How dare you play off a legend!

Lyricist Lynn Ahrens was played off on the Tony broadcast June 7 while accepting the Best Revival of a Musical statuette for Ragtime, but Playbill has the inside scoop on what she “wanted to say.”

“Terrence McNally,” Ahrens stated bluntly to the Tony Awards Press Room shortly after their win, “Terrence, in particular, always wanted this show at Lincoln Center. It fits it so beautifully, and the times we’re in did show [that] so beautifully. We set out, basically, to make a great American musical, all about the beauty of America.”

As Ahrens went on to elaborate, she was interrupted again by cheers at leading lady Caissie Levy‘s win. “I just keep getting played off!”

Once the room had settled down, Ahrens continued. “We are very proud of this show. This show is a living thing that has landed in this beautiful location with beautiful people, our incredible director and producers, it is all so amazing. The show has finally arrived and come home.”

As her co-collaborator Stephen Flaherty added, “It’s just been a beautiful return to Lincoln Center Theater, with this exciting new chapter and era for the theatre. It’s our fifth show at Lincoln Center. We were André Bishop’s first musical in the Beaumont in 1992, and it’s beautiful now to be able to come home with this incredibly heartfelt, re-thought production.”

Lincoln Center Theater’s Ragtime was crowned the season’s Best Revival of a Musical at the 2026 Tony Awards June 7 at Radio City Music Hall. The win is one of 11 total categories the production was up for tonight, and is its second win following Kai Harada taking Best Sound Design of a Musical. The production is nominated in two upcoming categories, including Leading Actor in a Musical (Joshua Henry and Brandon Uranowitz) and Leading Actress in a Musical (Caissie Levy).

The win goes to the revival’s producing team, led by Lincoln Center Theater, Tom Kirdahy, Kevin Ryan, Robert Greenblatt, and Lamar Richardson.

The production’s multi-extended run is currently set to continue at the Vivian Beaumont Theater through August 2. The production opened October 16, 2025. See what critics had to say about the Broadway bow here.

For more on everything Tony Awards, visit Playbill.com/Tonys.