16 Tony Awards Trivia Facts to Perform for Your Friends

(Last Updated On: June 12, 2022)

Everyone likes a good set of trivia facts. But people also like trivia facts they can use to show off to others. We’re not entirely sure if you could take a bunch of musical awards trivia and turn it into a very good performance, but with the Tony Awards you might have an okay foundation. We suppose if you try to put together a performance it will either be good, or your friends will make fun of you. Most likely that second one. Anyway, at least you’ll have some trivia about the Tony Awards in your back pocket?

If you’re here just for Hamilton: A “Non-Stop” List of Fun Facts About Hamilton the Musical


Tony Awards Trivia Facts

1 . The Tony Awards are named after American actress and director Mary Antoinette Perry, who passed away a year before the first Tony Awards ceremony. 

2. The very first Tony Awards in 1947 had a $7 ticket price–which would be like $83 in 2022 money.

3. Five of the televised Tony Awards shows have been hosted by a single individual: Angela Lansbury.

4. The youngest Tony Award winners are Frankie Michaels and Daisy Eagan, both at 11. Michaels won Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical in Mame (1966). Eagan won Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her work in The Secret Garden (1991).

5. The youngest nominee was Evanna Lien for The Sound of Music (1959). She was eight.

6. Some people like Harold Prince collect mounds of awards. In total, Prince won 21 Tony Awards. Eight were for directing, another eight for Best Musical, two for Best Producer and three other special awards.

7. Hamilton (2016) stands as the most-nominated production, at 16. 

8. The Producers (2001) is the most awarded production though, holding 12.

9. If you want to count revivals under an award banner, The Producers is behind South Pacific, with 17 total awards. South Pacific won 10 awards for the original 1949 production–then another seven when it was revived in 2008. 

10. The Scottsboro Boys (2011) and Mean Girls (2018) probably had the worst time on Tony night. Both musicals had 12 nominations and no awards.

11. There has only ever been one cast replacement nominated for a Tony Award: Larry Kert for Best Actor in a Musical in Company (1971). 

12. The Phantom of the Opera is the longest running Best Musical winner on Broadway. It opened in 1988 and is still kicking.

13. The shortest award winning role belongs to Dolores Gray in Carnival in Flanders (1953). It only ran for six performances. 

14. The Shubert Theatre has been host to the most award ceremonies, at eight. The most recent Tony Award ceremony (the 75th one in 2022) was held at the Radio City Music Hall.

15. Juanita Hall was the first African American to win a Tony Award in 1950. She played Bloody Mary in South Pacific.

16. Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron are the first all-women writing team to win the Tony Award for Best Original Score in 2015. They won with Fun Home, which also brought the first lesbian protagonist to Broadway. 


See if you know all the Best Musical winners here.

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About Kyler 575 Articles
Kyler is a content writer at Sporcle living in Seattle, and has just finished his undergraduate at the University of Washington. He's been writing for Sporcle since 2019 and has accumulated so much random, general knowledge he'd rather not think about it. Most of his free time is spent drinking black coffee like water.