NYU alumni secured best play and best new musical at this year’s Tony Awards — two of the night’s top honors, and just a couple of the 22 total awards won by former Violets for content, design and production.
The Sunday ceremony named 18 alumni across five NYU schools. Among the big winners were Steinhardt alum Hue Park and Tisch alum Will Aronson, who wrote the musical “Maybe Happy Ending.” The pair was credited for three Tonys out of the show’s six total — which made it the most awarded production this season with best musical, original score and book.
“I met Hue when he was studying at NYU as an international student,” Aronson said in his acceptance speech for best book. “And it changed my life.”
The musical is running at the Belasco Theatre and follows two humanoid robots in a futuristic South Korea who fall in love. It also picked up awards for lead actor Darren Criss, director Michael Arden and set designers Dane Laffery and George Reeve.
“We tried to blend Korean indie pop, American jazz, modern classical and traditional Broadway — a melting pot of sensibilities,” Park said when accepting the award for best original score. “And we are so grateful the Broadway community has embraced us.”
“Purpose” won best play and best featured actress for Kara Young’s performance. Written by Performance Studies alum Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner follows the reunion of a prominent Black political family. In his speech, Jacobs-Jenkins highlighted the role of regional theaters in nurturing new works. “Purpose” got its start at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
“A lot of great stuff happens in New York, but a lot happens out in other regions,” Jacobs-Jenkins said. “So use your next commercial break to Google ‘a local theater near me.’”
Tisch alum Sam Pinkleton won the best director of a play award for “Oh, Mary!,” the hit show putting a campy twist on Mary Todd Lincoln’s life leading up to her husband’s assassination. The play’s writer and star Cole Escola also won for their performance as Mary.
Tisch alum Paul Tazewell earned best costume design for his work on “Death Becomes Her,” directly following his historic Oscar win for costuming the movie musical “Wicked.” Nominated against two other Tisch alumni, this was Tazewell’s tenth Tony nomination for costume design and his second win.
“That Black, queer little boy in Akron, Ohio, had no idea that in 2025 he would have the year he would have,” Tazewell said during his speech.
Alumni, faculty and one current student earned 61 nominations across 17 categories total at this year’s ceremony. Nominations spanned the Tisch School of the Arts, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, College of Arts & Science, School of Law, Gallatin School of Individualized Study and Stern School of Business.
“Thank you for feeling joy,” Pinkleton said in his speech. “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.”
Contact Ethan Li at [email protected].
