Daniel Radcliffe is one of the world’s most famous actors. But he’s never won a major award. Until now.
Daniel Radcliffe’s Tony Triumph
Daniel Radcliffe picked up the Tony Award on June 16 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical, for his work in the smash hit revival of late American composer Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along. This show marks Radcliffe’s fifth on Broadway but is the first for which he was even nominated for a Tony, despite mostly admiring reviews throughout his career.
From Child Star to Respected Actor
Daniel Radcliffe, 34, will forever be known as the actor who played the title wizard in all eight Harry Potter films. However, even before the conclusion of the iconic film series, he began making adventurous choices onstage and onscreen that have helped him transition from a child star to a respected adult actor.
The Role of Charley Kringas
In Merrily, Daniel Radcliffe plays Charley Kringas, a lyricist-turned-playwright whose long friendship and collaboration with a talented composer (Franklin Shepard, played by Jonathan Groff) has imploded. Radcliffe’s enormous star power is a significant factor in the success of this production, which promises to forever alter how Merrily is viewed. The show’s original production in 1981 was a storied flop.
A Journey from Off-Broadway to Tony Recognition
Radcliffe has been with the production since 2022 when he played the same role, with the same co-stars, during an off-Broadway run at the nonprofit New York Theater Workshop. The Broadway production opened last October and is scheduled to conclude on July 7.
Embracing New Challenges
Daniel Radcliffe has repeatedly shown a willingness to try new things. He first arrived on Broadway in 2008, starring in a revival of Equus that required him to appear nude. His next role, in a 2011 revival of the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, required him to sing. Since then, he has returned to Broadway to star in two more plays, The Cripple of Inishmaan in 2014 and The Lifespan of a Fact in 2018. He also starred in an off-Broadway play, Privacy, in 2016 at the Public Theater.
Continued Success on the Big Screen
Daniel Radcliffe has continued to make movies, many of them indie projects, including Kill Your Darlings (2013), Swiss Army Man (2016), and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022).
Passion for the Stage
In an interview in May, two days after being nominated for the Tony Award, Radcliffe said that he keeps returning to the stage “because I love it.”
“There’s something thrilling about doing something that scares you, live, every night,” he said. “And just the connection with the audience — being in a room full of people and feeling them react to the story. We’re very lucky it’s such an emotional show: There are a lot of laughs, and there’s a lot of comedy, but you can also hear people being emotionally affected by it towards the end, and that’s a very rewarding thing to be a part of.”
Highlights from the 77th Tony Awards
Meanwhile, The Outsiders, a muscular musical based on the classic young adult novel, was named Best New Musical at the Tony Awards on June 16, while Stereophonic, a behind-the-music play about a band making an album, was named Best New Play. Merrily We Roll Along completed a four-decade journey from flop to hit by winning the Best Musical Revival Prize, while Appropriate, American playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ family drama about a trio of siblings confronting an unsettling secret, won Best Play Revival.
Conclusion
The 77th Tony Awards ceremony, which took place at Lincoln Centre in New York, was hosted by Oscar-winning actress Ariana DeBose for the third straight year. Daniel Radcliffe’s Tony win is an evidence to his versatility and dedication as an actor, marking a significant milestone in his illustrious career.
