Darren Criss Wins Third Straight Tony for ‘Glee’ Alums

Glee makes it three straight at the Tonys.

When Darren Criss picked up a Tony Award on Sunday night for best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical for his turn in Maybe Happy Ending, the veteran star became the third straight Glee alum to win a trophy on Broadway’s biggest night. He followed hot on the heels of Jonathan Groff, who won his first Tony last year for Merrily We Roll Along (and he was nominated this year in the same category as Criss for Just in Time), and Alex Newell, who won best featured actor in a musical for Shucked in 2023.

While the springboard from screens big and small to the stage is busier than ever, the wins deepen the validation for Ryan Murphy and his beloved Fox musical TV series, which ran from 2009-2015. So much so that Out published a detailed roundup of the 12 Glee stars that have won Tonys over the years (some of whom before starring on the hit series). Murphy, who was not available for comment this week, has long been praised for razor-sharp skills in spotting, developing and nurturing talent. Often times, that work leads to rewards for his stable of actors.

That list includes Sarah Paulson, a longtime veteran of the Ryan Murphy universe, who won an Emmy, SAG Award, Golden Globe and countless critics prizes for one of his shows. She graduated to the stage, where she won a Tony last year for her work in Appropriate in a category that also included another Murphy collaborator, Jessica Lange. Murphy and Lange previously collaborated on the Great White Way production Long Day’s Journey into Night, for which she won a Tony in 2016. The show itself, produced by Murphy, received a total of seven nominations, including best revival of a play.

Two years later, Murphy made quite an impression on Broadway when he mounted a new production of The Boys in the Band at New York’s Booth Theatre to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the play’s original debut. The production starred Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells, Charlie Carver, Brian Hutchinson, Michael Benjamin Washington, Robin de Jesús and Tuc Watkins. It won a Tony for best revival of a play.

Around the same time as the revival’s run on Broadway, The Prom danced its way onto the scene. The musical — with music by Matthew Sklar, a book by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin and lyrics by Beguelin — centered on a high school student in conservative Indiana who wants to bring her girlfriend to prom. After the move is denied, a troupe of Broadway stars descend on the scene to rally behind the student and fight for her right to attend prom with her girlfriend. Murphy adapted the show for the screen by bringing Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Andrew Rannells, Kerry Washington, Ariana DeBose, Jo Ellen Pellman and Keegan-Michael Key along for the ride. Murphy also adapted Larry Kramer’s play The Normal Heart for the screen starring Bomer, Groff, Mark Ruffalo, Taylor Kitsch, Jim Parsons, Alfred Molina, Joe Mantello and Julia Roberts.

Back to the Glee of it all. As Criss took home his award, fellow Glee vet Lea Michele was sitting in the audience. She attended the Tonys with performers Aaron Tveit (who auditioned for the role of Finn on Glee) and Nicholas Christopher. The trio will be starring this fall in the musical revival of Chess at the Shubert Theatre. Featuring music by ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus and Tim Rice, Chess features a new book by Dopesick creator Danny Strong with Michael Mayer on board to direct.

With Michele poised to hit the stage during the next Tony season, there’s a chance Glee could make it four in a row if the Funny Girl star were to triumph at the 2026 Tony Awards. It would be the ultimate fiction-meets-reality moment as Michele’s Rachel Berry won a Tony in the Glee series finale for starring in a fictitious Broadway musical Jane Austen Sings.