This is beginning to be a habit: Corey Brunish walked away from Sunday evening’s annual Tony Awards ceremony with yet another trophy, this one as a producer of Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown’s Parade, this year’s winner for best revival of a musical.
It was Brunish’s fifth Tony win, following last year’s award as a producer of Company, also in the best musical revival category, and earlier wins as a producer of Porgy and Bess, Pippin, and Once on This Island.
Brunish, a longtime Portland actor, singer, and director who has gone on to produce or invest in many Broadway and Broadway touring shows, maintains a home in Lake Oswego as well as residences in New York and Tennessee.
Parade made its Broadway debut in December 1998, and the current revival is timely in a period of political and ethnic strife. The musical is based on the 1913 trial and 1915 lynching of the Jewish Leo Frank in Georgia.
Other big winners in Sunday’s 76th annual Tony Awards ceremony included Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt (best play), David Lindsay-Abaire’s Kimberly Akimbo (best musical), and Suzan-Lori Parks’ Top Dog/Underdog (best revival of a play). You can read recent ArtsWatch takes on Leopolstadt by Martha Ullman West, and on Leopoldstadt and sever other major shows by Misha Berson. See NPR’s story on the major winners here.
