On Sunday, June 7, outside of Radio City Music Hall where the 79th Annual Tony Awards were going to be held, there was an incredible vibe of excitement, pride, splendor, and excellence in the air as Black nominees came down the red carpet. We shone in so many categories this year, with a great deal of nominations for productions like “CATS: The Jellicle Ball,” “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” “The Balusters,” and “Liberation.” It was a joy and privilege to speak with our creatives as they walked the carpet with such grace, dignity, and distinction. I’m excited to share the interviews with some of our extraordinary people.
Mikaal Sulaiman, nominated for Best Sound Design of a Play for “Death of a Salesman,” a very emotional, moving production, explained his process of putting together the sound design for a piece of this magnitude and what emotions he is trying to get from the audience.
“The number one thing I’m trying to enlist is compassion and empathy because I want the audience to know that Willy is not an evil man; he’s not guilty of negligence or being abusive to Linda. I think he’s made mistakes and those mistakes need to be brought to light, with the woman that he cheated on Linda with, but we need to have some empathy for what this man went through and the life that he lived. But, again, not a life that was perfect, a life that was flawed,” Sulaiman explained.
Discussing the subject matter of the play, which involved dementia, and Sulaiman’s challenge for the music to stay in the moment, he shared, “I think the most important thing Joe [Mantello] talked to us about was, as designers, not to dismiss Willy as being crazy. That would be a really easy thing, to portray him as some crazy old man. So my laser focus was always on how do we make things feel like something beyond losing someone’s mind, but something more internal, so I was playing with sounds like auto repair, other clicks and booms, and rumbles to make it more emotional than purely clinical.”
Video by Linda Armstrong
Stacey Derosier, nominated for Best Lighting Design for a Play for “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” shared that she felt great to be there and celebrate the work that they did. Discussing the spirituality of this August Wilson classic and what inspired her when creating the lighting, Derosier said, “It’s all of the text. Everything that August puts down on the page is so intentional and it means so much. The text is always my bible of a piece that I work on, and then, of course, whatever the physical space is that helps how I approach the set and the world on the lighting landscape.”
Zhailon Levingston, nominated with Bill Rauch for Best Direction of a Musical for “CATS: The Jellicle Ball,” discussed getting the nomination. “I feel so much pride for the community that came together to make this show, specifically all the actors, designers, and creatives, who, for five plus years, have been toiling away at this idea; it feels good to land here.”
“CATS: The Jellicle Ball” spotlights the ballroom scene in the LGBTQIA community and it is being widely hailed. Levingston shared, “[I’m] unbelievably humbled by the fact that it is the culture of Ballroom that is bringing in these audiences on Broadway and that there [are] so many people that we’ve lost along the way that are not here in the physical sense to see this moment but power the production in a way, every single night. It’s remarkable to be in the throes of history in that way.” Levingston added, “People should come and see ‘CATS: The Jellicle Ball’ because they need to experience what it feels like to create community every night at the Broadhurst Theatre. They need to learn about this culture of Ballroom that is responsible for so much — art, fashion, pop culture, and vernacular and resilience. … I think people need their imaginations rocked and we’re doing that every night at CATS.”
Steve Bargonetti, nominated for Best Original Score Written for the Theatre for “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.” 
Mikaal Sulaiman, nominated for Best Design of a Play for “Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.” 
Proud parents Ducheine and Marie with their daughter Stacey Derosier, nominated for Best Lighting Design of a Play, “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.” 
Veteran press agent and Broadway producer Irene Gandy on the red carpet. 
Zhailon Levingston, nominated for Best Direction of a Musical for “CATS: The Jellicle Ball.” 
Emilio Sosa, nominated for Best Costume Design of a Play, “The Balusters”. 
Whitney White, nominated for Best Direction of a Play for “Liberation.” 
Qween Jean, nominated for Best Costume Design of a Play, “Liberation,” and Best Costume Design of a Musical, “CATS: The Jellicle Ball.” 
Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons, nominated for Best Choreography for “CATS: The Jellicle Ball,” strut their stuff. 
Tony Award-winning actor and theatre veteran Andre De Shields, nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for “CATS: The Jellicle Ball,” took a moment to take a picture with AmNews theater critic Linda Armstrong.
Emilio Sosa was nominated for Best Costume Design for a Play for “The Balusters.” In talking about the show, he shared, “When I read this play in my mind I already could see what the characters looked like, and then you add my director Kenny Leon who really corralled us all together and made us one unit. … I work with the actors and we find the pieces they feel will give them that character…I work with what you bring me; I’m not here to change you. I want you to be comfortable.”
Whitney White, nominated for Best Direction of a Play for “Liberation,” shared, “I’m proud to be the first Black woman nominated for Best Direction of a Play twice. I’m proud to be director of a Pulitzer-winning play by another mother and my friend Bess Wohl, and I’m just happy the play is going to be remembered for a long time.” Concerning why she wanted to direct this play, White shared, “Directing this play showed me a time when women had a lot more bravery than me now, and it gave me a little bit more courage. That’s why I directed the play; I was trying to learn from that and take a little bit away with me.” Discussing her upcoming production “Imitation of Life,” she shared, “It’s an incredible story of two single moms, one Black, one white, and what happens when they band together, the good and the bad of it. I was raised by a beautiful single mom who made the impossible possible — shout out to her. And that’s what ‘Imitation of Life’ is about, so I hope to do my best.”
Kenny Leon, nominated for Best Direction of a Play for “The Balusters,” said of the nomination, “I feel blessed whenever I’m nominated. It’s better to be recognized than forgotten, so it’s an honor and a blessing.”
The cast is diverse in age and theater backgrounds, but works in harmony. “The number one job for a director is casting and getting that cast in the same story, but that’s the gig, and I learned that when I did ‘Hairspray Live’ for television. I had some people who had never acted before. When you look at my career, I’ve had a lot of people who have never acted before. How do you match them with people who have four and five Tony Awards? So that’s just the gig and I love the challenge of putting everybody in the same play at the same time and using their strength to marry their strengths so that they all come off good,” said Leon.
Qween Jean, nominated for Best Costume Design for a Play for “Liberation” and Best Costume Design for a Musical for “CATS: The Jellicle Ball,” shared her excitement. Discussing her nominations, she stated, “I feel so overjoyed. I feel that it is right. I feel like I’ve been able to show the world I’m an artist that can do it all. I love storytelling, I love women, I love being able to present characters in a real, authentic way that doesn’t hold back. I’m here as an artist to break barriers and to really support our storytellers and our actors; that relationship, that collaboration is very sacred to me. I feel that when we are able to support that, we create something utterly regenerative and transformative, and that is what Liberation has done and the cast of ‘CATS: The Jellicle Ball,’ [has] literally changed our theater culture.”
