The 74th Annual Tony Awards are going virtual this year, the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing announced Friday.
The awards show was postponed back on March 25 because of the pandemic, and details on when the new show will take place, including what date and what digital platform, will be announced at a later date.
The show was originally meant to take place on June 7 at Radio City Music Hall to celebrate the best in a year of Broadway that has been completely shut down due to the coronavirus. And Broadway has already extended its shutdown until at least January 3, the fourth time that the reopening had been pushed back.
“Though unprecedented events cut the 2019-2020 Broadway season short, it was a year full of extraordinary work that deserves to be recognized,” Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, and Heather Hitchens, president & CEO of the American Theatre Wing, said in a statement. “We are thrilled not only to have found a way to properly celebrate our artists’ incredible achievements this season, but also to be able to uplift the entire theatre community and show the world what makes our Broadway family so special at this difficult time. The show must go on, no matter what – and it will.”
Final eligibility determinations will be made by the Tony Awards Administration Committee in the coming days.
There were 31 productions on the boards on March 12 before Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered all theaters to close, with another eight due to begin preview performances ahead of the April 23 eligibility for this year’s Tony Awards.
Since then, several star-driven productions have announced closures after playing only preview performances, including Martin McDonagh’s “Hangmen” with Dan Stevens and a Laurie Metcalf-led revival of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”
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