Sunday marked Broadway’s biggest night, with the 2025 Tony Awards taking place at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. Hosted by Cynthia Erivo, the night was one to remember, and many Black talent on stage and off received their well-deserved flowers.
Kara Young made Tony Award history as the first Black performer to win back-to-back
Kara Young snagged the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Purpose. In it, she plays Aziza, a Harlem social worker. Her history-making victory marked the first time a Black performer had won two consecutive Tony Awards, and it was her fourth nomination in a row. She won her first Tony in 2024 in the same category for Ossie Davis’ Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch. She was previously nominated for Clyde’s and Cost of Living in 2022 and 2023.
While accepting her award, Young reflected on how the theater brings us together.
“In this world that [is] so divided, theater is…a safe, a sacred space that we have to honor and cherish and it makes us united,” she said.
Paul Tazewell takes home the Best Costume Design of a Musical Award
Costume designer Paul Tazewell has had a triumphant year, kicking off with his history-making win at this year’s Oscars for his work on John Chu’s celebrated Wicked adaptation. He kept the momentum going at the Tony Awards, winning Best Costume Design in a Musical for Death Becomes Her.
“The Black, queer, little boy, in Akron, Ohio, had no idea that in 2025, he would have the year that he had,” Tazewell said during his acceptance speech, adding, “I have dressed so many of you, and I have worked with the rest of you out there in creating amazing worlds and telling wonderful stories, and it’s a huge privilege to be a meaningful part of this Broadway community.”
Tazewell previously won the Tony in the same category in 2016 for Hamilton.
Best Featured Actress in a Musical went to Natalie Venetia Belcon
Sunday was also a big night for Natalie Venetia Belcon, who took home the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for Buena Vista Social Club. She plays Omara in the show.
“This is such an incredible honor to come back this way, and to portray this woman in this band,” Belcon said in her acceptance speech. “I thank you all so much.”
The outlet reported Belcon was previously on Broadway almost 10 years ago in Matilda the Musical. In an interview with Playbill following her win, Belcon said, “You see somebody of a certain age that’s doing something that you appreciate, you should say it because the age, literally, has nothing to do with someone’s gifts — those don’t rot; they actually get better,” before mentioning that the youngest member of the Buena Vista Social Club, the Cuban musical ensemble formed in 1996, was in their 60s.
Purpose wins Best Play
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins was another big winner, as Purpose won the Tony Award for Best Play.
After his acceptance speech, in an interview with Playbill, the acclaimed playwright emphasized the importance of supporting regional theater.
He told the outlet, “I grew up in a really prominent regional theatre community. It’s where I was born, it’s how I first saw Suzan Lori-Parks plays. I would see the weird regional production of Full Monty! That was my everything, that was where most of my friendships were forged… It’s where I learned how to be an artist, it’s how I was exposed to what art was. I just feel like this is the moment to step up and really look around and invest in the community that’s surrounding you.”
Purpose also won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in May. And Jacobs-Jenkins is the first Black playwright to win Best Play since August Wilson won in 1987 for Fences, The Associated Press (via Beloit Daily News) reported.
