The Boys in the Band Wins 2019 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play

The Broadway-premiere mounting of Mart Crowley's iconic work The Boys in the Band has won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. The Joe Mantello-helmed staging was honored at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 9, beating out fellow nominees All My Sons, Burn This, The Waverly Gallery and Torch Song.

The all-star, all-openly gay Broadway cast included Jim Parsons, Matt Bomer, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Carver, Michael Benjamin Washington, Tuck Watkins, Brian Hutchison and Robin De Jesús. 

The Boys in the Band opened off-Broadway in 1968, and although the show never appeared on Broadway until 2018, the 50th-anniversary production was still considered a revival by the Tony Awards administration committee.

"I would like to dedicate this award to the original cast of nine brave men who didn't listen to their agents when they were told that their careers would be finished if they did this play," playwright Crowley said in his acceptance speech, choking back tears. "And they did it, and here I am. Thank you."

This marks the first Tony Award for TV super-showrunner Ryan Murphy, who served as a producer on the revival. Plus, because of a new rule from the committee, Crowley was also named alongside the show's winners. 

The Boys in the Band centers on a group of gay men convening for a birthday party in 1960s New York City. When alcohol mixes with self-loathing, the party quickly devolves into something much deeper.

Check out Crowley's recent appearance on Broadway.com's Live at Five to learn more about this landmark production.