Hadestown, a musical about a young couple's dark trip to the Underworld, was the big winner Sunday night at the Tony Awards in New York City.

The awards are given each year to Broadway productions -- major plays put on in New York City.

Hadestown won eight Tonys, including the top prize for a musical.

Anais Mitchell's musical is based on the ancient Greek story of Orpheus and Eurydice. The show also won a best director award for Rachel Chavkin, the supporting actor Tony for Andre De Shields and honors for orchestration, sound and lighting design.

Chavkin noted she was the only woman currently directing a Broadway musical. She called for a change in the theater world. "It is a failure of imagination," she told the audience.

Best play: The Ferryman

The Tony for best play went to The Ferryman, a work from British writer Jez Butterworth. It is about the life a family in Northern Ireland during the religious violence there in the 1980s. Its director, Sam Mendes, also won a Tony for his work.

Bryan Cranston, best known as a television actor, won his second Tony as the lead male in Network. The play is based on a movie of the same name released in 1976.

Cranston dedicated his Tony award to real reporters. Cranston said the media "is not the enemy of the people." That is how American President Donald Trump has described several mainstream media groups.

Eighty-seven-year-old Elaine May won the Tony for her lead part in the play The Waverly Gallery. She was praised for her moving performance as a woman whose mental abilities are failing.

The Tony for best actor in a musical went to Santino Fontana for Tootsie, another hit show based on a movie. The film of the same name was released in 1982.

Stephanie J. Block took home the lead actress award playing music star Cher in The Cher Show. Block thanked "the goddess Cher, and her legacy."

The Boys in the Band, a humorous drama about a group of homosexuals at a birthday party, won best play revival. The first version was produced in the late 1960s.

The supporting musical actress Tony went to Ali Stroker for a reimagining of the famous musical, Oklahoma! The show also was honored with the Tony for best revival of a musical. Stroker became the first actor performing in a wheelchair to win a Tony.

Supporting actress in a play went to Celia Keenan-Bolger, for her work as young Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. And, British actor Bertie Carvel won his first Tony for his part as media company leader Rupert Murdoch in the play Ink.

Finally, stage actor Rosemary Harris and playwright Terrence McNally were presented with special Tony awards for lifetime achievement in theater.

I'm Caty Weaver.

Reuters reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted it for VOA Learning English was the editor.

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Words in This Story

orchestration - n. the arrangement of a musical composition for performance by an orchestra

dedicate - v. to inscribe or address by way of compliment

legacy - n. something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past

drama - n. a play, movie, or television production with a serious tone or subject

revival - n. a new presentation or publication of something old

achievement - n. a result gained by effort

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