Minneapolis-based Broadway producer’s ‘Buena Vista Social Club’ wins multiple Tonys

Minnesota had a good night at the 78th Tony Awards held Sunday night at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who has been tapped to write the script for the stage adaptation of Prince’s “Purple Rain,” won the best play award for “Purpose,” which also nabbed this year’s Pulitzer Prize.

During his acceptance speech, Jacobs-Jenkins urged everyone to support local theaters, adding “a lot of great stuff happens in New York, but a lot more happens out in the regions.”

“Purple Rain,” which is set to premiere in fall at Minneapolis’ State Theater before moving to Broadway, is backed by Minneapolis-based Broadway production house Stone Arch Theatricals. The company also had two high-profile musicals vying for Tonys Sunday night — “Buena Vista Social Club” and “Gypsy.”

“Buena Vista” won four awards out of a total 10 nominations, which tied with “Death Becomes Her,” and “Maybe Happy Ending” for the most Tony nods this season. “Happy Ending” won best musical and five other honors.

“Buena Vista” took home the award for featured actress (Natalie Venetia Belcon), choreography (Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck), orchestrations (Marco Paguia) and sound design (Jonathan Deans).

“Buena Vista” also won a special Tony for its band.

“Gypsy” had five nominations, including for leading lady Audra McDonald, who has won the most Tonys of any performer in history. But the show got shut out.

“It’s been an incredibly competitive year,” said Stone Arch principal Frances Wilkinson earlier Sunday.

Wilkinson and Jennifer Melin Miller, the company’s other principal, wore royal blue and silver to the awards ceremony, recreating the good luck rituals that they followed in 2019 when “Hadestown,” another show they produced, won the best musical Tony.

“Buena Vista” is a groundbreaking story crafted around a similarly named 1990s album recorded by virtuoso Cuban musicians.

“As they say at the top of ‘Buena Vista Social Club,’ although Cuba is pretty closed, the music tends to travel,” Melin Miller said. “We like to support shows that elevate stories about women and people of color, and these shows have that richness.”

The telecast had plenty of star power, from nominees George Clooney (“Good Night, and Good Luck”) and Nicole Scherzinger (who won for her star turn in “Sunset Boulevard”) to presenters Glenn Close and Oprah Winfrey.

Cole Escola won a Tony for playing Mary Todd Lincoln in their play, “Oh, Mary!”

Australia’s Sarah Snook took home the prize for leading actress in a play for playing 26 roles in “The Picture of Dorian Gray.”

Host Cynthia Erivo brought the house down with both her opening and closing numbers and her couture dresses.