Tony Awards: A critic celebrates Broadway's unabashed idealism
At a time in America when lies are rampant in public life and alternative truth has been adopted as a winning political strategy, the 2018-19 Broadway season will be remembered for those gripping moments of simple honesty when an actor, burrowed deep in a role's human perplexity, revealed ourselves to ourselves.
Amid the crowds and costliness of Broadway theater, there's still thankfully room for this kind of profound communication between actors and audiences. The Tony Awards, held at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, proudly flourished an array of progressive values. But it was in honoring the artists who brought theatergoers into their confidence that ideals were most powerfully articulated.
For her portrayal of a
