Bonnie Milligan does not currently have the Tony that she won for best featured actress in a musical this past Sunday. “Somebody comes and gets it the next morning to have it engraved,” Milligan tells me over the phone. “So, I don’t have it with me anymore. I’m like, ‘Is it a dream? Was that real?’”
Milligan can rest assured that her Tony win for playing the hilariously mischievous Aunt Debra in Kimberly Akimbo is very real, as is her costar Victoria Clark’s lead-actress win and Kimberly Akimbo’s win for best musical. “I got about a 30-second standing ovation entrance applause,” Milligan says of her first performance after her Tony win. “My first line is supposed to be a stage whisper…I was just like, ‘Stay in character. Stay in character.’”
The newly minted Tony winner chats with Vanity Fair about her Tony Sunday, from making sure her mother got the glam she deserved to celebrating with Ariana DeBose and Jodie Comer at Darren Criss’s after-after-party.
Vanity Fair: Congratulations! Tell me about your Sunday leading up to the Tonys?
Bonnie Milligan: Of course this week I finally got a sinus infection. It was like my body knew we were at the finish line. I woke up, took a long shower, steamed, and was like, “Okay. Let’s hope for the best.”
I called my mom because I had hired glam to go to her hotel to do her hair and makeup. I wanted to make sure she knew how to advocate for herself in what she wanted to look like. It was going to be her first time really kind of having that, so I told her to find some photos of stuff she liked.
Badgley Mischka provided everything for me. They designed the dress. They gave me the shoes. They gave me the jewels, and the little handbag. And then glam arrived, so we got the hair, and makeup done. I felt gorgeous, and my curves were celebrated. We were giving a nod to Jessica Rabbit, Old Hollywood, and also ’70s glam, Studio 54.
What did it feel like to arrive at the Tonys?
Everything just felt really very surreal. I went inside and found [Tony nominee] Justin Cooley, who looked incredible in his outfit. As the place fills up, it’s like, “Oh, my God, I can’t believe we’re all here.” As I was going downstairs with my water and my bag, I, of course, tripped down a stair. I, essentially, just sort of sat down on the stairs. And then I got right back up. I was like, “Okay, I’m hoping that’s the one fall for the night.” And it was.
We got down to our seats, and I was sitting there and my mom and my brother were next to me, which was really nice. Then, my agent was next to my brother. It wasn’t even till partially through the first act that I looked down and realized my ENT was in my row, who I had literally just seen the day before. Like I said, I have a sinus infection. I was like, “Oh my God, the whole team’s here.”
What’s going through your head in the moments right before your name is called?
I didn’t realize my category was literally number two. I was sitting there, and I look up, and I see best featured actress in a musical, and I was like, oh my God. I think I said that out loud.
It feels like time kind of stops. I don’t even know why the image popped in my head of the movie Labyrinth [laughs]. It just stops. There’s a camera on you, and you’re looking up, and you’re like, “What is it going to say?” And as soon as they said my name, I think I buried my face in my hands. Then I thought, Oh, God, I have to get to the stage. My mom was already clutching me, and she’s sobbing. All I could think was, Please don’t fall. Please don’t fall. I had noticed during the first act that nobody had helped anybody on our side up to the stage yet, and nobody had required it. I was like, Will someone pop up and help me? Because I’m going to need a hand. And thank God Wayne Brady immediately put his hands out. I was like, Oh, bless.