10 Little Known Facts About the Tony Awards

Impress Musical Theatre lovers everywhere with your knowledge of these 10 little known facts about the Tony Awards:

The Tonys began in 1947, and in the first 2 years there was no "Tony Award" statue. Winners received a scroll, money clip and cigarette lighter or compact.

The most Tony Awards ever won was by the 2007 play The Coast of Utopia by Tom Stoppard. It was nominated for 10 awards and won 7.

The longest titled play to win a Tony Award was the 1966 show The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade by Peter Weiss. It was known as Marat/Sade for short.

The shortest-lived Tony Award-winning role ever was performed by Dolores Gray in 1953's Carnival in Flanders. She won a Tony Award for her performance despite the musical only hitting the stage 6 times.

There is only a single one-person play to ever win the Best Play Tony Award. It was 2004's I Am My Own Wife by Douglas Wright. The show featured Jefferson Mays, who also won the Tony for Best Actor in a Play for that performance.

The most nominated musical in Tony's history is 2016's Hamilton with 16 nominations. Followed by 2001's The Producers, 2009's Billy Elliot, The Musical, and 2020's Jagged Little Pill, all of which received 15 nominations.

The longest running Tony Award winner for Best Musical is the 1988 show The Phantom of the Opera, which has been running for over 25 years and continues to this day.

The most nominations without a win was Jane Greenwood who received her first nomination in 1965, and was nomiated 21 times. Her record-breaking streak ended 52 years later when she won for Best Costume Design of a Play in 2017.

The most performance awards won by any actor is Audra McDonald. She won six Tony Awards for her performances and is the only person to have won Tonys in four different acting categories.

The youngest performer to win a Tony Award was Frankie Michaels, for his role in 1966's Mame, when he was 11 years old. The youngest actress, Daisy Eagan, was 11 when she won for 1991's The Secret Garden.