“It's unbelievable. I see John Lithgow over there,” Nicholas Christopher, the star of Chess, told Vogue. The first-time Tony Awards nominee was marveling at the scene inside Manhattan’s iconic Rainbow Room on Thursday afternoon: “Seeing all these people in one room and getting to have a conversation with them—it feels like a high school drama club, but with nicer clothes!”

With one week to go until the big night, Broadway’s biggest stars gathered for the annual Tony Awards Nominee Luncheon atop Rockefeller Center, 65 floors above New York City’s busy streets and just a few blocks away from The Great White Way.

“There's nothing like this event,” Heather Hitchens, the president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, told Vogue as things kicked off. “This is the moment where we get together and celebrate each other and the force that Broadway is. There’s so much division today, but this is a way to connect with each other.”

Presented by Cunard, the leisurely luncheon began with a cocktail reception over Dewar’s cocktails before attendees sat for a three-course dining experience. Ragtime’s Joshua Henry was among the first of the guests to arrive, along with his co-stars and fellow nominees Nichelle Lewis, Caissie Levy, and Brandon Uranowitz. Henry—looking like the essence of spring in a pastel pink linen suit and a crisp polo—quickly made his way to a corner of the room to chat with The Lost Boys producer and nominee Patrick Wilson.

“This is so fun,” Henry said, still riding high since receiving his nod in the best actor category. “It’s nice to catch up with friends who are going through the same things that you’re going through, getting to celebrate in a really cool way, and talking about shows that you haven’t seen yet.”

By noon, the class of 2026 had packed the room, with Lithgow making waves as he entered the buzzy reception. The Giant star and two-time Tony winner posted up by the bar at the center of the room—making it easy for fellow nominees and guests to orbit the legendary actor—and greeted everyone with warm handshakes and hugs. Lithgow was certainly the name on everyone’s lips when it came to performances that they wanted to see this season, in addition to Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf in the revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.

“I think it’s the highest compliment ever to be singled out like that by a bunch of other nominees,” Metcalf told Vogue of her fellow peers spotlighting her performance. “The best place to do a play is always here in New York, on Broadway. It’s very rare to have a play be received the way [Death of a Salesman] has, so I stay aware of that and appreciate it, because they are few and far between.”

Across the room, Fallen Angels star Kelli O’Hara was sharing laughs with the ladies of Ragtime, aka Levy and Lewis. “It’s hard to explain—because it feels like night and day for me,” Lewis, a first-time nominee, said of her theater journey before Ragtime. “I was dressed in a production of The Wiz not too long ago
, yet it feels like forever ago, but also not at the same time. I feel so grateful and lucky to be working at this time and doing this show right now.”