2026 Tony Awards: Laurie Metcalf and 'Schmigadoon!' triumph on theater's big night

Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

"Schmigadoon!,” a loving if slight parody of classic Broadway musicals of the Golden Age that’s based on an Apple TV series, won the Tony Award on Sunday night for best musical. It beat out the vampire musical “The Lost Boys,” an epic spectacle based on the popular 1987 horror movie, and a show that impressed more with its bravura staging and design than its score or book.

In a season of notably slim new musical pickings, “Schmigadoon” composer Cinco Paul, who took home the Tonys for best score and best book of a musical, thanked “our schmorchestra” and, tellingly and graciously, given how much he benefited, argued for “more new musicals on Broadway.”

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American Players Theatre, the 47-year-old outdoor theater located in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and both supported by and beloved of many Chicagoans, accepted the previously announced Tony Award for excellence in regional theater. “It was a safe space for me to fall on my face," said presenter Carrie Coon, a Steppenwolf ensemble member who began her career at APT and who was a Tony nominee this year for her work in “Bug” by her husband, Tracy Letts

“Live theater can crack people open,” said artistic director Brenda DeVita in her acceptance speech. “We love what we do in the woods of Wisconsin.

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