Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Tony Awards Pt 2: “Moulin Rouge,” “The Inheritance” win Best Musical, Play, In Memoriam Segment Shines with Mitchell, O’Hara, and Lewis

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Part 2 of the Tonys went on a little too long, but overall the show on CBS was a success.

“The Inheritance” won Best Play. “Moulin Rouge” was Best Musical. “Slave Play” got nothing, which I think is great because it was basically porn. So there.

The duets segment culminated in a huge moment with Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell singing from “Ragtime.” They were brilliant.

Stokes-Mitchell, and Kelli O’Hara and Norm Lewis were especially terrific during an emotional and long In Memoriam for 2020 and 2021 that I think included everyone who passed away. Having Mitchell sing “The Impossible Dream” was a lovely touch. He sang it from his apartment window during the height of the pandemic for all the first responders, nurses and doctors.

The 2020-21 Tony Awards are over. All in all, the four hours were splendid. They should get Emmys. They made a very good lemonade from lemons. No complaints. The ratings? Who cares? There was a lot of competition. But if you love Broadway, the whole thing was worth it.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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