Rocky Horror, Ali Louis Bourzgui: 2026 Tony Awards Snubs, Surprises 

Ragtime and Cats: The Jellicle Ball battled it out on the 2026 Tonys, resulting in some sudden wins and snubs.

The musical revivals went into Sunday night time’s awards ceremony with 11 and 9 nominations respectively, they usually ended the night time with Ragtime in a slight lead with 4 Tonys to Cats: The Jellicle Ball‘s three awards.

Ragtime triumphed in the perfect musical revival class, arguably the closest race of the night time. However, Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, who directed Cats: The Jellicle Ball, received finest path of a musical over Ragtime director Lear deBessonet, triumphing in an in depth race.

Another Cats snub and shock win got here within the featured actor in a musical race. Theater legend André De Shields was seen as having an edge within the class for his function as Old Deuteronomy, a actually show-stopping efficiency, however as an alternative Ali Louis Bourzgui was the shock winner for his function as The Lost Boys‘ charismatic vampire chief.

Bourzgui delivered a strong speech, by which he spoke out towards fascists and billionaires and in assist of Arab artists and Palestinians.

Another notable shock and snub got here within the featured actor in a play class as Becky Shaw‘s Alden Ehrenreich beat out Death of a Salesman‘s Christopher Abbott in what was one other shut race. Death of a Salesman additionally suffered a uncommon defeat within the lead actor in a play class, when star Nathan Lane misplaced to Giant‘s John Lithgow, although Lithgow had been extensively considered because the winner, notably after he received the Olivier Award for a similar function final yr. Still, Lane led a powerful marketing campaign and was praised for his efficiency.

Quite a lot of reveals that went into the night time with a number of Tony Awards nominations had been utterly shut out: Nine-time nominee Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show, eight-time nominee Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) and four-time nominee Titaníque.