She added: "Just keep on giving and giving because the world needs your love and your light now more than ever. This is a testament that love always wins."

The singer and former X Factor judge won the same prize at the UK equivalent of the Tonys, the Olivier Awards, for her performance in the show's original West End run.

She said it had been an "honour" to work with composer Lord Lloyd Webber, and paid tribute to Lloyd, saying: "You saw in me what no one else did. You have given us all new ways to dream and you have changed my life forever."

Scherzinger also sang As If We Never Said Goodbye during the ceremony, a performance that was introduced by Glenn Close, who played Desmond in Sunset Boulevard when it played on Broadway in 1995.

The Tony Awards, hosted by Wicked star Cynthia Erivo at Radio City Music Hall in New York, celebrate the best in US theatre, and particularly Broadway.

Snook also repeated her Olivier win, taking best leading actress in a play, for performing all 26 roles in a one-woman stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.

In her acceptance speech, the actress said: "This means so much for a little Australian girl to be here on Broadway.

"[The Picture of Dorian Gray] is billed as a one-person show, and I don't feel alone any night that I do this show. There are so many people on stage making it work and behind the stage making it work."

Other winners included Maybe Happy Ending, about two outdated robots who find connection. It took home best musical, while its star Darren Criss, who previously appeared in Glee, also won an acting prize.

"I have such immense pride to get to be part of this notably diverse, exquisite Broadway season this year," he said.

Paying tribute to his wife, he added: "Your love and your support for me and our beautiful children, combined with the miracle of working on something as magical as Maybe Happy Ending, has been and will always be award enough."

Purpose, about an African-American family who reunite in Chicago, was named best play, a month after winning the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Meanwhile, Cole Escola was named best actor in a play for Oh Mary!, a one-act reimagining of Abraham Lincoln's assassination through the eyes of his wife - a raging alcoholic who dreams of life as a cabaret star.

Sunset Boulevard also won best musical revival, while Eureka Day, about a school in California which must confront its vaccination policy after an outbreak of mumps among the pupils, won best revival of a play.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a stage adaptation of the hit Netflix show, and Buena Vista Social Club, which tells the story of the Cuban musical group, were among the other winners.

The biggest winners:

• 6 - Maybe Happy Ending
• 4 - Buena Vista Social Club
• 3 - Sunset Boulevard, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
• 2 - Purpose, Oh Mary!, The Picture of Dorian Gray

British actor Jak Malone was named best featured actor in a musical - the Tonys equivalent of the supporting actor prize - for Operation Mincemeat, the story of the British plot to fool the Nazis during World War Two.

Elsewhere in the ceremony, Erivo was joined on stage by singer Sara Bareilles for a rendition of Tomorrow from the musical Annie, in tribute to those in the theatre community who had died throughout the year. The song's composer, Charles Strouse, died last month.

Presenters at the event included Samuel L Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Ben Stiller and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The original cast of Hamilton reunited to perform a rapturously received medley, to celebrate the show's 10th anniversary.

In the last year, a string of new shows and stars drew 14.7 million people to Broadway performances, grossing $1.89bn (£1.39bn) at the box office.

Best musical

WINNER: Maybe Happy Ending

Buena Vista Social Club

Dead Outlaw

Death Becomes Her

Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical

Best play

WINNER: Purpose

English

The Hills of California

John Proctor is the Villain

Oh, Mary!

Best revival of a play

WINNER: Eureka Day

Romeo + Juliet

Our Town

Yellow Face

Best revival of a musical

WINNER: Sunset Boulevard

Floyd Collins

Gypsy

Pirates! The Penzance Musical

Best actress in a musical

WINNER: Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Boulevard

Megan Hilty, Death Becomes Her

Audra McDonald, Gypsy

Jasmine Amy Rogers, BOOP! The Musical

Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her

Best actor in a musical

WINNER: Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending

Andrew Durand, Dead Outlaw

Tom Francis, Sunset Boulevard

Jonathan Groff, Just in Time

James Monroe Iglehart, A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical

Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins

Best actress in a play

WINNER: Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California

Mia Farrow, The Roommate

LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Purpose

Sadie Sink, John Proctor is the Villain

Best actor in a play

WINNER: Cole Escola, Oh, Mary!

George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck

Jon Michael Hill, Purpose

Daniel Dae Kim, Yellow Face

Harry Lennix, Purpose

Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Best direction of a musical

WINNER: Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending

Saheem Ali, Buena Vista Social Club

David Cromer, Dead Outlaw

Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her

Jamie Lloyd, Sunset Boulevard

Best direction of a play

WINNER: Sam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary!

Knud Adams, English

Sam Mendes, The Hills of California

Danya Taymor, John Proctor is the Villain

Kip Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best supporting actress in a musical

WINNER: Natalie Venetia Belcon, Buena Vista Social Club

Julia Knitel, Dead Outlaw

Gracie Lawrence, Just in Time

Justina Machado, Real Women Have Curves: The Musical

Joy Woods, Gypsy

Best supporting actor in a musical

WINNER: Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical

Brooks Ashmanskas, SMASH

Jeb Brown, Dead Outlaw

Danny Burstein, Gypsy

Taylor Trensch, Floyd Collins

Best supporting actress in a play

WINNER: Kara Young, Purpose

Tala Ashe, English

Jessica Hecht, Eureka Day

Marjan Neshat, English

Fina Strazza, John Proctor is the Villain

Best supporting actor in a play

WINNER: Francis Jue, Yellow Face

Glenn Davis, Purpose

Gabriel Ebert, John Proctor is the Villain

Bob Odenkirk, Glengarry Glen Ross

Conrad Ricamora, Oh, Mary!