Christian Siriano on Dressing SIX Stars for the 2022 Tony Awards

Is there a Groupon for this? At the 2022 Tony Awards in New York City, Christian Siriano dressed not one, not two, but six actresses for their big night, including Shoshanna Bean, Rachel Dratch, L Morgan Lee, Amber Ruffin, Kara Young, and living legend Patti Lupone, who won the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her turn as Joanne in Company. "Have I slept? No!" said Siriano from his studio, where less than 48 hours before the big event, he was still perfecting each look. "Is it worth it? Absolutely."

Growing up, Siriano did his fair share of regional theater — "As a kid, I was definitely one of the little newsies in Newsies," he laughed — before pivoting to dance and ultimately design. His first brush with Broadway was in 2008, when Whoopi Goldberg hosted the Tony Awards, and enlisted his help in creating her entire onstage wardrobe. "It was the biggest job I'd ever had," Siriano said. "I really hadn't done anything yet, and so in many ways, Whoopi gave me a kind of boot camp for all the red carpets to come." Since then, Siriano has dressed dozens of Tony Awards royalty, including Lucy Liu, Beanie Feldstein, Laura Linney, and Taylor Louderman.

This time, he delivered sex appeal to Rachel Dratch, brought out a Spring 2016 bodycon from the archives for Ruffin, and left LuPone "dripping in velvet" in a strapless gown with gloves attached — okay?!

"Broadway actors are a lot like fashion people," Siriano said. Their work ethic is insane. These people are onstage six to seven days a week, singing their hearts out, dancing, sometimes doing two shows a day. It's grueling. I have a lot of respect for that, and empathy, because the theater community is fully committed to making magic, no matter what, and obviously, that's what we're all about."

Here's a breakdown of Siriano's sextet of looks, along with exclusive sketches by the designer himself.

Shoshana Bean

"My love Shoshana! When we first talked about her Tony look, she wanted something white and sexy. We went the total opposite, with real drama, real glamour, and a classic ballgown shape. Listen, she was nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Musical [for Mister Saturday Night]. Why not go for it? So she's going for it!"

Rachel Dratch

"Let me tell you, Rachel is probably one of the coolest people you can be in a room with. She's funny and chill and normal. She was like, 'Listen, this is my first Tony nomination [for POTUS]. I don't know what I should wear; I don't know what I want." So it's black, sexy, glamorous, cool; it's everything people wouldn't necessarily pick for her, even though she is sexy and cool! She has an amazing body! She normally hides it, but we're giving it all with this look. As soon as the dress went on her, we were all like, 'Look how amazing your body is!' She looks tall in it, even though she's little! And I think she got it. She said, 'Wait, wow, I have a body! I have a waist.' Of course she does. She's one of the most genius comedic actresses of our time, but that doesn't mean she can't be hot."

L Morgan Lee

"After she was nominated [for A Strange Loop], Morgan was on Watch What Happens Live. She said it was her dream to be dressed by me. So many people, including Andy [Cohen], sent me the clip from the show, and said, 'Please dress this fabulous person!' And I was so excited to do it. This is her moment! She's the first trans woman to be nominated! So I'm calling this look a princess moment, because it's got the ball skirt and the corset. She's going to twirl on the carpet and have joy."

Patti LuPone

"The queen of the world, the grand dame! I have to tell you, she was so gracious in these fittings. She said 'thank you' a thousand times. I said, 'Patti, what are you talking about?! It's an honor to dress you!' But Broadway stars don't always get what they deserve from the fashion world, sometimes. So this dress, it had to be perfection. It's strapless, but the gloves are attached, so it's almost like she has a wrap going into gloves. She's dripping in velvet. It has a really long, dramatic train. It's old Hollywood and classic, and sometimes during the fittings, she would talk about what characters the dress reminded her of. She would, like, become these characters while wearing different dresses. It was amazing watching a legendary actress like that at work, because really, a red carpet is a performance for people. We were approaching it that way."

Amber Ruffin

"She is hilarious and genius, and this dress is really cool. It's inspired by a blooming flower: Kelly green and kind of body-con, but kind of covered up. It has this really beautiful asymmetrical organza flounce. It's an archive piece from Spring 2016 that we brought out and revamped, which I love. So many celebrities are wearing older collections, or reworked pieces from designer archives, on the red carpets now. So there's a cool circular moment and a trend element to this piece, too."

Kara Young

"Kara is so cool. She reminds me of Zoe Kravitz, just this petite and super cool girl who has an amazing, daring fashion sense. She's wearing this electric metallic orange big bubble skirt from our Spring 2022 collection. It was one of the last moments in my show, and I wanted to give her a showstopping moment because I just love her vibe. When you meet her, you want to be her friend and take her to a party. In this case, the most fabulous party on Broadway."