Scott Rudin Wins Best Play Tony Award After Bullying Claims

Producer Scott Rudin won a Tony Award for best revival of a play Sunday, after leaving the industry amid claims of bad behavior. 

Rudin received the trophy for his role as the lead producer on the revival of Death of A Salesman, which stars Laurie Metcalf, Nathan Lane and Christopher Abbott. He did not appear at the Tony Awards Sunday, with Lane accepting the Tony Award on behalf of the production. 

“On behalf of everyone associated with Death of a Salesman, everyone who works nightly at the Winter Garden Theatre, our entire cast crew, creative team, design team and producing team, our heartfelt thanks to the American Theatre Wing for this tremendous honor. Of course, we all wouldn’t be standing here without the genius of [director] Joe Mantello, who created this revelatory production, and most importantly, the genius of Arthur Miller, who created this monumental masterpiece, which is still sadly as relevant as it was in 1949 and still continues to teach us who we are,” Lane said. 

Metcalf won the best lead actress in a play Tony for her portrayal of Linda Loman as did Mantello for his direction. Abbott and Lane were also nominated but missed out on trophies. 

Rudin’s reported bad behavior became public after a Hollywood Reporter story detailed multiple claims from Rudin’s former employees of bullying and verbal abuse as well as throwing objects at staff. After the article, as well as a subsequent march on Broadway, Rudin resigned from the Broadway League and effectively stepped away from producing for several years. He was previously a big presence on Broadway, producing a string of showy musical revivals, such as The Music Man, starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, and Hello, Dolly!, starring Bette Midler, in addition to backing smaller, less commercial plays such as Taylor Mac’s Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus.

Rudin began a soft comeback by helping friend and producing partner Barry Diller, with programming for Little Island. He returned to Broadway producing this fall, and also produced the off-Broadway production of Wallace Shawn’s What We Did Before Our Moth Days this spring. 

There has been little outward pushback on his return to the industry. Both of his Broadway productions were critically acclaimed and Death of a Salesman has been filling the large Winter Garden Theatre nightly (Little Bear was not a commercial hit but still well-reviewed). Rudin also received a nomination for Little Bear Ridge Road, which ran this fall, also starring Metcalf and directed by Mantello, but Liberation took home the prize for best play. But there has been some tension about his return. 

According to The New Yorker, Metcalf had to threaten to quit the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, of which she is a founding member, in order to get them to release the rights to Rudin for Little Bear Ridge Road. The Chicago-based Steppenwolf Theatre Company had originally commissioned the play, but refused to work with Rudin to bring it to Broadway, according to the piece. Mantello has said the situation with Steppenwolf was more nuanced, that he believes Rudin has taken accountability for his action, and “I believe in second chances. I know other people don’t share that belief, and that’s their right.”

Asked how she felt about Rudin coming back to Broadway, Metcalf said it was “touchy,” before reading from her notes. 

“He talked about his therapy; he apologized; he owned what he said; he reflected on it,” she told The New Yorker. “He was in the process of rehabilitation. So I just think that, unless we think there is no possibility of real rehabilitation, then we shouldn’t ask people to try and do it.”