The Highs, Lows, and Whoas of the 2024 Tony Awards

Maybe the hive-mind prediction engine is getting a little too good? The 2024 Tony Awards held only a few whoas this year. Vulture’s preshow guesses weren’t 100 percent correct, but we were close. The surprises, instead, were mostly related to the production of the show itself: Jay-Z performed a prerecorded duet with Alicia Keys for Hell’s Kitchen, Hillary Clinton showed up in a caftan, Eddie Redmayne gave children nightmares, and The Outsiders made it rain inside. Now … reopen the curtains! Below, the highs, lows, and whoas of the 2024 Tonys.

LOW — Where is Billy Porter’s phone? After winning an award for his activism, Porter came onstage without his speech in hand and then had to wait for someone to retrieve his phone from somewhere offstage. A bit of chaos and confusion is fun, but also, memorize your speeches, everyone! —Jackson McHenry

HIGH — Genuinely enthusiastic and flustered speeches from design winners. The streaming portion of the event sidelines the craft awards, but at least it also gives breathing room for winners to effuse. We got The Outsiders’ video designer, Hana S. Kim, saying she was just hoping to dress up and didn’t realized she’d be showing so much skin on TV, and The Outsiders’ sound designer, Cody Spencer, saying he can’t believe he’s crying in front of so many “fucking” people he knew, and then realizing he was probably going to get muted on the stream. —J.M.

HIGH — That awkward, well-advised bathroom break. The PlutoTV preshow ended, as last year’s streaming Act One did, about ten minutes before the CBS broadcast began. Awkward pause in the room? Probably, and it risks causing the energy to flag for the first bit of the main broadcast. But there are a lot of over-50 folks in that room, so a structured restroom moment is probably a good idea. —Christopher Bonanos

HIGH — Ushers getting their due! Jeremy Strong thanks the ushers! He’s an earnest, earnest guy. They should’ve let him ramble for another 20 seconds before bringing the music up. —C.B.

LOW — Jay-Z’s party-crashing. When Alicia Keys said she “had to do something crazy” midway through Hell’s Kitchen’s performance, we didn’t think it was going to be Jay-Z appearing somewhere on a random Lincoln Center staircase in what may or may not have been a pretaped video. This isn’t the Grammys. Give the cast their due instead. —Devon Ivie

HIGH — A moment for the dads. Pete Townshend joins the Tommy cast to play the “Pinball Wizard” opening riff and … No one is mad! Especially not DADS EVERYWHERE. Happy Father’s Day! —Sara Holdren

HIGH — Kara Young. Kara Young’s dress. Kara Young’s hair. Kara Young’s win. Kara Young. —S.H.

WHOA — Yes, Danya Tamor took off her shoes. If I won a Tony, I’d also go shoeless to accept the brass. —D.I.

WHOA — … And Brooke Shields put on her Crocs. I support any alumna from the Hallmark Channel, and Shields’s yellow cloud of shoes make it easy. —D.I.

HIGH — Women! Danya Taymor honoring the record number of woman director nominees. Get it. —S.H.

LOW — Elephant, Forgotten. First the Tonys snub the Water for Elephants puppet for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, and then we don’t get to see Rosie at all during the performance? Rude. —D.I.

LOW — Note Cards Out, Notes App In. Apparently, it’s now de rigueur to use your phone for your thank-you-speech notes. I’m not into it. —S.H.

HIGH — The Chita Rivera tribute. It was the slightest bit odd in concept — “let us celebrate this peerless dancer by having a bunch of people dance somewhat like her” — but far be it from us to argue with her greatness or deservingness. She got the final place of honor in the In Memoriam segment, too. —C.B.

LOW — Radio edit for Stereophonic. After being initially (and mystifyingly) left out of the performance lineup, the Stereophonic cast got added to the bill … and then were given, like, 30 seconds to perform? What gives? We’re all here for “Masquerade” (and “Drive”!). Give the people what they want! —S.H.

WHOA — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club’s animatronic moves. Watching Eddie Redmayne do his herky-jerky dance, reaching out to the camera like a William Castle 3-D movie. It’s a choice! And when the rest of the dancers supported that choice, I was charmed. It’s quite a departure from Fosse-esque fluidity, this choice to dance like Charles Entertainment Cheese and his robot pals. When people say Cabaret is political, they probably don’t mean that the show comments on the retirement of Munch’s Make Believe Band from our nation’s pizza palaces. They probably mean encroaching fascism and stuff. —Bethy Squires

HIGH — “NOMINEE” Trucker hats. Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells’s very funny bit about the unexpected (and frankly odd) classification of Gutenberg: The Musical as a revival, even though it’s never been on Broadway before. “It’s just an honor to be eligible.” —C.B.

WHOA — Best Show Advertisement Goes To … The one musical I haven’t seen yet is The Outsiders, and it kept getting lower on my totem pole of summer priorities. Bad wigs aside, did you get a load of that fight scene in the rain with all the blood? And the handsome boys punching the other handsome boys? I have no idea how they pulled that meticulous staging off, and now I’m keen to go see it for myself. The most compelling performance of the night by far. —D.I.

LOW — Stereophonic’s score snub. It would’ve been cool for the play, which features some of the best fake 1970s rock songs to ever grace our eardrums, to be recognized for being such a tremendous sonic powder keg. (Oh, sorry, would you like to try to deconstruct another Rumours for the musicians and audio engineers in Stereophonic’s studio? Didn’t think so.) It’s a colossal achievement, and going against the status quo to award a play for Best Score would’ve been a welcome, and deserved, change. —D.I.

LOW — No Tony for Mary? It’s maybe thematically fitting that Lindsay Mendez, who played the woebegone third leg of Merrily We Go Along’s trio, was the only one of them who didn’t go home with a trophy. It’s also an oversight. Mendez’s heartfelt yet hilarious and subtle sadness holds the show together. At least she already has one for Carousel, but give her another! —J.M.

HIGH — Weepy Jonathan Groff. We have nothing bad to say about him. —C.B.

HIGH — The Outsiders, Best Musical on TV? In addition to winning the big prize this year, it also probably came off best of all the musical segments on the show: dramatic lighting and swooping close-ups during “Tulsa ’67” and “Grease Got a Hold.” They even hauled all the rainmaking gear over to the Koch Theater, and stagehands scrambled to mop up during the subsequent commercial break. —C.B.