Tag Archives: E.M. Forster

Matthew López Becomes First Latino to Win Tony Award for Best Play

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Matthew López has earned his place in Broadway history…

The 44-year-old Puerto Rican playwright and screenwriter’s The Inheritance was named Best Play at the Tony Awards, earning him his first career Tony.\

Matthew Lopez

Lopez’s acclaimed elegiac two-part drama about the AIDS scourge was inspired by E.M Forster’s Howards End.

López, after thanking and acknowledging three queer artists who inspired him (Forster, Terrence McNally and Miguel Pinero), noted that he was the first Latinx playwright to win a Tony Award for Best Play.

He said that while the Latinx community made up 19% of the U.S. population, the number drops to only 2% on Broadway. “This must change,” he said.

The 74th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Audra McDonald, were livestreamed exclusively on Paramount+. The presentation honored the outstanding shows, performances and artistry of the 2019-2020 Broadway season, which was brought to a halt in March 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here’s the complete list of honorees:

74th ANNUAL TONY AWARDS WINNERS LIST

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
David Alan Grier, A Soldier’s Play

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Lois Smith, The Inheritance

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol

Best Costume Design of a Play
Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Hugh Vanstone, A Christmas Carol

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Derek McLane, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Catherine Zuber, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Justin Townsend, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Peter Hylenski, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best Sound Design of a Play
Simon Baker, A Christmas Carol

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
A Christmas Carol
Music: Christopher Nightingale

Best Book of a Musical
Jagged Little Pill
Diablo Cody

Best Orchestrations
Katie Kresek, Charlie Rosen, Matt Stine and Justin Levine, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best Choreography
Sonya Tayeh, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best Direction of a Play
Stephen Daldry, The Inheritance

Best Direction of a Musical
Alex Timbers, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Andrew Burnap, The Inheritance

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Aaron Tveit, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Mary-Louise Parker, The Sound Inside

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Adrienne Warren, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

Best Revival of a Play
A Soldier’s Play Charles Fuller

Best Play
The Inheritance
Author: Matthew López

Best Musical
Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Special Tony Awards were presented to:

  • The Broadway Advocacy Coalition, an arts-based advocacy nonprofit dedicated to building the capacity of individuals, organizations and communities to use storytelling as a way of dismantling the systems that perpetuate racism. The organization was founded in 2016 by several Black members of the Broadway community as a direct response to the nation’s pandemic of rac:ism and police brutality, and has since grown into a multidisciplinary organization which unites artists, legal experts and community advocates to create lasting impact and collaborations on policy issues ranging from criminal justice reform to education equity to immigration.
  • David Byrne’s American Utopia, the Broadway theatrical concert production described by the Tony Awards administration committee as “a jubilant celebration of live music, community, and connection.” The production recently returned to Broadway for a limited engagement.
  • Freestyle Love Supreme, created by Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Anthony Veneziale, was developed in the basement of The Drama Bookshop in 2004 and slowly worked its way to Broadway’s Booth Theatre in 2019. Directed by Kail, the acclaimed show features a comedic improvisational musical structure, and a rotating cast. Freestyle Love Supreme will return to Broadway for a strictly limited engagement at the Booth on Thursday, October 7.

Tony Honors For Excellence in the Theater were previously announced for:

  • Fred Gallo, President of PRG Scenic Technologies. Gallo, a former stagehand and production carpenter, co-founded Scenic Technologies leading to the formation of his company PRG, one of the world’s leading suppliers of scenery and automation for theatrical productions.
  • Irene Gandy, the first Black female press agent member of the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers, and a Tony Award-winning Broadway producer for The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, and a producer for Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill starring Audra MacDonald.
  • Beverly Jenkins, a professional stage manager for over 30 years, currently the production stage manager for the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Hadestown.
  • Woodie King, Jr., founder of the New Federal Theatre, a groundbreaking company with a mission to integrate artists of color and women into the mainstream of American theater.

The 2020 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award was previously announced for:

  • Actress Julie Halston for her work and advocacy in raising funding and awareness for the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation.

Matthew Lopez’s “The Inheritance” Named Drama League’s Outstanding Play of the 2019-20 Theater Season

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Matthew Lopez’s latest project is in a League of its own…

The 43-year-old Puerto Rican playwright and screenwriter’s two-part play The Inheritance was named the outstanding play of the 2019-20 theater season by New York’s Drama League.

Matthew Lopez

The 86th Annual Drama League Awards – announced virtually in lieu of an in-person gathering – covered the shortened theater season for both Broadway and Off Broadway.

The Inheritance opened at the Young Vic Theatre in London in 2018, before transferring to the Noel Coward Theatre in the West End. The production was directed by Stephen Daldry. The play premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on September 27, 2019 in previews, with the official opening on November 17.

Set in New York three decades after the height of the AIDS epidemic, The Inheritance wrestles with what it means to be a gay man today, exploring relationships and connections across age and social class and asking what one generation’s responsibilities may be to the next. The play is a loose adaptation of E.M. Forster‘s novel Howards End.

Meanwhile, Moulin Rouge!, starring 43-year-old part Dominican & part Puerto Rican actress Karen Olivo, was named musical of the year.

Olivo stars as Satine in the musical, which is based on the 2001 film Moulin Rouge! It’s directed by Baz Luhrmann and written by Luhrmann and Craig Pearce.

Chosen by the Drama League’s nationwide organization of theater artists, industry professionals and audience members, this year’s award winners also include Moulin Rouge! actor Danny Burstein (Distinguished Performance Award); Broadway’s A Soldier’s Play (Outstanding Revival of a Play) and Off Broadway’s Little Shop of Horrors (Outstanding Revival of a Musical).

Previously announced special awards and honors went to director Marianne Elliott, playwright Terrence McNally, and director/playwright James Lapine.

Matthew Lopez to Receive the Human Rights Campaign’s HRC Equality Award

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Matthew Lopez is being honored for his inspiring work…

The Puerto Rican Broadway playwright and screenwriter will be feted by the Human Rights Campaign, receiving this year’s HRC Equality Award.

Matthew Lopez

HRC, the nation’s largest LGBTQcivil rights organization, will present Lopez with his award at the 19th Annual HRC Greater New York Gala on Saturday, February 1.

“Matthew Lopez’s sweeping, groundbreaking play The Inheritance tells the important story of LGBTQ life in the 21st century, while paying homage to our rich, diverse history,” said HRC president Alphonso David. “For telling this story so powerfully, and for his contributions to the LGBTQ community, it is a true honor for HRC to present Matthew Lopez with the Equality Award.”

The Inheritance, currently playing at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, reimagines E.M. Forster’s Howards Endas the story of a group of gay men in 21st Century Manhattan. 

The 2020 HRC Greater New York Gala is set for Saturday, February 1, at the Marriott Marquisin Manhattan.