Yahoo News Daniel Radcliffe Wins First Tony for ‘Merrily We Roll Along’: “One of the Best Experiences of My Life”
You’re a Tony winner, Daniel Radcliffe.
The actor took home the Tony Award for best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical for Merrily We Roll Along. Radcliffe portrays lyricist and playwright Charley Kringas in the revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s 1981 musical. The original production only lasted 12 days before shutting down.
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“I’m gonna just talk fast and try not to cry,” Radcliffe began his acceptance speech. “This has been one of the best experiences of my life. It’s been unbelievable.”
“It is an honor to be on stage with you all every single night,” he added of his co-stars, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez, and the entire cast of the musical. He then took a moment to thank his parents, who were in the audience.
“Happy Father’s Day, Dad,” he said toward the end of his speech. “Thank you for playing Sondheim in the car and just loving me.”
In his speech, the actor also thanked the Broadway League and American Theatre Wing, which present the Tonys; director Maria Friedman; Sondheim and Furth for writing the original musical; everyone at the Hudson Theatre who makes the show come to life; his agent; dresser; and singing teacher, among others.
Since ending his decade-long run as Harry Potter, Radcliffe has found a new kind of success, having received his first Emmy nom in 2023 for his portrayal of Weird Al Yankovic in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story and now his first Tony win.
“It’s amazing,” the actor said backstage after his win. “When I finished Potter, I had no idea what my career was going to be. I’d already started doing some stage stuff, but I didn’t know what the future held at all. So, to have had the last year of playing Weird Al and also doing Merrily We Roll Along, I do think there was some…playing one character for a long time builds up in you a desire to do as many things as you possibly can. So yeah, I’m doing that right now.”
Radcliffe was up against Back to the Future: The Musical‘s Roger Bart, The Outsiders‘ Joshua Boone and Sky Lakota-Lynch, Hell’s Kitchen‘s Brandon Victor Dixon and Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club‘s Steven Skybell.
Merrily We Roll Along marked the actor’s fifth Broadway production and his first Tony nod. Merrily also took home best revival of a musical, best lead actor in a musical for Groff and best orchestrations for Jonathan Tunick.
The Lost City star made his Broadway debut in 2008 with Equus. “I didn’t know how the world was going to see me after those films were done,” he told The Hollywood Reporter during its 2024 Tony Nominees Roundtable. “Between Equus and How to Succeed [in Business Without Really Trying, his second Broadway show], this place was giving me a chance to be something else and to find out who I was as an actor.”
Merrily We Roll Along tells the story of three lifelong friends, played by Radcliffe, Groff and Mendez. The musical begins in the present day, when the three friends have grown apart and works its way backward until the beginning of their friendship nearly two decades earlier. It navigates success, show business and unbreakable bonds.
The Tony Awards 2024, taking place at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York, are airing in two parts Sunday night. Act One, aka the preshow, was hosted by Julianne Hough and Utkarsh Ambudkar and featured a presentation of the first round of awards. The main ceremony, hosted by Ariana DeBose, aired immediately after on CBS and Paramount+.
See the Tonys red carpet looks here.
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