The Australian costume designer Marg Horwell has won her ‘surrealistic’ this year on the Tony Awards and says that she could never have imagined to win the most prestigious prize of the theater.
Horwell picked De Tony for the best costume design of a play during Sunday evening’s ceremony in New York for her work on the photo of Dorian Gray, the one-wife show with the Australian actress Sarah Snook.
On the photo of Dorian Gray, Gray sells his soul for eternal youth. ((Liver: Michael Cassel Group/Marc Brenner))
Snook, who plays 26 characters in production, also took home the best performance of an actress in a leading role in a play.
After a whirlwind 24 hours, Horwell told ABC News Breakfast that the cast and the creative team behind the show cherished in Tony Award Glory.
“It has been an incredible night. We were celebrating completely at night,” she said.
Dorian Gray Designer Marg Horwell and actress Sarah Snook with their Tony Awards. ((Getty images))
The adjustment of the Sydney Theater Company of the novel of Oscar Wilde, directed by Kip Williams, had received six nominations on the 78one Tony Awards, the most nominated solo show in the history of the ceremony.
“It is a huge celebration of the Australian theater in a city with so much theater and such a great theater community,” said Horwell.
Sarah Snook plays 26 characters for two hours in the one-wife epic. ((Liver: Michael Cassel Group/Marc Brenner))
“It has been a wonderful celebration of the show that came from Australia and went through London and then arrived in New York. We are so excited.”
Make a Tony Award winner
The show, originally premiered in 2020 in Sydney, is no stranger to awards and won several prizes at Olivier Awards in London in 2024 for the production of West End.
The show was adjusted and directed by Kip Williams from the 19th-century Oscar Wild-Roman. ((Liver: Michael Cassel Group/Marc Brenner))
But Horwell remembers his modest beginning, now, half a decade ago.
“We made this show from the pandemic, and it was in a time when we tried to make work that was something safer or smaller and this was a hugely ambitious project that came from that time.
“I am so proud that we, I don’t know, naive enough or brave enough to be so daring,” said Horwell.
Snook has won the best actress at the Tony Awards for her performance in the photo of Dorian Gray. ((Liver: Michael Cassel Group/Marc Brenner))
Horwell creates countless costumes for Sarah Snook and says that production is a kind of theater audience that is not often visible.
“Fast changes or things that we normally try to hide in theater are celebrated and centrestage in the show and it feels like you get to see a theater secret.”
When asked for her advice to young Australians who want to pursue a career in the theater, Horwell is reflective about her modest beginning.
“I saw as much as I could and learned as much as I could watch. My parents were great, brought me to a lot of theater when I was younger and Fringe Theater, small theater in a small town.
“Child me, I don’t think I would ever have believed that I would now be in a hotel in New York with a Tony Award.
“It’s surreal. We are humble.”
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