Carnegie Mellon University
September 26, 2021

Carnegie Mellon Alumni Win Two Tony Awards

By Pam Wigley

Pam Wigley
  • College of Fine Arts
  • 412-268-1047

Broadway is back, and so are The Tony Awards. During a live ceremony at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City tonight, the American Theatre Wing's 74th Annual Tony Awards honored performances and productions from 2019-2020.

Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama alumni Peter Hylenski and Jamie deRoy had reason to celebrate at the awards, which streamed live on Paramount+. Hylenski, a 1997 graduate, won Best Sound Design of a Musical for "Moulin Rouge! The Musical." deRoy, Class of 1967, won as a producer for Best Play, "The Inheritance."

Immediately following The Tony Awards, Leslie Odom, Jr., who graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 2003, hosted "The Tony Awards Present: Broadway's Back!" — Sunday's live concert event celebrating the return of Broadway — on the CBS Network. Odom won a 2016 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance as Aaron Burr in "Hamilton." He also won a Grammy as a principal soloist on the original cast recording.

"We congratulate our CMU Tony nominees and winners, and all the artists nominated-and we applaud Leslie Odom, Jr., on a wonderful job hosting 'Broadway's Back,'" said Anne Mundell, interim head of the CMU School of Drama. "Additional kudos to the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League for their leadership and perseverance during such extraordinary times for the performing arts community."

CMU has a long tradition of producing top talent onstage and behind-the-scenes. CMU is the first, exclusive higher education partner of the Tony Awards. Its School of Drama is the oldest degree-granting drama school in the country and consistently ranks as one of the world's best drama schools. 

For more information about CMU and The Tony Awards, visit cmu.edu.

Highlights from the Tony Awards

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