Meet Your 2025 Tony Award Nominees

After a pandemic-era pause and a sputtering start, Broadway is back (thank God!) and feels bigger than ever. Attendance has reached 95% of pre-COVID levels — and based on photos of people holding up their Playbills that are flooding my social media feeds, that stat rings true.

The most exciting aspect of the season, however, has been enjoying the variety of shows on offer. Plays range from thought-provoking Pulitzer winners (Purpose) to so-funny-you-might-pee-your-pants farces (Oh, Mary!). On the musicals front, you’ve got bold originals bursting onto the scene (Dead Outlaw and Operation Mincemeat), beloved adaptations achieving cult-favorite status (Death Becomes Her), and splashy revivals introducing new audiences to their iconic goosebump-provoking scores (Sunset Blvd.).

For me, the beauty of live theater remains grounded in the fact that it transports you to another universe, allowing you to stay blissfully off your phone for a couple of hours. (Please don’t be that person whose device rings during a dramatic monologue.) Since the first Broadway show I saw when I was 4 years old (Peter Pan — Cathy Rigby stan forever over here), I’ve always loved that the performing arts will challenge you, make you laugh or cry (or both), and have you walk away thinking about the world or yourself in a different way.

None of this would be possible without the Tony Award acting nominees, nine of whom Bustle caught up with ahead of the June 8 ceremony. See how they hammed it up for our cameras, and read on to learn about their theater superstitions, pre- and postshow rituals, and dream roles.

— Christina Amoroso, Editorial Director

Interviews and Photographs: Jillian Giandurco and Katherine Diermissen

Design Director: Emma Chao

Social Director: Charlie Mock

Editor-in-Chief: Charlotte Owen

SVP Creative: Karen Hibbert