Death of a Salesman revival sets Tony Awards record with six wins
Death of a Salesman won six Tonys and set a revival record, underscoring Broadway's reward for classic material, star casting and technical polish.
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman turned the 79th Tony Awards into a showcase for Broadway's reliance on trusted classics, collecting six prizes and setting a new mark for a play revival. Joe Mantello's Winter Garden Theatre production won Best Revival of a Play, then added acting, directing and design honors that pushed it past every other revival in Tony history.
Laurie Metcalf won Best Featured Actress in a Play, Joe Mantello took Best Direction of a Play, and the production also claimed scenic, lighting and sound design. The sweep made Death of a Salesman the most Tony Award-winning play revival ever, surpassing the previous record of four wins. It also became the first play in Tony history to win four Best Revival Tonys overall, with earlier revival victories in 1984, 1999 and 2012. Arthur Miller's original 1949 production won Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The night's acting prizes reinforced the same pattern of star-driven theater economics. John Lithgow won Best Actor in a Play for Giant, in which he played Roald Dahl, while Lesley Manville won Best Actress in a Play for Oedipus, a modern adaptation of Sophocles' tragedy. Lithgow's victory also made him the oldest man to win a competitive acting Tony at 80, a reminder that Broadway's biggest stages still lean on familiar names to anchor premium-ticket productions.
Even so, the awards were not a clean sweep for revivals alone. Bess Wohl's Liberation won Best Play, Schmigadoon! took Best Musical, and Ragtime won Best Revival of a Musical. Together with Death of a Salesman's record-setting run, the results pointed to a Broadway market that continues to reward recognizable titles, but still leaves room for new writing and reimagined songbook material. At Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with P!nk hosting and CBS carrying the broadcast with streaming on Paramount+, the evening confirmed that the industry's top prizes still favor productions that pair canonical material with recognizable performers and exacting craft.
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