British theatre talent fares well at America’s Tony Awards for the Best of Broadway

Jason Korsner

British talent – both on and off stage – has picked up some of the top honours at Broadway’s most prestigious theatre awards, the Tonys.

British actor Simon Russell Beale won one of The Lehman Trilogy’s five Tony Awards.

Simon Russell Beale beat his co-stars, Adrian Lester and Adam Godley, to the prize for the best actor in a leading role in a play – for The Lehman Trilogy, which itself was named the best play. Sam Mendes was honoured for directing the play, which also won the prizes for scenic design and lighting.

Another British director, Marianne Elliott, became the first woman to win three directing Tonys, being named the best director of a musical for the gender-swapped revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company. Like The Lehman Trilogy, Company also won five awards, including best musical revival, and honours for Matt Doyle and Patti LuPone as featured performers in a musical.

The Best Score prize also went to a pair of British composers – Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss won the Tony for the music for Six, the musical about Henry VIII’s wives, that featured in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Party outside Buckingham Palace.

The Best Musical award went to A Strange Loop, whose producers included the actress and singer Jennifer Hudson, entering her into the exclusive group of talent to have won Emmy Awards for TV, Grammys for music, Oscars for film and Tonys for theatre – the EGOTs.

And here is the full list of 2022 Tony Award winners:

Best play

The Lehman Trilogy – WINNER!

Best musical

A Strange Loop – WINNER!

Best revival of a play

Take Me Out – WINNER!

Best revival of a musical

Company – WINNER!

Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play

Simon Russell Beale, The Lehman Trilogy – WINNER!

Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a play

Deirdre O’Connell, Dana H – WINNER!

Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical

Myles Frost, MJ – WINNER!

Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical

Joaquina Kalukango, Paradise Square – WINNER!

Best performance by an actor in a featured role in a play

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Take Me Out – WINNER!

Best performance by an actress in a featured role in a play

Phylicia Rashad, Skeleton Crew – WINNER!

Best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical

Matt Doyle, Company – WINNER!

Best performance by an actress in a featured role in a musical

Patti LuPone, Company – WINNER!

Best direction of a play

Sam Mendes, The Lehman Trilogy – WINNER!

Best direction of a musical

Marianne Elliott, Company – WINNER!

Best scenic design of a play

Es Devlin, The Lehman Trilogy – WINNER!

Best scenic design of a musical

Bunny Christie, Company – WINNER!

Best book of a musical

A Strange Loop, Michael R Jackson – WINNER!

Best original score (music and/or lyrics)

Six: The Musical, Music and lyrics: Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss – WINNER!

Best costume design of a play

Montana Levi Blanco, The Skin of Our Teeth – WINNER!

Best costume design of a musical

Gabriella Slade, Six: The Musical – WINNER!

Best lighting design of a play

Jon Clark, The Lehman Trilogy – WINNER!

Best lighting design of a musical

Natasha Katz, MJ – WINNER!

Best sound design of a play

Mikhail Fiksel, Dana H – WINNER!

Best sound design of a musical

Gareth Owen, MJ – WINNER!

Best choreography

Christopher Wheeldon, MJ – WINNER!

Best orchestrations

Simon Hale, Girl from the North Country – WINNER!

Special award for lifetime achievement in the theatre

Angela Lansbury