Ragtime and Cats: The Jellicle Ball battled it out at the 2026 Tonys, leading to some unexpected wins and snubs.
The musical revivals went into Sunday night’s awards ceremony with 11 and nine nominations respectively, and they ended the night with Ragtime in a slight lead with four Tonys to Cats: The Jellicle Ball‘s three awards.
Ragtime triumphed in the best musical revival category, arguably the closest race of the night. However, Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, who directed Cats: The Jellicle Ball, won best direction of a musical over Ragtime director Lear deBessonet, triumphing in a close race.
Another Cats snub and surprise win came in the featured actor in a musical race. Theater legend André De Shields was seen as having an edge in the category for his role as Old Deuteronomy, a literally show-stopping performance, but instead Ali Louis Bourzgui was the surprise winner for his role as The Lost Boys‘ charismatic vampire leader.
Bourzgui delivered a powerful speech, in which he spoke out against fascists and billionaires and in support of Arab artists and Palestinians.
Another notable surprise and snub came in the featured actor in a play category as Becky Shaw‘s Alden Ehrenreich beat out Death of a Salesman‘s Christopher Abbott in what was another close race. Death of a Salesman also suffered a rare defeat in the lead actor in a play category, when star Nathan Lane lost to Giant‘s John Lithgow, though Lithgow had been widely viewed as the winner, particularly after he won the Olivier Award for the same role last year. Still, Lane led a strong campaign and was praised for his performance.
A number of shows that went into the night with multiple Tony Awards nominations were completely shut out: Nine-time nominee Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show, eight-time nominee Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) and four-time nominee Titaníque.
