On Sunday night, the 75th Tony Awards ceremony was telecast from Radio City Music Hall.

The big winners of the evening were the play The Lehman Trilogy and the Pulitzer Prize-winning

Musical A Strange Loop.

The evening was hosted by a charming and completely committed Oscar winner Arianna DeBose and as

a result, the broadcast kept moving, filled with musical performances, emotional acceptance

speeches, and a sondheim tribute.

I'm Gwen Weldon and today we're talking about this year's Tony Awards on Pop Culture

Happy Hour from NPR.

Joining me today is Saraya Nadia McDonald, Senior Culture Critic for Anne Scape, Welcome

back, Saraya.

Thank you for having me.

It's nice to be back.

It's always nice to have you.

So the Broadway season, this award's show celebrated was the first full season since the

pandemic shuttered theaters for a year and a half.

That's one reason a recurring theme of the evening was an appreciation of the understudies,

the wings and standbys who sub-infra-for-porters whenever they're out with COVID, as well

as for the stage managers, dance captains, and members of the tech crews that keep the

shows going on, which is a bit odd as the so-called technical awards for choreography design,

costumes, etc. were handed out in a pre-seremonie that only subscribers to Paramount Plus

could watch, hosted by Darren Chris and Julian Huff.

Arianna DeBose kicked off the main telecast with a rousing, well-choreographed medley

...