Jonathan Groff won at the 2024 Tony Awards, and his Merrily We Roll Along co-star couldn’t have been more supportive of him.
Groff had been overjoyed earlier in the show when Radcliffe won in the Featured Actor in a Musical category, and the Harry Potter alum reacted the same way when Groff won.
As Groff walked to the stage, he crossed paths with Radcliffe and they embraced each other.
“I grew up in a house surrounded by cornfields in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I was raised by my parents, Jim and Julie Groff, and my brother David, and the three of them are sitting right there,” Groff said as he read his prepared speech from a piece of paper. “Thank you for letting me dress up like Mary Poppins when I was three. Thank you for letting me act out scenes from I Love Lucy on my 10th birthday. Thank you for always allowing my freak flag to fly without ever making me feel weird about it. Even if they didn’t always understand me, my family knew the life-saving power of fanning the flame of a young person’s passions without judgment.”
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Groff continued and said “musical theater is still saving my soul.” He thanked the musical’s director, Maria Friedman, “for letting me be your Franklin Shepherd in this production and allowing me the chance to accept respect and express both the highest and darkest parts of myself.”
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The actor went on to praise his co-stars, Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez, saying, “You are more than old friends; you are soulmates, and I’m looking forward to watching each other change for the rest of our lives.”
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“And finally, I just want to say when I was a kid in Pennsylvania, I used to record the Tony Awards on a VHS tape and watch the performances over and over again,” Groff said. “And to actually be able to be a part of making theater in this city. And just as much to be able to watch the work of this incredible, incredible community has been the greatest gift and pleasure of my life.”
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Watch moments of Groff’s acceptance speech below.
