Andrew Lloyd Webber, Harvey Fierstein Win Big at the 2025 Tony Awards

“Broadway is officially back,” crowed host Cynthia Erivo at the Tony Awards June 8. Broadway shows sold a record $1.9 billion in tickets this year, and much of that money is coming from those over 50, who took longer than youngsters to return to theaters after COVID-19 but this season came back, driving the average audience age from 40 to 42.

Talents over 50 had earned eight of the year’s top 20 Tony acting nominations, and though the most famous nominees didn’t prevail in the main categories, there were a few 50-plus winners in the limelight.

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Good Night, and Good Luck star George Clooney, 64, whose Broadway performance was televised live on CNN June 7 to rave reviews, lost, as did Mia Farrow, who got her first-ever Tony nomination at 80 for The Roommate.

Audra McDonald, 54, had been favored to win for Gypsy but lost to Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset Blvd., which won best musical revival, handing composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, 77, his first competitive Tony since 1995, when the original show won. McDonald may have lost, but she remains the most-honored actor in Tony Awards history. She earned a standing ovation at the ceremony for her powerful, agonized performance of “Rose’s Turn” from the show.

Grownup victors included Francis Jue, 61, who won best featured actor in a play for the revival of Yellow Face, and Natalie Venetia Belcon, 56, who won best featured actress in a musical in Buena Vista Social Club. Paul Tazewell, 60, won best costume design for a musical for Death Becomes Her, months after he became the first Black man to win an Oscar for designing costumes for Wicked.

Harvey Fierstein receives the Lifetime Achievement Award during The Tony Awards on June 8.

Michele CroweCBS via Getty Images

Harvey Fierstein, 73, the four-time Tony winner behind Torch Song Trilogy and Kinky Boots, was honored with a lifetime achievement Tony and became emotional during his speech. “There is nothing quite like bathing in the applause of a curtain call, but when I bow, I bow to the audience, with gratitude, knowing that without them, I might as well be lip-syncing showtunes in my bedroom mirror,” he said. “And so I dedicate this award to the people in the dark.”

Here are the 2025 Tony Award winners in the main categories:

• Best play: Purpose
• Best musical: Maybe Happy Ending
• Best lead actor in a musical: Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending
• Best lead actress in a musical: Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Blvd.
• Best lead actress in a play: Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray
• Best lead actor in a play: Cole Escola, Oh, Mary!
• Best revival of a musical: Sunset Blvd.
• Best featured actor in a play: Francis Jue, Yellow Face
• Best featured actress in a play: Kara Young, Purpose
• Best featured actor in a musical: Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical
• Best featured actress in a musical: Natalie Venetia Belcon, Buena Vista Social Club