Eeeee! It’s almost here. The most wonderful night of the year for every Broadway nerd across the world. As a reminder, here’s the schedule for June 8th:
- Live on the Red Carpet: 5 p.m. EST
- “Act One” (on Pluto TV): 6:40 p.m. EST
- Tony Awards Ceremony (on Paramount+ and CBS): 8 p.m. EST
Getting pumped like us?! Make sure you’ve properly prepped for the night and buckle up. Here’s what we’re most looking forward to this year:
1. Record-Breaking Possibilities
The queen of queens – Ms. Audra McDonald – now holds the record for the most recognized performer of all time with six beautiful statues. But she could extend her lead further on Sunday thanks to her knockout performance in Gypsy. We (and the American Theatre Wing, clearly) could not possibly love this woman more. Might as well throw one more her way, no?
There are also some exciting firsts possibilities for BIPOC artists this year:
- Kara Young (who is tied with Laurie Metcalf with four years of consecutive nominations) could become the first black actress to win back-to-back Tonys if she takes home the prize for Purpose.
- Daniel Day King would be the first Asian American actor to win Leading Actor if selected for his work in Yellow Face.
- Marjan Neshat and Tala Ashe, both up for Featured Actor for their work in English, would be the first female actors of Iranian decent to win Tony Awards.
- Cole Escola is the first non-binary actor to be nominated for Best Leading Actor in a Play…so clearly, were they to win for his performance in Oh, Mary!, they would be the first non-binary winner in the category!
- Likewise, Sanaaz Toossi is the first Iranian-American to be nominated for Best Play For English.
Congrats to all of this year’s record-breaking nominees; we’re so excited to see if any of these will become record-breaking wins!
2. Musical Performances
Broadway is so back, baby, and chances are unless you’re made of money, you probably haven’t caught every one of this year’s nominees…so the Tonys performances are an exciting chance to see what you’ve missed and need to see next. Announced performances for this year’s ceremony will include:
Obviously Hamilton is an exception to the otherwise nominated shows above (Broadway Inspirational Voices is a performance for one of the Tony Honors winners) — and though most of the time we’re purests when it comes to which shows should get air time…we’re pumped to celebrate the show’s 10th anniversary.
We should note that there is more than a little drama here though, because you’ll notice Smash and Boop! The Musical are not on this list, despite their nominations and willingness to pay to perform.
This seems especially egregious for Boop, which was nominated for three awards this year, and Jasmine Amy Rogers will be the only Leading Actress nominee to not be featured in a Tonys performance. Want to try to change this? There’s a petition to get Boop featured in the telecast; add your name here.
3. A Bevy of Stars
Cynthia Erivo, who won the Tony for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for The Color Purple in 2016 and played Elfie in the recent film adaptation of Wicked (I know, you probably haven’t seen it yet…), has been tapped to host this year’s awards. This is her first time hosting, but we’ve no fear — her smarts, charisma and vocal chops are sure to have us all flying high. Again with the excitement for performances — we cannot wait to see her opening number written by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul!!!
During the Act 1 portion of the evening, our hosts will be Darren Criss and Renée Elise Goldsberry who are Broadway nerds through and through and should be absolutely delightful. Criss earned his first Tony Award nomination this year for Best Performance by an Actor in a Musical for his performance in Maybe Happy Ending (and was a star on Glee back in the day), and Goldsberry, won a Tony Award for originating the role of Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton. There’s usually not a lot of time for banter in this portion of the evening, but we expect they’ll be amazing, per usze.
Other stars set to present during the ceremony will include: Sara Bareilles, Danielle Brooks, Kristin Chenoweth, Charli D’Amelio, Ariana DeBose, Bryan Cranston, Jesse Eisenberg, Katie Holmes, Allison Janney, Samuel L. Jackson, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Rachel Bay Jones, Adam Lambert, Lea Michele, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kelli O’Hara, Oprah, Sarah Paulson, Carrie Preston, Keanu Reeves, Lea Salonga, Jean Smart, Ben Stiller, Aaron Tveit, Michelle Williams, and Alex Winter.
4. Chatting with You!
I know, I know, our takes are *chefs kiss.* Want more? Our absolute favorite part of Tonys night is sharing it with you! We’ll be live tweeting, facebooking, instagramming, and updating during the red carpet, Act 1 and the awards. Join us for more gos, hilarity, scandal, and gushing love!
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