousel |
* ↑ The nominated composers for SpongeBob SquarePants were Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler & Joe Perry, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper & Rob Hyman, John Legend, Panic! at the Disco, Plain White T's, They Might Be Giants, T.I., Domani and Lil'C.
‡ The award is presented to the producer(s) of the musical or play.
± The Tony Awards for Best Sound Design of a Play and of a Musical were reinstated for the 72nd Tony Awards after being removed in 2014.

### Awards and nominations per production

| Production | Nominations | Awards |
| Mean Girls | 12 | 0 |
| SpongeBob SquarePants | 12 | 1 |
| Angels in America | 11 | 3 |
| The Band's Visit | 11 | 10 |
| Carousel | 11 | 2 |
| Harry Potter and the Cursed Child | 10 | 6 |
| My Fair Lady | 10 | 1 |
| The Iceman Cometh | 8 | 0 |
| Once on This Island | 8 | 1 |
| Three Tall Women | 6 | 2 |
| Farinelli and the King | 5 | 0 |
| Travesties | 4 | 0 |
| Frozen | 3 | 0 |
| Lobby Hero | 3 | 0 |
| The Children | 2 | 0 |
| Junk | 2 | 0 |
| Summer: The Donna Summer Musical | 2 | 0 |
| Children of a Lesser God | 1 | 0 |
| Latin History for Morons | 1 | 0 |
| Meteor Shower | 1 | 0 |
| 1984 | 1 | 0 |
| Saint Joan | 1 | 0 |

#### Individuals with multiple nominations

* 3: Ann Roth
* 2: Peggy Eisenhauer and Jules Fisher; Jonathan Fensom, Christopher Gattelli, Casey Nicholaw, Scott Pask and David Zinn

## Reception

The show received a positive reception from many media publications. On Metacritic, the ceremony has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based 5 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The Hollywood Reporter columnist David Rooney remarked, "Bareilles and Groban aced their duties on their own terms, displaying terrific chemistry and making it less about themselves than their infectious enthusiasm as out-and-proud theater geeks." The New York Times theatre critic Mike Hale commented, "The just-happy-to-be-here, can't-we-all-get-along vibe was set by the opening song, a celebration of the ceremony's also-rans — 'This one's for the loser inside of you' — sung by the hosts, Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban, and a chorus made up of ensemble members from every Broadway musical. It was a charming, if not particularly memorable, number. That could also describe the performances of Ms. Bareilles and Mr. Groban, who were a likable and entertaining pair. The show as a whole ran like clockwork, without any significant gaffes but also no particularly memorable outbreaks of emotion or eccentricity." Daniel D'Addario from Variety wrote, "Throughout, Groban and Bareilles kept up this happily effervescent, optimistic but never cloying energy — up until the show's end, when they reprised their opening number as a call to arms for all who work in the theater, or hope to. It was a sweet debut performance by hosts who may well be back at Radio City next June, should the Tonys be so lucky."
In addition, Kristen Baldwin from Entertainment Weekly gave the show a B+, expanding in her review, "Hosts Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles kicked off the 72nd annual Tony Awards with the mix of showmanship, self-deprecating humor, and good-natured egalitarianism that would continue throughout the night." Deadline Hollywood critic Dino-Ray Ramos commented, "Bareilles and Groban live on the border of radio-friendly music and the Broadway stage, and they served as delightful cruise directors, devoid of forced jokes and corny antics. Instead, they leaned into their musical theater geekiness, which was infectious. As a hosting duo, they did their job effortlessly and well, staying in their lane by not doing too much or too little. They were pitch perfect — pun intended." Television critic Jessica Gelt of the Los Angeles Times remarked, "hosts Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles leavened the evening with well-measured comedy."

### Ratings

The ceremony averaged a Nielsen 4.8 ratings/11 share, and was watched by 6.3 million viewers. The ratings was a 5 percent increase from previous ceremony's viewership of 6 million, becoming the highest since 2016.

## In Memoriam

The cast of Dear Evan Hansen sang "For Forever" as images of theatre personalities who had died in the past year were shown.
* Barbara Cook
* Thomas Meehan
* John "Corky" Boyd
* Nanette Fabray
* Patricia Morison
* Frank Corsaro
* Danny Daniels
* Gemze de Lappe
* Roy Dotrice
* Michael Friedman
* Peter Hall
* A. R. Gurney
* John Heard
* Earle Hyman
* Albert Innaurato
* Stephen J. Albert
* John Mahoney
* Mark Schlegel
* Rachel Rockwell
* John Heyman
* Donald McKayle
* David Ogden Stiers
* Soon-Tek Oh
* Bernard Pomerance
* Harvey Schmidt
* Sam Shepard
* Liz Smith
* Richard Wilbur
* Louis Zorich
* Joseph Bologna
* Sammy Williams
* Stuart Thompson
* Robert Guillaume
* Jan Maxwell