Arts & Entertainment
Steppenwolf Theatre Collects at Tony Awards; Beats Out Tom Hanks
Lincoln Park's own Steppenwolf Theatre Company made the neighborhood—and the city—proud Sunday night with big wins for its reimagined production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
In what many say was a "dark horse" win, Steppenwolf Theatre's reimagined production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" took home three Tony Awards Sunday, even beating out a predicted best actor win for lovable celebrity, Tom Hanks.
The 67th Annual Tony Awards included several other notable wins for the Lincoln Park theater, too, according to reports.
"Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? took three of the five categories in which it was nominated for Broadway's Tony Awards tonight," says a Sunday Time Out Chicago summary. "It was widely expected that Steppenwolf's production, which premiered in Chicago in December 2010, would win the Tony for best revival of a play."
What wasn't expected by critics, according to International Business Times, was that the best actor award would be given to ensemble member Tracy Letts for his revisionary work as George in Woolf.
"Despite the fact that virtually every major theater critic predicted a Best Actor win for Tom Hanks in Nora Ephron’s “Lucky Guy,” the endlessly likable movie star made no inroads toward EGOT territory," the story says. Hanks made his Broadway debut in the production.
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Best direction of a play went to Woolf's Pam McKinnon.
"Cast members Amy Morton and Carrie Coon were also nominated for acting awards; the fourth cast member, Madison Dirks, was not, though Letts, in his acceptance speech tonight, referred to Dirks as 'criminally undersung,'" Time Out reports.
Another big winner at tonight's Tony Awards was the musical Kinky Boots, which started in Chicago. Stephen Oremus earned best orchestrator; Billy Porter, best actor; and Cyndi Lauper, best composer.
It also beat out Matilda the Musical for best musical.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel beamed with pride Monday in a statement about Steppenwolf.
"Steppenwolf represents the best of Chicago's vibrant arts scene by engaging audiences in an exchange of ideas that makes us think harder, laugh longer, feel more," he said. "We couldn't be prouder than to share Chicago's own with the country and the world."
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