The long-awaited, pandemic-postponed 74th Annual Tony Awards will be a two-hour, streaming-only ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 26, available on ViacomCBS’ Paramount+ platform and followed immediately by a special two-hour CBS broadcast celebration of Broadway’s return.
The broadcast portion of the four-hour Broadway themed evening will include the live presentation of only three Tony Awards: Best Play, Best Revival of a Play and Best Musical. Though other winners will be celebrated throughout the broadcast, including performances from the three Tony-nominated Best Musical contenders, the awards ceremony itself will be livestreamed from an as-yet-unannounced Broadway venue at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT exclusively on Paramount+.
The two-hour CBS broadcast special, The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!, beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, is being described as a live concert event featuring Broadway entertainers and Tony Award winners performing “beloved classics” to “celebrate the joy and magic of live theatre.” The broadcast special will also be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+ and the CBS app.
Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League, and Heather Hitchens, President and CEO of the American Theatre Wing – the two organizations that present the Tonys – said in a joint statement, “After this devastating past year and a half for our industry, our city and for the entire world, we are excited to finally be able to celebrate the return of Broadway, our Tony Award nominees and winners in this new and exciting format. There is nothing that compares to the magic of live theater—and we are thrilled to be able to share its celebratory return and the incredible talent and artistry of the abbreviated 2019-2020 season with theatre fans everywhere.”
Said Jack Sussman, Executive Vice President, Specials, Music, Live Events and Alternative Programming, CBS Entertainment, “We are thrilled to bring the best of Broadway to television viewers who have been through so much without the joys, comfort and excitement that live theatre provides. With the combined power of CBS and Paramount+, the show will honor this year’s Tony Award nominees and winners in a new format unlike any other, and celebrate the iconic music, memorable performances and unique personalities that make Broadway so special.”
Additional information about the special will be available in the coming months.
In recent years, some of the Tony Award categories were presented off air, though the more prominent awards, such as the acting categories, were announced during the broadcast. This year’s broadcast event will align more closely with recent Grammy Award broadcasts that emphasized performances rather than the award hand-outs.
Postponed for more than a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Broadway’s subsequent shutdown, the awards – covering productions presented during the shortened 2019-20 season – will take place 24 days after Hadestown becomes the first Broadway production to return to the stage on Sept. 2.
To date, 26 productions have announced Fall 2021 returns. For a complete list of Fall productions, return dates and venues, go here.
Tony nominations were unveiled last October, with Tony voters submitting their selections for winners in March. The period between the announcements of nominations and winners typically spans no more than six weeks, giving the current roster of hopefuls the longest stretch of anticipation – 11 months by the time of the broadcast – in Tony history.
In all, 18 productions from the pandemic-shortened season were deemed Tony eligible, about half the number usually in the running. The 74th Tony ceremony and CBS broadcast had originally been set for June 7, 2020, at New York’s Radio City Musical Hall.
See the complete list of Tony nominations below.
Nominated for Best Play are Slave Play, Sea Wall/A Life, Grand Horizons, The Inheritance and The Sound Inside, with Moulin Rouge!, Jagged Little Pill and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical up for Best Musical. In the Best Revival of a Play category, Betrayal will compete with Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and A Soldier’s Play.
The abbreviated season also resulted in one of the odder nominations in Tony history: Aaron Tveit of Moulin Rouge! The Musical is the sole entry in the Leading Actor in a Musical category.
When theaters went dark, three productions – the musicals Six, West Side Story and Girl from the North Country – had already begun performances but were not around long enough to accommodate the required number of Tony voters. (Six resumes performances Sept. 17, Girl from the North Country on Oct. 13.)
The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back! will be produced in collaboration with Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, and White Cherry Entertainment, the team behind the annual Tony Awards telecast. Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss are executive producers for White Cherry Entertainment. Weiss will serve as director.
Nominations for the 2020 American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards:
Best Play
Grand Horizons
The Inheritance
Sea Wall/A Life
Slave Play
The Sound Inside
Best Musical
Jagged Little Pill
Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Best Revival of a Play
Betrayal
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
A Soldier’s Play
Best Book of a Musical
Jagged Little Pill/Diablo Cody
Moulin Rouge! The Musical/John Logan
Tina – The Tina Turner Musical/Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins
Best Original Score
A Christmas Carol/Christopher Nightingale
The Inheritance/Paul Englishby
The Rose Tattoo/Fitz Patton and Jason Michael Webb
Slave Play/Lindsay Jones
The Sound Inside/Daniel Kluger
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Ian Barford, Linda Vista
Andrew Burnap, The Inheritance
Jake Gyllenhaal, Sea Wall/A Life
Tom Hiddleston, Betrayal
Tom Sturridge, Sea Wall/A Life
Blair Underwood, A Soldier’s Play
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Joaquina Kalukango, Slave Play
Laura Linney, My Name is Lucy Barton
Audra McDonald, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Mary-Louise Parker, The Sound Inside
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Aaron Tveit, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Karen Olivo, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Elizabeth Stanley, Jagged Little Pill
Adrienne Warren, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Ato Blankson-Wood, Slave Play
James Cusati-Moyer, Slave Play
David Alan Grier, A Soldier’s Play
John Benjamin Hickey, The Inheritance
Paul Hilton, The Inheritance
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Jane Alexander, Grand Horizons
Chalia La Tour, Slave Play
Annie McNamara, Slave Play
Lois Smith, The Inheritance
Cora Vander Broek, Linda Vista
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Derek Klena, Jagged Little Pill
Sean Allan Krill, Jagged Little Pill
Sahr Ngaujah, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Daniel J. Watts, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Kathryn Gallagher, Jagged Little Pill
Celia Rose Gooding, Jagged Little Pill
Robyn Hurder, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill
Myra Lucretia Taylor, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Bob Crowley, The Inheritance
Soutra Gilmour, Betrayal
Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol
Derek McLane, A Soldier’s Play
Clint Ramos, Slave Play
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Riccardo Hernández and Lucy Mackinnon, Jagged Little Pill
Derek McLane, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Mark Thompson and Jeff Sugg, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Best Costume Design of a Play
Dede Ayite, Slave Play
Dede Ayite, A Soldier’s Play
Bob Crowley, The Inheritance
Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol
Clint Ramos, The Rose Tattoo
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Emily Rebholz, Jagged Little Pill
Mark Thompson, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Catherine Zuber, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Jiyoun Chang, Slave Play
Jon Clark, The Inheritance
Heather Gilbert, The Sound Inside
Allen Lee Hughes, A Soldier’s Play
Hugh Vanstone, A Christmas Carol
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Bruno Poet, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Justin Townsend, Jagged Little Pill
Justin Townsend, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Best Sound Design of a Play
Paul Arditti & Christopher Reid, The Inheritance
Simon Baker, A Christmas Carol
Lindsay Jones, Slave Play
Daniel Kluger, Sea Wall/A Life
Daniel Kluger, The Sound Inside
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Jonathan Deans, Jagged Little Pill
Peter Hylenski, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Nevin Steinberg, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Best Direction of a Play
David Cromer, The Sound Inside
Stephen Daldry, The Inheritance
Kenny Leon, A Soldier’s Play
Jamie Lloyd, Betrayal
Robert O’Hara, Slave Play
Best Direction of a Musical
Phyllida Lloyd, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Diane Paulus, Jagged Little Pill
Alex Timbers, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Best Choreography
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Jagged Little Pill
Sonya Tayeh, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Anthony Van Laast, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Best Orchestrations
Tom Kitt, Jagged Little Pill
Katie Kresek, Charlie Rosen, Matt Stine and Justin Levine, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Ethan Popp, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical