Recap the 2026 Tony Awards Acceptance Speeches

The 79th Annual Tony Awards have arrived at last! As winners take the stage tonight, BroadwayWorld will be bringing you full text of all of the acceptance speeches; from the emotional to the humorous, and everything in between.

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FULL LIST OF WINNERS

Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons
Best Choreography
Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Oh my god. We wrote something down because we didn't want to forget anyone. This has been an amazing journey while standing here is truly, truly humbling. Thank you, everyone. First, we would like to just thank the American Theatre Wing, the Broadway League, and all of the Tony voters for this incredible recognition. Oh my god, I can't believe I'm standing here.

We wrote something now but we're gonna speak from the heart. Might as well. So, we would love to thank our amazing choreography team. Our associate choreographer, Chelsea Arce, Bryce, Deva, Michael, Shay. Our producers, Michael Harrison, thank y'all so much for taking the chance on us. Our amazing directors, Bill, Zhalion, we love you so much. Thank you Qween Jean for those late night calls all the time. Thank you, Josie, for all of your hard work and dramaturgy, just keeping us ready with consulting and making sure the hard work we put there was being represented and represented right.

Thank you, ballroom. Because if it wasn't for you, we would not be here. We have been in ballroom for over 30 years combined. Serving, battling, competing. But this is not a competition. This is celebrating all the hard work of all the choreographers, all the talented cast members of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, who put their blood, sweat, and tears, every show, eight times a week, on that floor. That's what's up.

Thank you, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber for allowing us to do this. Thank you to the amazing musicians and to William. There's so many people, but thank y'all so much. We'll be here all night.

Dane Laffrey
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
The Lost Boys

Thanks, everybody. This is amazing. Thank you to the wing and the Broadway League.
This is incredible honor. I first want to thank our producers over there who had a really, really bold vision for this show and insisted that the rest of us did, too. And I want to thank, uh, Jimmy and Nick, and everybody at the Nederlander are for giving us a truly amazing home to play in.

I suspect a lot of people standing up here feel a bit like the tip of an iceberg. I certainly do, so I want to take a moment to share this Tony, with the people who brought this design to life. The people who make it move, the insane, brilliant people who figured out how to build a three story building inside another building that had recently been lifted above Times Square, three stories.

You're brilliant. I need to thank my incredible associate of the past decade, Matt Ayakoza. Our props, supervisor Ray Wentmore, whose details make are the lifeblood of all of my work.

You know, because building a world like this that can sweep audiences away is as much about vision as it is about execution. And I think there is nowhere where that's more evident than with our unbelievable company, of whom we ask the most extraordinary things, like Michael said, and who climb more stairs every evening than I care to think about. It's insane.

Our show is about finding a family, and building a family, and holding onto that family, and I think that is what those of us who made it did, I feel forever connected to all of you, especially, of course, my creative partner and producing partner, and a very recent Tony Winner, Michael Arden. And finally, I want to thank all of the partners and families of Team Lost Boys, especially my partner, Jen Silverman. I love you.

For, you know, we were in the dark in a theater for a really long time to make this show, and there was a lot of patience and sacrifice. So thank you to everybody who put up with us while we made it. Thanks so much.

Chloe Lamford
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

Thank you so much. Thank you so much to the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League. This is a huge honor and such an enormous moment. To Joe. There you are. To Joe Mantello, thank you so much for asking me to do this show with you. I love our collaboration so much. I loved working with you so much. Thank you. The rest of the creative team, it was so brilliant and poetic and wonderful to work with you all. Thank you so much to Ryan Murphy, to Showmotion, to the, scenic art studio. Everyone worked so hard. Thank you to Ed Pierce, my brilliant associate, Kelly, who assisted him, my team back in London, thank you so much. It's such an honor to work in this industry, and also to make theater and storytelling in this time feels so important. I really want to thank my kids, who were one and three when I designed this show. A real massive love to all the mums in the room. It's no easy feat to make this as a new mom. So, huge love to all of you, and thank you so much. This is really amazing. Thank you.

Jen Schriever and Michael Arden
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
The Lost Boys

Jen Schriever: Okay, I can't believe how lucky I am to be able to say thank you to the American Theatre Wing. In this room in front of all of you, my little brother is running a follow spot right now. He is. We grew up making theater in high school, getting lost, in building pretend worlds that helped us make sense of our own. I think it can feel really easy to be a cynic in the world right now, and there's no better antidote than the open hearted vulnerability it takes to make theater. The Lost Boys at his heart is about finding your people, and also realizing who has been with you all along.  Thank you, Joe, to my husband for being my North Star, to my son, Henry, watching from his besties, always house. I love you so much. Your creative spirit and kind heart inspire me every day. Sharing this creative process with Michael Arden has taught me so much, not just about art making, but about the incredible things that can come out of yes saying, I love you.

Michael Arden: I love you. I'm so honored to share this award with the incredible gentry group, who I have been a fan of forever, and the fact that you let me in is so astounding.  The Lost Boys is a show about wanting to belong. And this room of people, this community, has allowed me to belong somewhere for the last 20 years, and I am so, so grateful. I started out making shows in my grandparents' garage for just them. They're no longer here, but I am so grateful that they let me dream of impossible things, and I'm so grateful to be working on the Lost Boys, where we dreamed impossible things, that we had a score by The Rescues, a book by David Hornsby and Chris Hope, amazing producers, who let us swerve out of our lanes with abandon and trying new things and make magic into our company, who is risking life and limb every night on this stage, they are actually flying. They actually fly. Thank you for finding the light for staying in the dark when we need you to. And it's my beautiful husband, Andy. I love you so, so much. And to anyone out there who feels like they don't belong, the theater is here for you. Thank you.

Jack Knowles
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

Wow. This is amazing. Broadway is such an incredible, supportive community. Shout out to all the designers over there. You all rock, love you all. The Salesman creative team, you are a joy to work with, a dream, so inspirational. Mikhail, Chloe, Joe, Rudy, Caroline. It's such an honor. Thanks to the nominating committee. Thanks to the Wing, the League, for embracing our show. Thanks to our producers, for bringing us here. This is a joy. I'm getting a bit scared, so I'm gonna go, but love you all. Thank you.

Cinco Paul
Best Original Score
Schmigadoon!

Thank you so much. I already talked, you're probably sick of me already. Thank you so much for this. This is so amazing. I have to give huge thanks to the music team at Schmigadoon!, Stephen Malone, David Chase, our arranger, Doug and Mike who you already gave this to, because they are the best. Our Schmorchestra is fantastic. They're the best. Our cast, they sing the heck of this, our ensemble, the best ensemble on Broadway right now. They are amazing. True triple threats.

I just want to say that, there are only six new musicals this season. That is not enough. We need more new musicals on Broadway. I can't do that. There are people out here who can help make that happen, so I implore you all to please do all you can. There are amazing musical writers out there, support new musicals. Everybody go see our show, of course, but see Lost Boys, Titanique, Two Strangers Carry a Cake...support musicals. Thank you so much.

Freddie Hendricks
Excellence in Theatre Education Award

First, I want to thank God for blessing me with good health and strength. Thank you to my mama, Betty Jean Hendrix. I know you have something to do with this from heaven. I'm sure of it. I love you.

Thanks to my whole family, for their continued support. My journey began at Lincoln Memorial University, where, in my freshman year, I met my mentor, Dr. Mabel Dunkirk Smith, who inspired me to pursue a career in acting and musical theater. Years later, God gave me a vision of children at my window asking me to help them. This was not a dream. It was a vision. And that vision led me to start the Youth Ensemble of Atlanta, YEA.

Then I went on to teach and create original work all around the world. And from teaching drama at Tri Civics High School, of the performing arts, I am now a teacher at Utopian Academy for the Arts, founded by one of my students. Dr. Artesius Miller.

My greatest joy is seeing my students excel in all areas of the entertainment industry. including Broadway, of course. Thank you to the American Theater Wing, the Broadway League, and Carnegie Mellon University for this amazing honor, because teaching is my passion. And my one desire is for all of my students to know that they are special, that everyone is someone, and that art, it matters. To all my students, to all my babies, look at us!

Kai Harada
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Ragtime

I am gonna read from this because I can't remember anything. I'm not usually on this side of the microphone, but this is a great honor, and thank you. Especially thank you for the American Theater Wing, the Broadway League. You know, I didn't even hear which musical becauase I got nominated [for two]. Ragtime. Ragtime. Great. Okay. You know? It's not a great quality for a sound designer.

But anyway, thank you to Lincoln Center Theater, Tom Carnegie, Bob Greenblatt, our other producers. Thank you to our fearless leader, Lear deBessonet, for bringing me on board. Thank you to Lynn and Stephen, and Terrence for creating such a beautiful musical that is so relevant in 2026. Special sounds to my fellow designers, our amazing orchestra, our cast. It's just an honor to have worked with you. Sound doesn't exist in a vacuum, and sound designers don't work in a vacuum. So there's a ton of people I need to thank in the next 20 seconds. Lucas Gobeau, Charles Shells, Jack O'Bride, Pride Van Tassel, Colin Breger at Ragtime. I have to thank our other team members, Bella Curry, Ashton McGorda, Juliet McIntyre, Mark Fisher, Michelle Reese, Josh Blaisdell, Jake Scotter, Ian Carr, Joseph Hickardy... This award is for all of us, because we are a team. But I'm gonna hold on to it. Special thanks to my mom, who's up there, thanks to my parents. Thank you.

Mikaal Sulaiman
Best Sound Design of a Play
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

Wow. I'll get close to the mic. I am a sound designer. I should know better. Um, thank you, Mom. She's here with me tonight, Madeline. Thank you to my father, my brother Ben, my brother Amir, um, brilliant associates, DJ Potts, Will Pickens, unbelievable associates who killed it. Um, and Walter Trarbach, who's also nominated today, Walter, what the, what's going on, man?

This is so weird, right? Alex Tobin, my A1. Those are the majors, but the biggest one is Joe. Montello, you've created an immense piece of art. You trusted the process that I brought these weird ideas into the process, and you were totally gay, you were so generous, so kind. Thank you. Thank you, Max Grossman at UTA. I got to thank my agent and Michael, I don't know. Thank you, everybody. Thank you.

Outstanding Regional Theatre
American Players Theatre

We are both humbled and proud to receive this honor, and we thank the Broadway League, the American Theater Wing, American Theater Critics Association, and City National Bank. And we thank everyone who has ever worked for ABT. You know that you are all essential to what we do and this is for every single one of you. And this is also for our extraordinary audience, our tenacious, radically committed audience, people who have believed in us and stood with us for 47 years. We are here for you and because of you.

Being from the woods of rural Wisconsin, you might imagine we believe in regional theater. ABT is statistically impossible. We only exist because of a deep faith in storytelling, and that when you bring greater artists and a curious audience together, it creates community. And for us, community is the point. We are very lucky to have talents of people from all over the country to come work for us, and when they get there, they're like, "what the hell am I doing here in the middle of nowhere?" until they meet our audience, and they experience poetry under the stars. Then they know whether they're there. And many of them will stop and say, "Wow, I remember why I started doing this in the first place." Because we all know in this room that live theater can crack people open. It can bridge those differences that we've convinced exist between us. And as artists, we live to walk across those bridges. So thank you so much for the opportunity for, like, acknowledging our work in the woods of Wisconsin. We love what we do, and we are so, so, very grateful. Thank you so much.

Doug Besterman and Mike Morris
Best Orchestrations
Schmigadoon! 

They don't let us out of our room very often, so we're gonna read. Thank you so much. We are so incredibly honored. First, we have to thank Cinco Paul for his brilliant songs and for trusting us with this remarkable musical world, and to our music supervisor, David Chase, this award belongs to you as much as it does to us. Thank you for being our creative partner every step of the way. Also, many thanks to Broadway video, no guarantees, and our entire producing team, for their unwavering belief in Schmigadoon from the very start, and to the amazing Christopher Gattelli for bringing the show so beautifully to life on stage.

There's an extraordinary team of musicians, copyists, programmers, and other music staff, whose artistry is part of every note of the score, and we proudly share this award tonight with each one of you. And on a personal note, I'm deeply grateful to my family, especially my mom, my daughters, Melody, and Mandy, for their incredible love, patience, and understanding, and to my dear Marcy, fulfilling my life with love, laughter, and lyrics. And especially to my wife, Alita, and my family, thank you for a lifetime of love.

Qween Jean
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Happy Pride, y'all. Happy Pride! This is such an amazing experience. I just want to say thank you, thank you so much to the entire Tony Award nominating committee. I want to say thank you to the Almighty for breathing creativity and imagination. We are architects of imagination as costume designers that create so much love and compassion in this world. I just want to say thank you to the entire crew cast. My directors of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Round, Jayla Livingston, I love you so much. Our incredible producers, Mike Bosner, I love you, Michael Harrison. Thank you so much for the entire crew, our cast, the icon, Andre DeShields. Thank you so much. This experience has been monumental. We are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people. We are taking up space in ways. We have to take up space. We have to shift the paradigm. So I just want to say thank you all so much for this incredible honor. The world right now is is deeply, deeply combating so many ailments, and we know, as a society, that when we come together, we can make real permanent change. Thank you so much for this honor.

Cinco Paul
Best Book of a Musical
Schmigadoon!

Thank you so much for this. This is amazing. Schmigadoon! on Broadway would never have happened without Lorne Michaels, all the amazing people at Broadway Video. Christine Schwarzmann, all the amazing people at No Guarantees. Our incredible genius director.choreographer, Chris Gattelli, our fabulous cast and crew and creative team. The original Schmigadoon! writers' room, Ken Dario, Julie Klostner, Allison Silverman, Kate Gersten, Bowen Yang. I've had one agent in my entire career, that's Frank Wullager. My mom, I've also had one mom my entire career. She's the one who instilled the love of musical theatre in me. This would make her so happy right now. I just want to take a moment to clear up a misconception. During the press run, I may have given people the impression of my wife, Amy, hates musicals. I deeply regret this. Amy really likes musicals, just not as much as I do. And I crazy love musicals, as you can imagine, but just not as much as I love Amy. Amy, this is for you, sweetie. Thank you.