BroadwayWorld's 2025 Phony Awards

Each year, the Tony Awards celebrate Broadway’s biggest achievements -- the stars, the songs, the technical spectacle. But let’s be honest: some of the season’s most memorable moments are far too weird, wild, or wonderfully specific to fit into a traditional trophy case.

That’s where we come in.

Welcome to the 2025 BroadwayWorld Phony Awards, our annual celebration of the gloriously niche and criminally overlooked achievements of the 2024-25 Broadway season!

Best Musical Duo
(Romantic, Platonic, Robotic or Necrotic)

Michael Urie & Sutton Foster in Once Upon A Mattress
Nicole Scherzinger & Tom Francis in Sunset Blvd.
Megan Hilty & Jennifer Simard in Death Becomes Her
Darren Criss & Helen J. Shen in Maybe Happy Ending

What better way to kick off this year's Phony Awards than with our first-ever four-way tie! In the immortal words of Stephen Sondheim-- "It takes two." From sexual tension you could cut with a chainsaw, to well-matched wits, to heartstring-tugging Helperbots, the 2024-25 Broadway season was powered by a parade of the most dynamic duos in recent memory.

As Prince Dauntless and Princess Winnifred the Woebegone, Michael Urie and Sutton Foster brought down the castle with a pitch-perfect blend of screwball charm and sincere connection. But beneath the pratfalls and punchlines was something even more touching: a shared sense of misfit wonder and a palpable admiration between two oddballs trying to find their place in a world that doesn't always understand them. Their genuine affection transformed classic caricatures into a couple you couldn’t help but root for.

In Maybe Happy Ending, Helen J. Shen and Darren Criss delivered performances brimming with tenderness, curiosity, and aching restraint. Shen’s luminous vulnerability met Criss’s grounded charm in a duet of discovery, crafting a love story that felt fragile and eternal all at once. They reminded us that even machines can teach us something about being human.

Not since Roxie and Velma have two merry murderesses made so much mischief on Broadway. In taking on iconic frenemies Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp, Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard had some Meryl Streep/Goldie Hawn-sized shoes to fill. Thankfully, these two veteran performers rose to the challenge with guile, glamour, and grit, treating audiences to a twin tour de force replete with killer vocals and violent retribution. And all, of course, for the gaze.

And finally, in bringing their acclaimed performances in Jamie Lloyd's Sunset Blvd. to Broadway, Tom Francis and Nicole Scherzinger have lost not one scrap of the undeniable chemistry and smoldering intensity that wowed audiences on the West End. Their scenes crackle with danger and desire, making this tragic Hollywood pas de deux as mesmerizing as it is merciless.

Breakout Performer

Renesito Avich - Buena Vista Social Club

When a musician is well-established as the, "Cuban Jimi Hendrix," it seems silly to suggest that a breakthrough was even necessary, but when multi-Grammy nominee Renesito Avich made his Broadway debut in Buena Vista Social Club, it was immediately obvious that a star had landed in midtown. Best known for his face-melting skills on the tres, a traditional Cuban guitar, Renesito has captivated Broadway audiences with his showman stage presence and sharp signature style, becoming one of the show's most recognizable faces  and nabbing a Special Tony Award (along with the rest of the amazing BVSC band!) in the process. 

Best Performance by an Inanimate Object in a Musical

Andrew Durand in Dead Outlaw
&
HwaBoon in Maybe Happy Ending

Though he portrays the living, breathing title character for the first half of the new musical, Dead Outlaw, star Andrew Durand spends no less than 40 impressive minutes of the show's 110-minute runtime portraying Elmer McCurdy's mummified corpse. This means no talking, no moving, no visible breathing, no blinking-- and not a scrap of pathos lost. Andrew's studied portrayal of human remains lost to time and greed has redefined excellence in musical theatre performance. With a commitment to stillness that creeps up on audiences, his unblinking gaze and artfully curled hands open a gateway to the bleakest kind of comedy and a portal to the sorrowful reality of the lost soul at the story's center. 

Over at Maybe Happy Ending, an actual prop has taken center stage along with star Darren Criss and in so doing, has won the hearts of fans across the globe. Throughout the musical, the inexplicably adorable flowering succulent, HwaBoon, establishes itself a silent yet poignant presence, reflecting Helperbot Oliver's emotional state and highlighting the overarching themes of obsolescence and the innate need for connection. Its role, though understated, has resonated deeply with audiences, adding a layer of depth to the narrative. In the process, HwaBoon has earned its own playbill bio, an enthusiastic Instagram following, and now, the prestigious Phony Award. 

Best Musical Number

"Where Is Betty?" from Boop! the Musical

Two worlds collide when Betty Boop steps out of the black and white world of Fleischer cartoons and into the technicolor reality of modern day New York City. Thanks to Tony Award-winning icon Jerry Mitchell and his talented team of associates, performers, designers, and stage managers, that mashup happens in a showstopping musical number that has generated more buzz than any other this season. With the cunning use of classic theatrical tricks like double-sided costumes, alternating choreography, and precision timing, the Boop! team is making practical magic for audiences in search of good, old-fashioned Broadway stagecraft with this unforgettable Act 2 opener.

Get the full scoop on "Where Is Betty?" in our exclusive interview with Boop! director and choreographer, Jerry Mitchell!

The Hal Prince & Stephen Sondheim Award for Most Improbable Subject Matter in a Musical

Dead Outlaw & Floyd Collins

Western imperialism in Japan. The unrequited desires of aging showgirls and the men who secretly loathe them. Mass cannibalism. These are just a few of the subject matters that the storied duo of Sondheim and Prince brought to the musical stage, leaving an indelible mark on audiences and transforming the potential of the art form forever. If this Broadway season has taught us anything, it's that the American West has played home to some truly shocking tales-- namely the macabre posthumous sojourn of dead outlaw, Elmer McCurdy, and the media circus surrounding the fate of trapped spelunker, Floyd Collins. In shedding a light on lives unsung, legacies lost, and the depravity of America's long-standing love affair with commerce and spectacle, composers David Yazbek & Eric Della Pena and Adam Guettel and book writers Itamar Moses and Tina Landau are deploying the musical form in unorthodox fashion that would make Hal and Steve proud.

Most Devastating Song

'Dear Bill' from Operation Mincemeat

If you're in the market for an emotional gut punch look no further than 'Dear Bill' from the new musical Operation Mincemeat. A tender wartime love letter written by a woman to a man who doesn’t exist, sung by a man playing a woman pretending to love that man, this heartstring-tugging solo, delivered with tender sincerity by Tony-nominee, Jak Malone. is the show’s quietest moment, but somehow also its loudest flex. With a blend of stiff-upper-lip British practicality and simple poetic sentiment, the song and Jak turn an act of espionage into an arresting portrait of longing and the ache of unrequited loneliness.

Most Sensational Mid-War Cabaret Act

Mary's Cabaret in Oh, Mary!

After watching multiple Tony Award-nomnee, Cole Escola, wreak absolute havoc for 70 minutes, it seems difficult to believe that this downtown-performance-artist-turned-viral sensation-turned-cultural-icon would have anything left to give in Oh Mary!'s final moments. That is, until Mary Todd Lincoln's devotion to her one true love-- cabaret!-- is requited at last. Mary’s final act is a gloriously unhinged, rhinestone-studded fever dream. Through rousing torch songs and Americana classics, Mary takes center stage in her very own one-first woman show with all the conviction of a drag Judy Garland possessed by grief and glitter. Putting Escola's own well-honed cabaret skills center stage, the show's finale is wildly funny, bizarrely touching, and completely unmissable-- political optics be damned!