Angelina Jolie Wins Her First Tony Award

The Outsiders, a gritty adaptation of the classic young adult novel, became the essence of a Broadway insider on Sunday, winning the Tony Award for best new musical on a night when women made strides, the AP reports. The musical based on the beloved SE Hinton book is about rival gangs of haves and have-nots in 1960s Oklahoma. The win meant Angelina Jolie, a producer, landed her first Tony, too. Producer Matthew Rego, in his acceptance speech, thanked Hinton, in the audience at Manhattan's Lincoln Center: "Susie, I'm here to tell you that your story and its eternal message of love and family and staying gold has forever changed all of our lives." More highlights from the awards ceremony:

• Stereophonic, the play about a Fleetwood Mac-like band recording an album over a turbulent and life-changing year, won best new play and had the night's most total awards at five. It was written by David Adjmi, with songs by former Arcade Fire member Will Butler. (Adjmi explained earlier this year that it's a play, not a musical, because the songs aren't used to advance the storyline, and the characters don't break the fourth wall when they sing.)
• Jeremy Strong took home the first big award of the night. The Succession star landed his first Tony for his work in the revival of Henrik Ibsen's 1882 political play An Enemy of the People.
• Kara Young, the first Black performer to be nominated for a Tony three consecutive years in a row, won this time as best featured actress in a play for Purlie Victorious, the story of a Black preacher's plan to reclaim his inheritance and win back his church from a plantation owner.
• Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe cemented his stage career pivot by winning featured actor in a musical, his first trophy in five Broadway shows. He won for the revival of Merrily We Roll Along, the Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical that goes backward in time.
• Merrily was also named best musical revival and earned Jonathan Groff his first Tony, for leading actor in a musical. Groff—previously nominated for Spring Awakening and Hamilton—thanked co-stars Lindsay Mendez and Radcliffe, both emotional in the audience.

• Danya Taymor—whose aunt is Julie Taymor, the first woman to win a Tony Award for directing a musical—became the sixth woman to win the same award for The Outsiders.
• Appropriate, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' show centered on a family reunion in Arkansas, was named best play revival. Appropriate star Sarah Paulson added a best leading actress in a play Tony to her awards cabinet.
• Two special guests electrified the crowd—Jay-Z and Hillary Rodham Clinton. The latter, a producer of a musical about suffragettes, presented Suffs. In the first musical presentation, Alicia Keys appeared at a piano as the cast of her semi-autobiographical musical, Hell's Kitchen, presented a medley of songs. She sang her and Jay-Z's 2009 smash "Empire State of Mind," joining the rapper on interior steps to wild applause.
• Newcomer Maleah Joi Moon won best leading actress for Hell's Kitchen. The 21-year-old plays a role loosely based on Keys' life. Kecia Lewis, who plays a formidable piano teacher in Hell's Kitchen, took home her first Tony, too. The 40-year veteran made her Broadway debut at 18 in the original company of Dreamgirls.
• Shaina Taub, only the second woman in Broadway history to write, compose, and star in a Broadway musical, won for best score, the ninth woman to do so. The Suffs creator had already won for best book earlier in the night.

(More Tony Awards stories.)