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Based in Wallis & Futuna
The Tony Awards anointed lots of winners on Sunday night. “Schmigadoon!” won best musical. “Liberation” won best play.
Another notable winner, though, was not in the room at Radio City Music Hall: the producer Scott Rudin.
A Rudin-produced staging of the classic Arthur Miller drama “Death of a Salesman” won six prizes — more than any other show — including the award for best play revival.
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The victory makes clear what has been obvious for months: Like it or not, Rudin is back.
But the victory also made clear how complicated his return has been. Not one of the six people who accepted the “Salesman” prizes thanked Rudin or even mentioned his name in their speeches. (They had Rudin’s blessing to omit his name, according to a person who worked closely with him.)
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Laurie Metcalf, from left, Christopher Abbot, Ben Ahlers and Lane in “Death of a Salesman.” Rudin’s production of the classic play won six Tony Awards, including for Metcalf’s performance.Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
“There would be no ‘Salesman’ without Scott Rudin,” Barry Diller, a frequent Rudin backer who joined him as a lead producer on the show, said by email. “‘Salesman,’ with every respect to all, would not be the production it is without Scott Rudin. And I’m disappointed my colleagues did not thank him.”
Until 2021, Rudin had been one of the more powerful, and feared, producers on Broadway and in Hollywood, admired for his taste and tolerated despite his temper. He is among the small number of EGOT winners — people who have Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards — and, even before Sunday night, had won 18 Tony Awards for musicals including “The Book of Mormon” and the Bette Midler “Hello, Dolly!” revival and for plays including “The Humans.”
But then a pair of news articles, one in The Hollywood Reporter and one in The New York Times, provided new details about his long-known bullying behavior. His career seemed to implode: He stopped actively producing, resigned from the Broadway League before he could be kicked out and moved out of New York City.
Rudin declined to be interviewed for this article.
Seemingly aware that his comeback is not universally welcome and hoping to avoid becoming a distraction for his shows, Rudin kept a low profile throughout the season.
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He did not even show up at the “Death of a Salesman” opening night party at Katz’s Delicatessen in April. Rudin also skipped a variety of awards ceremonies at which “Salesman” was a contender, culminating with Sunday night’s Tonys ceremony; the trophy for best play revival — often accepted by a show’s lead producer — was accepted by its lead actor, Nathan Lane.
There were indications that laying low was a good strategy, given the concern some still have about his behavior. At the Drama Desk Awards last month, boos were heard when Rudin’s name was mentioned.
His comeback has been cautious, but growing in scale and impact.
Early last year, in an interview, he confirmed that he was planning to resume working, but promised change, acknowledging that “I was just too rough on people,” and saying “I have a lot more self-control than I had four years ago.”
Then last fall, he produced a small play on Broadway, Samuel D. Hunter’s “Little Bear Ridge Road,” about an aunt and a nephew in rural Idaho who are trying to reconnect after years of distance. Rudin’s only co-producer was Diller, and the play’s team included the director Joe Mantello and the actress Laurie Metcalf, two longtime Rudin collaborators. The production caused a serious — and contested — rift between Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater Company, where the play had originated, and Metcalf, a longtime member of the company.