Darren Criss just pulled up to the 2025 Tony Awards like a glittery wrecking ball made of Broadway dreams, daddy energy, and Tony-shaped chaos. And let’s just say… the man did not come to play. He came to slay, sing, and take home shiny metal trophies like they were Pokémon.
Criss, 38, crowned the King of Jazz Hands™, scored his first ever Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical—which is basically Broadway speak for “You made us cry, scream, and throw money at the stage.” And what show helped him do that? Maybe Happy Ending—a musical so emotional, so weird, so robotically romantic that it won SIX Tonys and possibly gained sentience backstage.
Let’s break this down like we’re doing interpretive dance in jazz shoes:
🏆 Best Musical
🎭 Best Actor in a Musical (yes, Mr. Criss himself)
🎤 Best Original Score (because duh)
📖 Best Book of a Musical (who knew robot love stories could read like poetry?)
🎬 Best Direction (Michael Arden = Broadway daddy directing supreme)
🌇 Best Scenic Design (yes, they made a stage that literally glows with heartbreak and LED tears)
And wait—Darren also won a SECOND Tony because he’s a producer on the show. That’s right, he pulled a double whammy. It’s giving multi-hyphenate. It’s giving Tony hoarder. It’s giving “I’m gonna need a second shelf.”
But the REAL MVP of the night? Darren’s wife, Mia. He gave a tearjerker of a speech that had people sobbing into their playbills, saying:
“The real hero here is my wife Mia, who let me go full robot dad on stage while she raised our actual children like the superhero she is. She made it logistically possible, emotionally stable, and spiritually gorgeous.”
He called her the “pedestal that upholds the shiny spinny bit in our lives,” which is either a Tony trophy or a cosmic Beyblade metaphor. Either way, we stan.
During the show, Darren took to the stage to belt “Never Fly Away” with co-stars Helen J. Shen and Dez Duron (who collectively served vocals, vibes, and enough charisma to cause an East Coast blackout). Also spotted: Marcus Choi, whose cheekbones and presence deserve their own award.
Wanna witness the robo-romance live? RUN, DON’T TAP DANCE, to get tickets to Maybe Happy Ending before Darren’s final bow on August 31. But don’t worry—tickets are on sale through January 2026, because Broadway is dramatic but not cruel.
Darren Criss is now legally a Tony winner, a Broadway robot dad, and probably the only man who could make crying about artificial intelligence look hot.
✨ THEATER! EMOTION! LASERS! ✨ Go see it.
