The 79th annual Tony Awards was one of the best award shows I’ve recently seen — and a night full of big wins for talented Jewish moms.
Some would argue that the Jewish mom with the most to kvell about was not even on stage, though she was on the red carpet: Judith Kugel, the mother of Alicia Moore, AKA Pink, who was the host of the star-studded evening celebrating everything Broadway has to offer.
Pink, known for her on-stage acrobatics at her popular concerts, spun through the air, belted out songs from “Wicked” and even lifted Neil Patrick Harris up with her. She sang a delightful parody of her “Moulin Rouge” hit “Lady Marmalade,” titled “Leading Lady Marmalade,” infusing the lyrics with Broadway’s iconic leading ladies, and even showed us how great she could potentially be in the longest-running show currently on Broadway, “Chicago,” with a rendition of “All that Jazz” that had me jonesing for more of Pink as Velma.
Seriously, someone, please cast Pink in a Broadway show ASAP (perhaps even with her Broadway-loving daughter Willow, for extra kvelling potential).
Some of the night’s biggest awards were given to Jewish women. Most notable perhaps was the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, given to Caissie Levy, who plays “Mother” in the latest revival of “Ragtime.” While the role remains unnamed in the show, Levy revealed on the red carpet that in her head, she named the character after her own Jewish paternal grandmother, Ruth.
“I modeled her after my grandma [Ruth] and my bubbe and my mom — I kind of smushed them all together and that’s my version of Mother,” she told New York Magazine. “I feel like Ruth has such a strength to the name and that feels right for Mother.”
When she got on stage to accept the Tony, the Canadian actress thanked her Jewish parents. “Mark and Lisa Levy, who are here tonight, I love you so much. Thank you for teaching me by example how to be a good person and a team player,” she said. She also thanked her brothers, Josh and Robi, her husband, David Reiser, for his love and support, and all the babysitters who made it possible for her to be both a working actress and a mother. Hear, hear!
But it was Levy’s two kids, Izaiah and Talulah, who got the biggest dedication in her speech. She shared that while being an actor in “Ragtime” is one of the highlights of her career, “Being mother to my kids has been the greatest joy of my life. Although I’m not here to tuck you in each night, you have to know that a part of my heart stays home with you.” Levy definitely echoed the feelings of many a working mother with that one.
Grammy-winning singer and actor Shoshana Bean won her first Tony for playing a single mother of two boys who move into a new town they discover is full of vampires in “The Lost Boys.” Her role of Lucy Emerson was actually initially supposed to be played by Levy, who quit the show when “Ragtime” moved to Broadway. After her win, Bean said of Levy that she’s only ever “marveled that my dear friend, who is like a sister, would make a decision that on a soul level was handing me a gift like this.” It’s quite touching that these incredible Jewish actors and friends both won a Tony on the same night.
Bean dedicated her first Tony to mothers, especially single mothers and to her own Sephardi single mother, who raised her alone after her parents divorced when she was 9.
“This is for the mamas, this is for the single mamas, this is for my single mama: You are the wild heroes. This is for the incredible army of women that surrounded and uplifted me. This is for every woman that felt like too much or not enough: I beg you not to wait for permission to be all of who you are. Be loud, be brave,” she said on stage.
That maternal instinct which she so touchingly embodies in the play was passed down to her (l’dor va’dor!) by her first onstage “mother” — actor Harvey Fierstein, with whom she acted in “Hairspray.” The renowned actor, playwright and director (and amazing quilt maker) recently shared a reel of him celebrating Bean’s Tony nomination.
“I was raised with the mother Harvey Fierstein, so I feel like I have the ultimate combination of tough love and tender love and the greatest teacher,” Bean shared in a post-Tonys press conference.
Another mom to Jewish children, Bess Wohl, who considers herself “Jewish, Mormon and Irish Catholic,” achieved a historic win: It was the third time, and the first time in over three decades, a woman playwright won the Best Play Award. The “Liberation” writer, whose play features a Jewish feminist lesbian character, Susie, based on an amalgam of historical figures in the feminist movement, shouted out the celebrated Jewish playwright who came before her.
“It’s been almost 40 years since an American woman playwright won this award. That was Wendy Wasserstein for her amazing play ‘[The] Heidi Chronicles.’ Tonight I want to honor her. I want to honor women everywhere who dare to use their voice,” Wohl said on stage. “And to all the girls out there, may you speak your truth and may the world be wise enough to listen.”
Other big Jewish winners of the night included Alden Ehrenreich — discovered by Steven Spielberg at his friend’s bat mitzvah — who won Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for his debut Broadway role in “Becky Shaw” — he was given the award by none other than Jewish icon and former bar mitzvah MC Paul Rudd, so basically a perfect match.
John Lithgow, who became the oldest competitive Tony winner for his role in “Giant,” a play that tackles Roald Dahl’s antisemitism and legacy, shouted out Jewish playwright Mark Rosenblatt in his speech. And one of the plays with the most wins for the night was Joe Mantello’s revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” One of those awards was presented by Billy Crystal who also promoted his upcoming one-man show, “860,” an elegy to the house he lost in the Pallisades fires.
The last win of the night, for Best Musical, was awarded to “Schmigadoon,” and Jewish producer Lorne Michaels succinctly put it best when he said: “Sometimes singing, dancing, a lot of jokes and a happy ending is really all you need.”
I couldn’t agree more, but if we can add Pink to a musical full of all those things, I’d be even happier!
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