The 76th Annual Tony Awards will feature performances from the casts of best musical and revival nominees “Camelot,” “Into The Woods,” “& Juliet,” “Kimberly Akimbo,” “New York, New York,” “Parade,” “Shucked,” “Some Like It Hot” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”
Additionally, the casts of “A Beautiful Noise” and “Funny Girl,” Joaquina Kalukango, the winner of the 2022 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, and 2023 Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre recipients Joel Grey and John Kander will also perform.
“This year’s Tony Award nominees are a reflection of a tremendous year of Broadway,” Broadway League president Charlotte St. Martin and American Theatre Wing president and CEO Heather Hitchens said in a statement. “The show will feature performances by Broadway’s brightest lights – from breakthrough performers to industry icons – in recognition of the momentous productions wowing audiences worldwide.”
Sunday’s ceremony, which will be hosted by Academy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Ariana DeBose, will air live on CBS from the historic United Palace in New York City’s Washington Heights from 8 p.m. – 11 p.m. ET. The ceremony will also stream live and on demand on Paramount+.
“CBS has been home to the Tony Awards for more than 40 years,” said Jack Sussman, executive vice president of specials, music, live events and alternative programming at CBS. “We are proud to once again celebrate the best of theater this season, and continue our support for Broadway, the broader theater community and all the incredible artistic talents both on stage and behind the scenes who bring the shows to life.”
Additionally, “Dancing With the Stars” alum and upcoming co-host Julianne Hough and “So Help Me Todd” star Skylar Astin have been tapped to host “The Tony Awards: Act One,” a live pre-show that will present the first round of Tony Awards from 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. ET on Pluto TV.
The Writers Guild of America, which launched a strike on May 2 after failing to reach an agreement in contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, is allowing the Tony Awards to move forward after the ceremony’s production team agreed to alter this year’s show to conform with specific requests from the guild.
The WGA said that it would not picket the event, but recently sent an email to members who are Tony nominees asking them to not attend the ceremony in person and to either pre-tape acceptance speeches or ask a non-member to accept awards on their behalf should they win.
The strike involves a long list of concerns that the writers want Hollywood studios to address, from the low pay involved in writing streaming series to reining in “mini-rooms” used to skirt contractual pay practices to addressing the use of artificial intelligence. The WGA has estimated that its proposals would collectively cost the industry $429 million, with $343 million of that directly attributable to AMPTP’s member studios. Of that $343 million, Paramount would pay an estimated $45 million, less than 0.15% of its $30.2 billion in annual revenue, according to the WGA.
The Tony Awards is produced in collaboration with Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, and White Cherry Entertainment. Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss are executive producers for White Cherry Entertainment. Weiss will serve as director.
