The boy who lived has won his first Tony Award.
At the 77th annual Tony Awards, Daniel Radcliffe won the award for best performance by a featured actor in a musical for “Merrily We Roll Along,” in which he plays Charley Kringas, the lyricist and best friend of Franklin Shepard (played by Jonathan Groff). This was also Radcliffe’s first nomination.
It’s an extra special day for Radcliffe, as he’s also celebrating Father’s Day after welcoming his son with longtime girlfriend Erin Darke.
“My mum and dad are here somewhere — happy Father’s Day, dad, I love you both so much,” Radcliffe said in his acceptance speech. “Thank you for playing Sondheim in the car and just, you know, loving me…and my love Erin — you and our son are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love you so much, thank you so much. Thank you everybody.”
Radcliffe also acknowledged the cast of “Merrily We Roll Along.” “Thank you so much to our cast, everybody on that stage, it is an honor to be on that stage with you every single night. I will miss it so much…speaking of missing things — Jonathan [Groff], Lindsay [Mendez], I will miss you so much. I don’t really have to act in this show, I just have to look at you and feel everything I want to feel,” he said. “I will never have it this good again.”
Radcliffe later told reporters how it felt to receive his first Tony Award after his long career playing Harry Potter.
“When I finished [‘Harry Potter’] I had no idea what my career was going to be. I’d already started doing some stage stuff, but I didn’t know what the future held at all” he said. “To have had the last year playing Weird Al and also ‘Merrily We Roll Along,’ it’s been awesome.”
Radcliffe added, “Playing one character for a very long time builds up an anxiety, like, Do as many things as you possibly can. So yeah, I’m doing that right now.”
