Maybe Happy Ending, a musical about an obsolete version of South Korean HelperBots, was the big winner at the 78th Tony Awards on June 8 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The movie won six awards, including Best Musical. It also won Best Direction of a Musical (Michael Arden), Best Original Score (Will Aronson and Hue Park), and Best Scenic Design of a Musical. Meanwhile, Nicole Scherzinger (Sunset Blvd.), Darren Criss (Maybe Happy Ending), Cole Escola (Oh, Mary!), and Sarah Snook (The Picture of Dorian Gray) were among the big winners in acting categories.
The Tony Awards also honor individuals for technical achievement in categories such as lighting and sound design in plays and musicals. Here’s a look at some of the winners in those categories.
1. Sam Pinkleton (Best Direction of a Play)
A former Tony nominee for his work as a choreographer on Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Sam Pinkleton won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for Oh, Mary!, Escola’s one-act dark comedy about Mary Todd Lincoln’s life leading up to the assassination of her husband. The play, which opened off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre before transferring to the Lyceum Theatre, defied box office and critical expectations. It was extended multiple times and is currently running until September 28.
“You have taught me to make what you love and not what you think people want to see,” Pinkleton said of Escola while accepting the award. “I want to thank the audiences who have made this play what it is. Thank you for coming. Thank you for feeling joy. This is a thing we can do. We can bring joy to people at the end of a crappy day, and that feels like a big deal to me.”
Pinkleton also worked as a choreographer on Broadway shows like Machinal (2014) and Heisenberg (2016), but this was his first time directing on Broadway. Knud Adams (English), Sam Mendes (The Hills of California), Kip Williams (The Picture of Dorian Gray), and Danya Taymor (John Proctor is the Villain) were also nominated.
2. Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck (Best Choreography)
Husband-and-wife duo Justin Peck and Patricia Delgado won the Tony Award for Best Choreography for their work on Buena Vista Social Club, a musical inspired by the 1997 Grammy-winning album of the same name. Buena Vista Social Club was the most-nominated musical and won four Tonys.
This was the third Best Choreography Tony for Peck, who won last year for Illinoise and also in 2018 for Carousel. Delgado, a former teacher at The Juilliard School, won in her Broadway debut as a choreographer. She previously served as an associate choreographer on Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (2021).
Joshua Bergasse (SMASH), Camille A. Brown (Gypsy), Christopher Gattelli (Death Becomes Her), and Jerry Mitchell (BOOP! The Musical) were also nominated for Best Choreography.
3. Miriam Buether and Benjamin Pearcy (Best Scenic Design of a Play)
Miriam Buether and Benjamin Pearcy earned one of the three Tony Awards given to Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a play that precedes the events of the original Netflix series. It also won Best Sound Design of a Play (Paul Arditti) and Best Lighting Design of a Play (Jon Clark).
Previously a Best Scenic Design nominee for Three Tall Women, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Prima Facie, Buether is a two-time Evening Standard Best Design Award recipient and won the Linbury Prize for Stage Design in 1999. Pearcy was representing 59 Studio, a production and design firm with offices in New York and London. He has worked on more than 20 Broadway shows, including Pictures from Home (2023), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2014), and Hello, Dolly! (1995).
Buether and Pearcy beat out Marg Horwell and David Bergman (The Picture of Dorian Gray), Rob Howell (The Hills of California), Scott Pask (Good Night, and Good Luck), and Marsha Ginsberg (English).
4. Marg Horwell (Best Costume Design of a Play)
Having already won multiple Sydney Theatre Awards and Greenroom Awards, Marg Horwell added to her already impressive resume with her first Tony for Best Costume Design of a Play for The Picture of Dorian Gray. She was also nominated for Best Scenic Design of a Play for the same production and won the Olivier Award for Best Costume Design.
Brenda Abbandandolo (Good Night, and Good Luck), Rob Howell (The Hills of California), Holly Pierson (Oh, Mary!), and Brigitte Reiffenstuel (Stranger Things: The First Shadow) were also nominated for Tonys for Best Costume Design of a Play.
5. Jonathan Deans (Best Sound Design of a Musical)
Jonathan Deans won Best Sound Design of a Musical for Buena Vista Social Club, beating out Adam Fisher (Sunset Blvd.), Peter Hylenski (Just in Time and Maybe Happy Ending), and Dan Moses Schreier (Floyd Collins). This was Deans’ first win after previously being nominated for Ain’t No Mo’ (2023), Jagged Little Pill (2020), Pippin (2013), and La Cage aux Folles (2010). He has worked on sound design for more than two dozen Broadway shows and is also a three-time Drama Desk Award nominee.