Tony winners thank voice teachers and babysitters as Broadway crowns 'Schmigadoon!'

NEW YORK (AP) — The most infectiously joyous of awards shows, the Tonys often feel like a summer camp reunion — make that a theater camp reunion — except with tuxedoes and gowns replacing the shorts and tees.

That was certainly the vibe on Sunday night, where the crowd delighted in familiar Broadway heroes finally winning their Tonys, and where the biggest award went to a Broadway musical that celebrates, well, Broadway musicals: “Schmigadoon!”

There were reunions within the reunion, too. For example, the original cast of “The Book of Mormon,” including Josh Gad, Nikki M. James and Andrew Rannells, was on hand to perform a number marking the show’s 15th anniversary — a definite highlight of the night, especially seeing Gad move to the song “Man Up.”

As for the acceptance speeches, many moms and dads and spouses and kids were thanked, of course. But one winner refreshingly thanked all the babysitters that made their career possible.

Some highlights of the night:

In the show's first bit, new host Pink, who has not performed on Broadway, pretended she didn't know what she was doing, and dangled uncomfortably from a wire, trying to be Peter Pan. Then Neil Patrick Harris, who's hosted multiple times, came out and told her she just needed to be herself: “You’re Pink! You can do anything,”

Of course he was right. The consensus was that Pink killed it, starting with the opening number, where she led an enormous ensemble of some 170 Broadway performers in a version of “Lady Marmalade” that was a love letter to this season's shows, with current casts performing onstage and lots of actors name-checked in the audience, too. As in: “Gitchie Gitchie Lesley Manville, Gitchie Gitchie Carrie Coon."

The number was written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (the duo behind “Dear Evan Hansen” and “The Greatest Showman”) and Mark Sonnenblick (who co-wrote “Golden” in “Kpop Demon Hunters”), and the reaction in the theater was ecstatic.

This was a new kind of thank-you. When “Schmigadoon!” won best musical, producer (and “Saturday Night Live” creator) Lorne Michaels spoke first, saying “Sometimes singing, dancing, jokes and a happy ending are all you need.”

Then producer Christine Schwarzman spoke and thanked Apple TV for canceling the third season of the TV show it was adapted from.

“Without them dropping it, we couldn’t have picked it up and ran with it. So, thanks Apple TV,” she said, to laughs.

There was no award that had the audience cheering louder and longer than when Joshua Henry finally won a Tony, after four nominations during a stellar Broadway career.

Henry won best actor in a musical for his career-topping turn as Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Black pianist who suffers the horrors of racism in the current revival of “Ragtime,” an adaptation of E.L. Doctorow’s novel.

In addition to his wife and kids, Henry thanked his first voice teacher, which got huge applause from the crowd. He also thanked Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell, legendary Broadway actors who preceded him in the 1998 run of “Ragtime.”

Henry’s “Ragtime” co-star, Caissie Levy, was waiting for him for a long hug backstage. Levy, who was the original Elsa in the Broadway version of “Frozen,” had just won her own first Tony, for leading actress in a musical. In her own speech, Levy thanked a lot of people, but one unusual shoutout was to her family's babysitters: “Thank you to … every babysitter who’s made it possible for me to be both a Broadway actor and a mother.”

Levy, a mother of two, plays the character called Mother.

The winner for best play, “Liberation” by Bess Wohl, toggles between the present time and the ’70s, exploring the roots of second-wave feminism through a consciousness-raising group that meets in an Ohio gym.

But it was a different kind of history that playwright Wohl addressed in her acceptance speech — the fact that she was the first American woman to win the category since Wendy Wasserstein won for “The Heidi Chronicles” in 1989.

She told women and girls who were listening; “May you speak your truth and may the world be wise enough to listen.”

“Liberation” also won the Pulitzer Prize this year.

There is literally not one single thing that is funny about the story of Oedipus, the Sophocles classic tragedy with a shocking ending.

But Cole Escola, the mastermind behind the hit comedy “Oh Mary,” found a way. Presenting along with Maya Rudolph, who is now playing Mary Todd Lincoln in Escola’s play, the writer-actor noted of Oedipus:

“(It’s) a play that asks the question: Can women really have it all?”

If you don't get the reference, ask Manville. The veteran British actor won for leading actress in a play for her devastating turn as Jocasta in Robert Icke's modern retelling of the tragedy — her Broadway debut. As she noted in her own speech, she plays Oedipus’ wife and, also, it turns out, his mother.

To which someone in the audience called out: “Spoiler!”

When actor John Leguizamo introduced a segment on the show, he couldn’t resist ending his remarks with “Knicks in four!”

The crowd at Radio City Music Hall gave a huge cheer. You thought they were going to root for the other guys?

The Knicks lead the San Antonio Spurs by 2-0 in the NBA Finals.

The audience at Radio City Music Hall doesn't just sit there in silence when the Tony telecast goes to commercials. There's usually something happening, and this time, there were opportunities to learn some moves.

During one break, the audience was instructed on how to use the paper fans that many found under their seats, meant for the number featuring “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” which reimagines the 1980s feline musical as a celebration of queer ballroom culture.

And during another break, the crowd was shown how to dance to the upcoming “Time Warp” number from “The Rocky Horror Show.”

Maya Rudolph, left, and Cole Escola present the award for best performance by a leading actor in a play during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Bess Wohl, center, accepts the award for best play for "Liberation" during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Joshua Henry accepts the award for best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical for "Ragtime during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Neil Patrick Harris, left, and Host Pink perform during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Ann Harada, from second left, Brad Oscar, Ana Gasteyer, Maulik Pancholy and the cast of "Schmigadoon!" perform during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat of a tsunami had largely passed about five hours after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in the southern Philippines sent waves onshore in the region Monday morning.

Waves of 1-meter (3-feet) were monitored in the Philippine provinces of Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani by land-based tsunami watch stations, Teresito Bacolcol, the director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology told The Associated Press.

Smaller waves were recorded in Indonesia and Malaysia. After the PTWC said the threat had largely passed, it still urged people to stay alert and to heed warnings from local authorities as sea levels may fluctuate for a few more hours.

The quake damaged buildings and infrastructure in the southern Philippines, causing at least four deaths and more than 200 injuries. The impact of the tsunami was not immediately clear.

“It’s a major earthquake and we’re expecting damages and we’ve already some damaged buildings based on videos we’ve seen,” Teresito Bacolcol told AP.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — An offshore magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked the southern Philippines early Monday, damaging buildings and a key access bridge in a large southern city and setting off a 1-meter (3-foot) tsunami that washed ashore on nearby coasts. At least four people were killed and more than 200 others injured, officials said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged people to immediately go to higher ground in Philippine areas vulnerable to a tsunami, and Indonesian and Malaysian authorities also issued warnings to their nearby coastal areas.

The strongest quake to strike the Philippines this year was centered at sea about 13 kilometers (8 miles) southwest of General Santos, a city of more than 700,000 people that is a hub for tuna processing and other commerce in the southern Mindanao region of the archipelago nation.

The Philippine leader said disaster-response agencies were on standby to respond. “The national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind,” Marcos said.

Numerous aftershocks followed the 7:37 a.m. Monday quake, which was felt in nearby Malaysia. Tsunami waves were also detected in Indonesia and Malaysia.

At least three people were killed and 130 others were injured in General Santos, where at least a few small buildings partially collapsed and several structures, including a key access bridge, sustained dangerous cracks, Rod Sosmeña, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense, told The Associated Press.

The Department of Health said another person died in Davao Oriental province due to the quake.

There were no immediate reports of people being trapped in partially collapsed structures in General Santos due to the quake, said Sosmeña, who was being driven to work when the ground violently shook.

“Our pickup truck suddenly jerked and I thought we had a flat tire,” Sosmeña the AP by telephone from General Santos. “People dashed out of houses into the streets.”

The international airport in General Santos was temporarily shut due to the earthquake and 17 domestic flights were canceled, civil aviation officials said.

Ednar Dayanghirang, director of the Office of Civil Defense in a nearby southern region, said more than 100 students attending morning flag-raising ceremonies sustained bruises and some fainted in panic at different grade and high schools.

“I myself could hardly stand and keep my balance when the ground shook as I was leaving my house,” Dayanghirang told the AP by telephone from southern Davao, a major port city in the soutehrn Philippines.

DZRH radio station in Manila reported that a small commercial building housing its provincial branch partly collapsed and staffers dashed to the ground floor without injuries. It wasn’t clear if other people were trapped in the rubble of the four-story office building. Debris also fell from other buildings, hitting tricycle taxis parked below.

The quake was caused by movement in the Cotabato Trench at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

“It's a major earthquake and we're expecting damages and we've already some damaged buildings based on videos we've seen,” institute director Teresito Bacolcol told AP.

Waves of 1-meter (3-feet) were monitored in the Philippine provinces of Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani by land-based tsunami watch stations, Bacolcol said. Smaller waves were monitored in at least one other province, he said.

“Please heed the tsunami warning. Move to higher ground now. Do not wait. Your life is more important than anything left behind,” Marcos told people in quake-hit provinces.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said tsunami waves up to 3 meters (10 feet) were possible on some coasts of the Philippines. Waves up to 1 meter (3 feet) were possible on some coasts of Indonesia and Malaysia.

Malaysia’s Meteorological Department issued a tsunami warning for Sabah state on Borneo island. Sabah is just a boat ride away from southern Philippines. An 83-centimeter (2.7-feet) tsunami was measured by a gauge off Indonesia's Sulawesi island.

Smaller sea changes were possible in Japan, Papua New Guinea and several island nations and territories in the western Pacific. An advisory for Guam was lifted about two hours after the quake and there was no threat to Hawaii, the PTWC said.

Aftershocks up to 6.5 magnitude were measured by the U.S. Geological Survey. It reported the depth of the original quake at 55 kilometers (34 miles). Variations in measurements by different agencies are common in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake.

The Philippines, one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean. The archipelago is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and tropical storms each year.

Associated Press journalists Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.

A policeman looks at an abandoned building that collapsed after an earthquake struck in Matanao, Davao del Sur province, Philippines on Monday June 8, 2026.(AP Photo/Nycel Basillote)

Residents takes a picture of a collapsed structure following an earthrquake, in General Santos, Philippines on Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo)

Residents pass by a collapsed structure after an earthquake in General Santos, Philippines on Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo)

An official of the Japan Meteorological Agency speaks near a monitor showing a tsunami advisory during a news conference at the agency in Tokyo, Monday, June 8, 2026, following a powerful earthquake in Philippines. (Miyuki Saito/Kyodo News via AP)

This image from a video shows dust and debris outside a building after a powerful earthquake in General Santos city on the island of Mindanao, Philippines Monday, June 8, 2026. (Ernesto Torres Jr via AP)

This image from a video shows people gathered outside a damaged building after a powerful earthquake in General Santos city on the island of Mindanao, Philippines Monday, June 8, 2026. (Ernesto Torres Jr via AP)

This shows vehicles damaged by debris after powerful earthquake in the Mindanao region, Philippines Monday, June 8, 2026. (Ernesto Torres Jr via AP)

This image from a video shows dust and debris outside a building after a powerful earthquake in General Santos city on the island of Mindanao, Philippines Monday, June 8, 2026. (Ernesto Torres Jr via AP)