This year the Tony Awards were held at Lincoln Center and Sunday, June 16 and the red carpet was full of some of the best talent Broadway has to offer.
Nora Davis Day, Guy Davis and Hasna Mohammad were on the red carpet, excited that “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through The Cotton Patch” was nominated for six Tony Awards. Guy Davis shared, “We feel like winners start to finish. From 62 years ago to now, we feel like winners, communicators. We feel like the play came, did what it was supposed to do, and we got to keep doing it, keep the struggle on.”
Nora Day Davis, added, “All dressed up and some place to go. We really are proud, pleased, but also there’s a deep sense of satisfaction with all the excitement that the Tonys brings. There’s a very quiet pride we have here with our family, our parents, our children right here with us, [and] our grandparents right here with us. It’s a big moment.”
Hasna Mohammad said, “We are quite humbled and honored to have dad’s work done on Broadway. We think that the time has come for people to recognize his genius, his artistry and also to embrace art as activism, because that’s what ‘Purlie Victorious’ is, it’s a statement about civil rights, human rights and it uses all the important documents of this country with humor to support love, grace and all of the positive things that are needed still now. So, we’re really grateful.”
The siblings shared that the play was produced with its original script kept intact and they also credited Leslie Odom Jr. and Kenny Leon for knowing the value of the original words.
Kenny Leon, Tony nominee for director of a play for “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through The Cotton Patch,” was thrilled to share that he was pleased with everything about this production. “I’m a proud member of the Broadway community, I’m a member of the Tony administration committee. I think we’re better with diversity this year. We’re better with special plays like ‘Jaja,’ but we still got a ways to go, so I’m hoping we can keep pushing. But I am grateful for the nominations….As it is with all great writers, great writing stands the test of time and so often our work doesn’t get the opportunity to stand the test of time…I always love it when our culture gets an opportunity to show our whole self, we’re not a monolithic people, so ‘Purlie’ is great, ‘Jaja’ is great, ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ is great and we have a lot more diversity to bring to the Broadway stage and we just got to keep knocking these doors down.”
Heather Alicia Simms played Missy in “Purlie Victorious” and was glad to be on the red carpet. Simms shared, “It was amazing to be a part of the play, to revive something that people hadn’t seen in 62 years…This was a play that was buried and needed to be revived. This is a play that was necessary…It was definitely for our time. I was glad that we were able to do it and to do it for ‘Great Performances’ on PBS, so that people who weren’t able to come to New York can still see this performance.”
Linda Armstrong photos
Whitney White, Tony nominee for director for Jaja_s African Hair Braiding joined the Tony Awards Red Carpet 
Nora Day Davis, Guy Davis and Hasna Mohammad on the Red Carpet at the 77th Annual Tony Awards. 
Nikiya Mathis, Special Tony for Wig and Hair, Jaja_s African Hair Braiding on Tony Red Carpet 
Maechi Aharnawa, actress from Jaja_s African Hair Braiding strolled the Red Carpet at the 77th Annual Tony Awards 
Kenny Leon, Tony nominee for direction for Purlie Victorious… on the Red Carpet 
Jocelyn Bioh, playwright Jaja_s African Hair Braiding on Tony Red Carpet 
Genesis Ali Dean (Alicia Keyes_ son), Terria Joseph (her mother) and Craig Cook (her father) on Tony Red Carpet at Lincoln Center 
CJay Philip and Winston Philip on 77th Annual Tony Red Carpet 
Camille A. Brown was stunning on the Tony Red Carpet, a nominee for choreography for Hell’s Kitchen
Maechi Aharanwa played Ndidi in “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” a show which made history, by shining a light never before seen on Broadway on women who do African hair braiding. “I know their skills because I go to them to get my hair done, but I didn’t know how much of a skill it is. Going through hair braiding bootcamp was one of the most thrilling things I’ve ever gone through and it makes me tip my braider now even more than I did before. After one hour in bootcamp my hands were hurting. I gained great respect for the level of skill these women possess—they are craftswomen. I fashion myself to be a craftsperson in my acting and African hair braiding is a craft as well.” Remarking on the audience’s reaction to the play, she shared, “I felt the energy of people leaning in, wanting to understand more. I felt the energy of people’s eyes being open to something they had never seen or thought about before.”
Whitney White, Tony nominee for director of a play for “Jaja’s,” a production directed with love and respect, shared on the red carpet how she mustered her energy to do this work, “I focused on Jocelyn [Bioh’s] text, we laid out these characters and she was creating women from all over the continent of Africa with different socioeconomic issues and families and lives and the piece was very much a tapestry to me of the Black female immigrant experience and I just tried to be as true to that as possible and let it be loud. I wanted the show to speak loudly and I wanted it to be undeniable, those were my guiding principles.”
Camille A. Brown was nominated for choreography for “Hell’s Kitchen.” Her choreography for the musical is amazing, heartfelt, expressive, and represents the words of the songs to a T. When creating her choreography she shared that she not only examines her reactions to different feelings, but she listens to other people’s reactions as well, so her choreography is representing a collaboration between herself and the performers she is working with.
The buzz on the Tony red carpet was electric and something that I always look forward to!