Which 2026 Tony-winning musical received Best Direction of a Musical for Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch?

Cats: The Jellicle Ball received Best Direction of a Musical at the 2026 Tony Awards for Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch.

Levingston and Rauch shared the directing prize for Cats: The Jellicle Ball, a reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats through a ballroom-culture lens. The production competed in the directing category alongside several new musicals and revivals.

The nominees included Michael Arden for The Lost Boys, Lear deBessonet for Ragtime, Christopher Gattelli for Schmigadoon!, and Tim Jackson for Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). The award recognized direction, not choreography; Cats: The Jellicle Ball also won the choreography prize for Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons.

Its directing victory helped make the production one of the ceremony’s notable creative successes.