‘Hadestown’, a musical set in hell, wins eight Tony awards at Broadway’s big night
- The Tony awards honouring the best of Broadway theatre were handed out in New York
- ‘Hadestown’ leads Tonys, nets rare female director trophy
Hadestown, a folk opera about a young couple’s dark trek to the underworld, topped Broadway’s Tony awards on Sunday winning eight honours, including the top prize best musical.
Based on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, Anais Mitchell’s musical also won Tonys for best director, score, supporting actor Andre De Shields, orchestration, and sound, scenic and lighting design.
Director Rachel Chavkin noted she was the only woman currently directing a Broadway musical and called for the theatre world to step up.
“It is a failure of imagination,” she told the audience.
The Ferryman, British playwright Jez Butterworth’s wrenching examination of a family during the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland in the 1980s, won best play and best director for Sam Mendes.
Bryan Cranston won his second Tony as the unhinged television anchor man in Network, a stage adaptation of the 1976 movie.