A play about the Lehman Brothers bank and musicals about Michael Jackson or a black and queer author triumphed on Sunday evening in New York at the Broadway awards, which are regaining color after the pandemic.
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Often compared to the Oscars of theater, these 75th Tony Awards, broadcast on CBS, concluded a season of renewal for the theaters of the American cultural capital, which had reopened in the fall of 2021 after 18 months of closure because of the Covid-19 .
In the city of Wall Street, it was a financial story, “The Lehman Trilogy”, which emerged victorious with five awards, including best play, best actor (Simon Russell Beale) and best director. (Sam Mendes).
The play by Italian Stefano Massini covers the long life of the American investment bank Lehman Brothers, founded in the 19th century by three immigrant brothers from Germany, and whose fall in 2008 triggered a global financial crisis.
“A small lifeboat”
“MJ the Musical”, a successful biopic about Michael Jackson, which received the assent of the heirs and a mixed reception from critics because it largely ignores the accusations of pedophilia against the “king of pop”, won four awards, including best musical actor, for 22-year-old Myles Frost. Two of the children of the star who died in 2009 at the age of 50, Paris and Prince Jackson, made an appearance on stage.
“A Strange Loop”, favorite with 11 nominations, finally won two Tonys, including the most prestigious, that of the best musical and that of the best musical libretto for its author, Michael R. Jackson – unrelated to the “king of pop”.
The musical tells the torments of a theater usher, budding artist, black and queer like Michael R. Jackson, who wants to become an author on Broadway.
“I felt invisible. I didn’t feel listened to, I felt misunderstood. And I wanted to build a small lifeboat for me, as a gay black man”, said, very moved and applauded, the artist, wrapped in a large fuchsia cape.
“The work must continue”
Ariana DeBose, Oscar winner for her role as Anita in the remake of “West Side Story,” said she was “proud” of Broadway’s efforts to sing on stage at Radio City Music Hall. more open to diversity.
After the pandemic and the death of George Floyd, an African-American killed by the police in June 2020, causing a vast movement against racism in the United States, Broadway reopened in the fall of 2021 with seven plays or musicals written by black authors, unheard of.
“There is progress, but the work must continue,” said singer and actor Darius de Haas, one of the founders of Black Theater United, which defends a more diverse representation in American theaters.
For him, “producers and theater owners have opened their eyes and seen that not only can they have stories that reflect more diversity on Broadway, but also that it can work economically.”
Located around the effervescent Times Square, the 41 theaters of Broadway make the legend of New York but they are also one of its cultural, economic and tourist lungs. Before the pandemic, receipts easily exceeded $30 million a week, even $50 million for Christmas week. This 2021-2022 season was again disrupted but Broadway found the crowds like the 230,000 spectators flocking there last week (around 300,000 the equivalent week in 2019).
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