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<\/a><\/p>\nJohn Lithgow wins Tony Award for portraying Roald Dahl in \u2018Giant,\u2019 about Dahl\u2019s antisemitism<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Lithgow stars as Dahl in \u201cGiant,\u201d which opened on Broadway in March. The play, which originated in London in 2024, depicts ultimately unsuccessful efforts to get Dahl to rein in antisemitic comments he made about the 1982 Israel-Lebanon war.<\/p>\n
Lithgow\u2019s award for best leading actor in a play recognized what he has said was an effort to portray Dahl as emotionally complex, a man who had suffered grave losses and was kind to those close to him yet baldly antisemitic in his criticisms of Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho knows where antisemitism or any bigotry comes from. In playing the role, I just looked for the damage,\u201d Lithgow said during a March appearance on a New Yorker podcast. \u201cTo me, a person who suffered injury or carries demons, it just manifests itself in hatred of the other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Accepting the award, which made him, at 80, the oldest man to win a competitive Tony, Lithgow did not mention antisemitism or Dahl specifically but said, \u201cIt\u2019s a play about cruelty in a cruel age.\u201d He also shouted out the play\u2019s Jewish author, Mark Rosenblatt.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, multiple awards went to Jewish performers during the 79th Annual Tony Awards on Sunday, which was hosted at Radio City Music Hall in New York City by P!nk, the rock musician who has spoken publicly and with pride about her identity as a Jewish mother.<\/p>\n