HANSEN DOMINATES TONY AWARDS

Dear Evan Hansen, the musical about high schoolers dealing with suicide, falsehoods and loneliness, won six Tony Awards Sunday night, including Best New Musical, as Bette Midler won for her star turn in Hello, Dolly!, which received the revival award.

Dear Evan Hansen’s star, Ben Platt, won the Actor in a Musical trophy and the show’s songwriters, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, book writer, Steven Levenson, featured actress Rachel Bay Jones and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire won in their respective categories.

The cast album has shot to #1 at iTunes.

A year after Hamilton crushed the competition, the 2016-17 Tonys were viewed as a wide-open field with the exception of Midler and Platt. The musicals in competition received a handful of awards: Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 won for scenic design and lighting design, and Come From Away was honored for direction. Groundhog Day was shut out.

Oslo won for best play; August Wilson’s Jitney, which received its first Broadway staging this year, won for revival of a play.

Six million viewers tuned in to the CBS broadcast, according to Nielsen’s overnight numbers. It’s a 31% drop from last year. Don’t blame the lack of a Hamilton phenom: 6.35m watched in 2015 and 7m the year before that.

For a full list of winners, click here.