Jonathan Groff Opens Up About the 'Life-Changing Effect' Musical Theater Has Had on Him: 'I Feel So Lucky'

Jonathan Groff didn’t exactly hold his Tony Award close to him in the hours after his win.

“My favorite thing tonight was giving it to people to take pictures with… good luck,” the 39-year-old actor said in an interview with Broadway show with Tamsen Fadal, taken hours after his win at the famous annual Tony afterparty held at the Caryle Hotel. “It’s actually a pleasure!”

In fact, Groff told Broadway.com editor-in-chief Paul Wontorek that the award wasn’t even with him as the two sat down to talk from Café Carlyle. “Right now, Tony’s on a table a few rooms from here,” he said. “I think it’s safe!”

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It helps that the party — hosted by John Gore, Rick Miramontez and Jamie DuMont — was attended by a notable who’s who of the Broadway community, many with trophies of their own, including Sarah Paulson, Leslie Odom Jr., Kara Young, Billy Porter, Shaina Taub, Eddie Redmayne, Alex Edelman, Nikki M. James, Kecia Lewis and Groff’s actor Daniel Radcliffe.

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Groff fit right in after taking home his first Tony on Sunday, June 16, for his lead actor in a musical role in the hit Broadway revival We roll happily. But the phrase “Tony winner Jonathan Groff” hadn’t hit him yet when he spoke to Wontorek.

“It still hasn’t become clear,” he admitted. “I think that’s why I give my Tony to people to take pictures with, because I’m like, ‘What?’ ”

Jonathan Groff with his trophy at the 2024 Tony Awards.

Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty

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But Groff earned it, all right — not least because of his emotional performance in the Happybut for a number of other stage roles such as his other two Tony-nominated performances, for 2007 Spring awakening and in 2015 Hamilton.

“All I wanted was to be a part of this community,” Groff said in his speech. “To actually be able to be a part of the creation of theater in this city — and to also be able to watch this amazing, amazing community at work — has been the greatest gift and pleasure of my life.”

He continued with that gratitude as he spoke further Broadway play.

“I feel so fortunate to be an active actor, and for me to get up on that stage is an opportunity to acknowledge the incredible, life-changing effect that musical theater has had on me,” Groff said. – That changed my life.

Jonathan Groff at the 2024 Tony Awards.

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Not only did the art form take Groff from the farmlands of Pennsylvania to the streets of New York, it also paved the way for him to stardom in Hollywood, with a string of television and film successes to his name (see Frozen, Watching, Mind hunter and Resurrection of the Matrix, among others). And it gave him the confidence to come out.

Maybe that’s why the 2024 Tony Awards felt so “important” to Groff. I had my mom and dad and my brother by my side and it was deep and big, he said. “I was expecting it to look more like a party… And then tonight I felt, ‘Oh my God, I’m at Tony’s!’ ”

Broadway show with Tamsen Fadal airs on weekends in syndication (check local listings).

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Source: HIS Education