Sophie Okonedo Wins Tony Award
Oladunjoye Opeyemi
Britain-born Nigerian actress, Sophie Okonedo has won the Tony award for best performance by an actress in a play with her Broadway debut in A Raisin in the Sun.
Okonedo, a previous Oscar nominee for the 2004 movie Hotel Rwanda, thanked the cast and crew of the play and singled out producer, Scott Rudin for choosing a Jewish British actress of Nigerian descent to play the very American role of Ruth Younger.
The play was directed by Kenny Leon, who also won an award, and also stars Academy Award winner, Denzel Washington as the head of a poor Chicago family determined to become wealthy. It was well-received by critics, who called it a triumph.
Originally produced in 1959, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway.
Some other winners at the show, held Sunday night, are:
BEST PLAY
Act One
All the Way – WINNER
Casa Valentina
Mothers and Sons
Outside Mullingar
BEST MUSICAL
After Midnight
Aladdin
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder — WINNER
BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
The Cripple of Inishmaan
The Glass Menagerie
A Raisin in the Sun — WINNER
Twelfth Night
BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
Hedwig and the Angry Inch — WINNER
Les Misérables
Violet
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (MUSIC AND/OR LYRICS) WRITTEN FOR THE THEATRE
Aladdin
The Bridges of Madison County — WINNER
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
If/Then
BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Samuel Barnett, Twelfth Night
Bryan Cranston, All the Way — WINNER
Chris O’Dowd, Of Mice and Men
Mark Rylance, Richard III
Tony Shalhoub, Act One
BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Tyne Daly, Mothers and Sons
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, A Raisin in the Sun
Cherry Jones, The Glass Menagerie
Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill — WINNER
Estelle Parsons, The Velocity of Autumn
BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch — WINNER
Ramin Karimloo, Les Misérables
Andy Karl, Rocky
Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Mary Bridget Davies, A Night With Janis Joplin
Sutton Foster, Violet
Idina Menzel, If/Then
Jessie Mueller, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical — WINNER
Kelli O’Hara, The Bridges of Madison County
BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY
Reed Birney, Casa Valentina
Paul Chahidi, Twelfth Night
Stephen Fry, Twelfth Night
Mark Rylance, Twelfth Night — WINNER
Brian J. Smith, The Glass Menagerie
BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY
Sarah Greene, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Celia Keenan-Bolger, The Glass Menagerie
Sophie Okonedo, A Raisin in the Sun — WINNER
Anika Noni Rose, A Raisin in the Sun
Mare Winningham, Casa Valentina
BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Danny Burstein, Cabaret
Nick Cordero, Bullets Over Broadway
Joshua Henry, Violet
James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin — WINNER
Jarrod Spector, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Linda Emond, Cabaret
Lena Hall, Hedwig and the Angry Inch — WINNER
Anika Larsen, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Adriane Lenox, After Midnight
Lauren Worsham, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Tim Carroll, Twelfth Night
Michael Grandage, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Kenny Leon, A Raisin in the Sun — WINNER
John Tiffany, The Glass Menagerie
BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Michael Mayer, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Leigh Silverman, Violet
Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder — WINNER
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Warren Carlyle, After Midnight — WINNER
Steven Hoggett and Kelly Devine, Rocky
Casey Nicholaw, Aladdin
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway
BEST ORCHESTRATIONS
Doug Besterman, Bullets Over Broadway
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County — WINNER
Steve Sidwell, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Jonathan Tunick, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder