Danya Taymor has won Best Direction of a Musical at the 2024 Tony Awards, for her work on The Outsiders.
This is Taymor's first Tony nomination and win. Niece to fellow Tony-winning director Julie Taymor, Danya made her Broadway debut helming 2021's Pass Over, among the first titles to perform after the pandemic shutdown.
"To all the young artists out there who want to create—what some may perceive as a weakness or a liability in you might just be your superpower," Taymor shared from the Koch stage in her acceptance speech. "Don't be afraid to trust your gut. Artistic risks yield rewards."
Taymor is the sixth woman to win Best Direction of a Musical, following Marianne Elliott, Rachel Chavkin, Diane Paulus, Susan Stroman, and Julie Taymor. Including the Direction of a Play category, that list extends to include Garry Hynes, Mary Zimmerman, Anna D. Shapiro, Pam MacKinnon, and Rebecca Taichman.
Also up for Direction of a Musical were Maria Friedman, for Merrily We Roll Along; Michael Greif, for Hell's Kitchen; Leigh Silverman, for Suffs; and Jessica Stone, for Water for Elephants.
Currently running at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, where the musical opened April 11, The Outsiders is adapted from S.E. Hinton's novel and Francis Ford Coppola's film version. Set in 1967 Tulsa, Oklahoma, the musical follows Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Cade, and their chosen family of "outsiders," who are in a fight for survival and a quest for purpose in a world that may never accept them. The musical features a book by Adam Rapp with Justin Levine and music and lyrics by Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance) and Levine.
The cast includes Brody Grant as Ponyboy, Brent Comer as Darrel, Jason Schmidt as Sodapop, Sky Lakota-Lynch (Dear Evan Hansen) as Johnny, Joshua Boone (Skeleton Crew) as Dallas Winston, Emma Pittman (Chicago) as Cherry Valance, Daryl Tofa (Back to the Future) as Two-Bit Mathews, Kevin William Paul as Bob Sheldon, and Dan Berry as Paul.
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