NEW YORK (Reuters) -Broadway caps a record-breaking season when the New York theater community bestows its annual Tony Awards during a gala ceremony on Sunday night with an array of nominees that leans into originality, diversity and artistic invention.
Buoyed by a post-pandemic rebound, the 2024-25 season grossed a record $1.89 billion in revenue and drew 14.7 million attendees, the Broadway League said.
Best musical nominees like “Dead Outlaw,” “Maybe Happy Ending” and “Operation Mincemeat” tell unique and untested stories. On the play side, “Oh, Mary!” and “Purpose” offer vastly different takes on belief, identity and power.
The “Wicked” film star, Tony winner Cynthia Erivo, will host the 8 p.m. ET (midnight GMT) show from Radio City Music Hall.
Alongside the creative highs are economic realities plaguing producers and audiences alike.
Premium seats for some productions run upwards from $400, prompting concern that Broadway is increasingly out of reach for casual and younger theater lovers. Even with lotteries and rush ticket programs, demand-driven pricing has become the norm.
“Every show is its own little startup,” said Rashad Chambers, a Tony Award-winning producer whose recent credits include “Music Man,” “TopDog/Underdog,” and this season’s Tony-nominated “Purpose.”
“We have to create shows in a way that’s affordable. Not just from the ticket-buying standpoint. The budgets are really ballooning out of control, and in my opinion, it’s not always warranted,” Chambers told Reuters.
RISING PRODUCTION COSTS A FACTOR
Jason Laks, president of The Broadway League, said in a statement that rising costs have affected every facet of production, making it harder and harder to bring live theater to the stage. The Broadway League presents the awards along with the American Theatre Wing.
This season showcased a wide range of voices and perspectives, with many shows being led by Asian American, Black, Middle Eastern and Hispanic actors and resulting in some historic nominations.
Daniel Dae Kim, who starred in the revival of “Yellow Face” this season, is the first Asian American to be nominated in the category of best leading actor in a play.
“To know that I’m the first is a little curious,” Dae Kim told Reuters, “but above all it makes me happy and I’m really honored.”
Dae Kim said representation on Broadway has been an evolution, not just for the Asian American community but many communities of color, pointing to such shows as “Purpose,” which centers on a Black family struggling with identity and ambition.
“I look forward to the time where there’s so much representation that it’s no longer talked about because it’s just understood and assumed,” he said.
Chambers, the producer, said audiences, too, seemed to be more diverse.
“I feel like I’m seeing more people of color,” he said. “I’m seeing diverse age ranges. I’ve seen men and women. We have a lot of plays that are appealing to men this season. And I think that that’s really powerful. And so yes, I do think it’s getting better.”
(Reporting by Kathryn Lurie; Editing by Howard Goller)
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