(TONYS 2015) Inside Broadway's Fanciest Tony Awards Party!

Criss and Leung

by David Gordon
Theater Mania

In the immortal words of newly minted 2015 Tony winner Alex Sharp, "Let's get f**ked up." That's what happens when Broadway's Biggest Night turns into Broadway's Biggest Wee-Hours-of-the-Morning Bash: Whether you win or lose, people keep putting glasses of spirits in your hand until it's time to go home.

But there's a long time — and a lot of parties to get to — between the end of the Tonys show at Radio City Music Hall and the hour when celebrators hit the hay. The first stop is the invite-only Tony Awards Gala, the officially sanctioned party at the Plaza Hotel, where guests mingle freely without the snooping ears of the ever-present press corps.

Once all was said and done (and eaten and drunk), performers and creatives headed to the parties thrown by individual shows. The family of Best Musical Fun Home headed to Tanner Smith's on West 55th Street, while the team of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time went to Hudson Terrace on West 46th and 11th Avenue to toast their success.

Best Actress Kelli O'Hara and Best Featured Actress Ruthie Ann Miles took a jaunt uptown to P.J. Clarke's, across the street from their theatrical home at Lincoln Center, to celebrate the Tony-winning revival of The King and I. Given that Hand to God and Something Rotten! share a lead producer (Kevin McCollum), it's no surprise that a joint party was held at Bryant Park Grill for those two nominated productions.

Tommy Tune and Company

But where can you find all of Broadway's biggest stars mixing and mingling? At the Carlyle, of course, where publicist Rick Miramontez and his firm O&M Co. held court on multiple floors until dawn. The Carlyle party is the after-prom of Tonys gatherings, the only place you could see 2015 Lifetime Achievement recipient Tommy Tune singing with Broadway favorite Patrick Page and a host of others as Billy Stritch played "What I Did for Love" on the piano, and where last year's Best Leading Actor winner, Bryan Cranston, will confess to you in an elevator that he's plotting a Broadway return, because he misses it.


The Carlyle is where all the stars end up when their parties come down, and this year's event was even bigger than it has been in the past. The dance floor (on the invite called "Chita's Disco") was packed as young Fun Home Tony nominee Sydney Lucas cut a mean rug until she got tired (around 3:30am!). On the Town nominee Tony Yazbeck held court in the corner. In the lobby, nobody could get near O'Hara, who received congratulatory conversations from nearly every attendant.

As the sun began to rise over Central Park, it was time to go home. Guests were a little less sure on their feet than they were when they walked the red carpet a whopping 10 hours earlier, but all had a great time.