Jodie Comer wins Tony Award for one-woman Broadway show Prima Facie
Jodie Comer expressed her overwhelming gratitude after receiving a prestigious Tony Award for her one-woman Broadway show, Prima Facie. The Killing Eve actress was awarded best leading actress in a play for her role as a defence lawyer who finds herself in the witness box. The Tony Awards, held in New York, were hosted by Ariana DeBose, who opted not to use a script due to the writers strike.
For the first time in the ceremony’s history, two non-binary actors, Alex Newell and J Harrison Ghee, received awards. Comer, in her acceptance speech, praised Suzie Miller, the playwright behind Prima Facie, and thanked her production team and loved ones for their support. The 30-year-old actress from Liverpool had previously won an Olivier award for her performance, which moved from London’s West End to Broadway.
Last week, Comer had to leave the stage during a performance due to breathing difficulties caused by wildfire smoke across North America. Her understudy completed the performance.
The Tony Awards ceremony, Broadway’s biggest night of the year, was hosted by Oscar-winning actress Ariana DeBose. She warned audiences to “buckle up” as the show was unscripted, due to the ongoing Hollywood writers strike. Several winners, including best leading actress in a musical winner Victoria Clark, referenced the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike during their acceptance speeches.
At the ceremony, Alex Newell won the best featured actor in a musical for Shucked, while J. Harrison Ghee received best leading actor in a musical for playing a gender-questioning musician in Some Like It Hot. Michael Arden won his first Tony Award for his direction of the Broadway revival of Parade, which depicts the 1913 trial and imprisonment, and 1915 lynching, of the Jewish-American factory manager Leo Frank in Georgia.
In his acceptance speech, Arden emphasised the importance of battling antisemitism, white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia, and intolerance of any kind. British writer Sir Tom Stoppard’s play Leopoldstadt won the best play award, along with best direction, best costume, and best performance by an actor in a play. British creatives Tim Hatley, Andrzej Goulding, Tim Lutkin, and Carolyn Downing won awards for Life of Pi, with Goulding and Downing acknowledging Sheffield, where the play premiered, in their acceptance speeches.
Kimberly Akimbo was named best musical, also winning best original score and best leading actress for Victoria Clark.
