As the final award of the 78th Annual Tony Awards was handed to Maybe Happy Ending—this year’s surprise triumph for Best Musical—Cynthia Erivo took the stage to close the show with a cheeky send-up of Dreamgirls’ “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” Draped in a glamorous purple feathered gown, Erivo (who was hands-down one of the night’s best dressed) belted her final note to a standing ovation, signaling that the curtain may have fallen at Radio City Music Hall, but Broadway’s biggest night was far from over. From Midtown to the Upper East Side, the real show was just beginning—with more than a dozen after-parties lighting up the city well into the morning hours.
Attending all 17 is, regrettably, impossible (despite what my colleagues attempt come Met Gala night), so the evening becomes a choose-your-own-adventure. I began, like many others, at the official Post-Tonys Gala at MoMA.
I wasn’t alone in exiting Radio City Music Hall feeling ravenous, so walking into MoMA and being greeted by passed hors d’oeuvres and global food stations—Mexican, Italian, Asian—felt like divine intervention. Just a quick stroll from the awards, the museum quickly filled with guests balancing Tonys playbills in one hand and lo mein or wine in the other. Grammy Award–winning composer Emily Bear took to the piano for a Marie’s Crisis–style sing-along, with Broadway favorites Jessica Vosk and Betsy Wolfe delivering impromptu solos.
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A few blocks down from Radio City, the crowd spilled into Pebble Bar—a Tony night mainstay packed with nominees, winners, and familiar faces from across stage and screen. Sarah Paulson and Ella Beatty were spotted deep in conversation, while guests helped themselves to Schaller & Weber sandwiches and piping hot donuts. Kara Young and Glenn Davis (Purpose) and Francis Jue (Yellow Face) proudly showed off their newly minted Tonys. Among them was Succession star Sarah Snook, who arrived with her own award in tow, dressed in a blush-hued suit sharp enough to make Dorian Gray blush.
Just a block away, the cast and crew of Oh, Mary! took over the Hard Rock Hotel to celebrate director Sam Pinkleton and star Cole Escola’s wins. The final moments of Escola’s play—an ecstatic solo dance by Mary Todd Lincoln—felt spiritually extended onto the dance floor that night. Pinkleton, in a full-length Thom Browne coat, spun with guests and his mom to a soundtrack of Chappell Roan and Beyoncé. At one point, his longtime agent Di Glazer took his shoulders in her hands and reminded him—tearfully, triumphantly—“You just won a Tony Award for Best Director!”
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John Proctor Is the Villain invited guests over to Radio Park for their own type of Crucible Cast Party. Outdoors, cast members and friends enjoyed a make-your-own goody bag station provided by Swedish candy company BonBon. In a similar vein to Sadie Sink, Amalia Yoo, and Morgan Scott’s tear-provoking and cathartic interpretive performance at the end of the play, the three of them danced the night away with Kimberly Belflower, Laufey, Danya Taymor, and more. Regardless of the outcome of the awards that evening, this Critics Pick and fan favorite play had much to celebrate.
Though the awards show wrapped at 11 p.m., Cynthia Erivo held onto her host hat a bit longer—trading her purple feathers for sheer black tulle in what was perhaps the most elegant Wicked Witch of the West reference of the night—and welcomed friends to The Russian Tea Room alongside Entertainment 360 and United Talent Agency (UTA).
Broadway’s brightest, including Adrienne Warren, Sara Bareilles, and Sarah Paulson, turned out to toast Erivo’s knockout hosting debut.
Alex Newell was spotted admiring Jak Malone’s freshly won Tony, just as Jasmine Amy Rogers ran into Malone’s arms in a jubilant embrace. Even those with their own parties to host—Sarah Snook and Julianne Hough among them—made time to drop by. Lena Waithe hit the dance floor alongside a majority of the original Hamilton cast (Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jasmine Cephas-Jones, Daveed Diggs, Leslie Odom Jr., Anthony Ramos, to name a few), who had reunited earlier in the evening for a show-stopping mashup. With the “HamFam” so well represented, it might as well have been June 2016—the year Hamilton and Erivo both triumphed at the Tonys, winning Best Musical and Best Actress in a Musical, respectively.
Also in the crowd: Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, Ilana Glazer, and Tom Felton. Less likely fixtures at a Tonys after-party than the Broadway set—but proof that this was the room to be in.
Maybe Maybe Happy Ending had the most to toast, sweeping six Tonys, including Best Musical and Best Actor—thanks in no small part to Darren Criss’s poignant performance as Oliver. Criss and Julianne Hough co-hosted their now-traditional “After After” party at Crane Club. Downstairs in the speakeasy, Glee alums Chris Colfer and Alex Newell celebrated alongside the night’s winners.
When I caught Colfer alone, I had to ask the question on every “Gleek’s” mind: how would Kurt Hummel react to Blaine Anderson winning a Tony? “He’d be over the moon,” Colfer smiled. “He’d claim it as his own win—like I am now.” Moments later, Criss and Hough leapt onto the bar for photos with his Tony, before Criss picked up drumsticks and launched into a set of ’90s rock anthems. At 3 a.m., there was no sign of him stopping. “Ask me again in a few hours,” he quipped.
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Just after 3 a.m., I crossed town to the East Side, where the line for the Carlyle’s legendary after-party—hosted by John Gore, Jamie DuMont, and Rick Miramontez—still trailed down Madison Avenue. Inside, each floor was brimming with martini-clinking guests, a Tony (or two) always within reach. The party radiated a warm, familial glow.
Upstairs, guests nibbled on omelettes and danced as if dawn weren’t creeping in. Sadie Sink and Fina Strazza, of John Proctor Is the Villain, lounged near the grand piano, Strazza’s white feathered stole a perfect match for the hotel’s old-school glamour. Cocktail tables bore the evidence of a long, joyful night: scattered fries, half-sipped drinks, and whispered debriefs of the evening’s best moments.
Around 4 a.m., Nicole Scherzinger—victorious, radiant, and likely exhausted—slipped into a car, closing out a night worthy of a standing ovation. Let the countdown to next year begin.
