The Tony Awards: A Celebration of Excellence in Theatre

Commemorating over 75 years of Broadway greatness with never-before told stories, rare photos from the American Theatre Wings’ archives, and interviews with major honorees like Lin-Manuel Miranda, Patti LuPone, and Hugh Jackman, The Tony Awards is the official, authorized guide to Broadway’s biggest night.

The Tony Awards: A Celebration of Excellence in Theatre pays tribute to the magic that happens when the curtain goes up and Broadway’s best and brightest step onto center stage. Supported by the American Theatre Wing, the arts organization that founded the Tony Awards in 1947 and continues to produce the Tony Awards live telecast each year, author Eila Mell has interviewed a cavalcade of past and present Tony winners, including actors, producers, writers, costume designers, and many many others. Their voices fill the pages of this book with fascinating, behind-the-scenes stories about what it’s like to win the theatre world’s highest honor.

Featuring a foreword by Audra McDonald and over 400 color and black-and-white photographs, The Tony Awards also spotlights more than 130 captivating interviews with a parade of industry insiders, including:

Mel Brooks, Matthew Broderick, Carol Burnett, Kristin Chenoweth, Glenn Close, James Corden, Bryan Cranston, Neil Patrick Harris, Jennifer Holliday, Hugh Jackman, John Kander, Angela Lansbury, Judith Light, Hal Linden, Kenny Leon, Patti LuPone, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Rita Moreno, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Martin Short, Tom Stoppard, Julie Taymor, Leslie Uggams, and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Eila Mell is the author of Designing Broadway as well as the official guide to the hit television series Project Runaway, titled Project Runway: The Show That Changed Fashion. Among her other books are New York Fashion Week and, with Ty Hunter, Makeover from Within: Lessons in Hardship, Acceptance, and Self-Discovery. Mell has been featured in the New York Times, Marie Claire, Glamour, and CBS’s The Insider, as well as in the documentary Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s. She is the co-host of the podcast Jiffy Pop Culture with comedian Frank Liotti.

The American Theatre Wing is a national non-profit organization dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre. Founded in 1917 by seven suffragists, in addition to the yearly Tony Awards, the American Theatre Wing invests in brave work, supports creative growth, and celebrates excellence from those who bring inclusive stories to our national culture through theatre.