‘Stereophonic’ Takes Home Best Play at the Tony Awards 2024
Stereophonic was awarded the Tony for best play on Sunday, earning one of the five Tony Awards received by the most nominated play in Tonys history during the 2024 edition of the Broadway ceremony.
Written by David Adjmi, the play follows a band trying to record a hit album in the 1970s and features a rock score written by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler. The majority of the production includes spoken dialogue, but the actors in Stereophonic also perform songs on stage as part of the show.
Adjmi accepted the award for best play and reflected on the challenging journey to produce the play, which extends over three hours and includes a recording booth on stage. He mentioned how the play reflects his own struggle as a playwright not to give up on himself.
Adjmi emphasized the importance of funding the arts in America, calling it the hallmark of a civilized society.
The idea for the play came to Adjmi in 2013 while listening to Led Zeppelin’s “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” on a flight. After years of development, the play premiered at Playwrights Horizons before opening at Broadway’s Golden Theatre in April.
Despite initially not wanting stars in the play, Adjmi acknowledged the talented cast members as stars after the production received multiple Tony nominations. Will Brill won a Tony Award for best performance by an actor in a featured role in a play, and the production also received awards for sound design, scenic design, and best director of a play for Daniel Aukin.
The cast, including Tom Pecinka, Sarah Pidgeon, Juliana Canfield, Eli Gelb, Chris Stack, and Andrew R. Butler, performed the song “Masquerade” during the main telecast Sunday evening, following some initial controversy over their exclusion from the performance lineup.
If the production had won seven Tony Awards, it would have tied with The Coast of Utopia as the most winning play in Tony Awards history.