Escola wore a custom Wiederhoeft gown inspired by Peters' 1999 look Bernadette Peters responded to Cole Escola's 2025 Tony Awards dress homage The Broadway legend said Escola's look was "lovely" and joked that she "wore my chest hairs in a different pattern" Peters also congratulated Escola on winning the award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor Bernadette Peters is shouting out Cole Escola's style homage.

See Cynthia Erivo, Nicole Scherzinger, Cole Escola, Sarah Snook, Darren Criss and many more at the Met Gala afterparties

Cole Escola hasn’t forgotten about Nicole Scherzinger’s eyebrow-raising interest in a hat featuring a variation on President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, even if much of the Broadway community appears to have moved past it.

Darren Criss took Lead Actor in a Musical for Maybe Happy Ending, and Nicole Scherzinger won Actress in a Musical for Sunset Blvd. Succession alum and Emmy winner Sarah Snook won Lead Actress in a Play for her Broadway debut The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Cole Escola won Lead Actor in a Play for their reimagining of Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary!

Follow live coverage of the 78th Annual Tony Awards, featuring red carpet looks, winners, performances, and real-time updates from Broadway’s biggest night.

I work in the world of awards and know better than to get too invested in outcomes. The definition of "best" is personal and often nebulous and great work frequently goes unrecognized. So, I was trying not to get invested in this year's Tony Awards race for best actress in a musical,