The announcement of Tony Award nominations will be delayed by about a week, and award eligibility extended by a week, due to what producers say are “the challenges that Broadway has faced in recent weeks” — an apparent reference to the Covid uptick that has impacted some shows.
Nominations now will be announced on Monday, May 9, and eligibility for shows opening in the 2021-22 season has been extended to Wednesday, May 4.
“Due to the challenges that Broadway has faced in recent weeks, and in an effort to allow nominators to see Tony eligible shows, we have decided to extend the deadline for eligibility requirements. Therefore, the Tony Nominations will now take place on Monday, May 9th,” said Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League, and Heather Hitchens, President and CEO of the American Theatre Wing.
Originally, the eligibility window was to have closed on April 28, with nominations announced May 3.
The nominations announcement will now take place at 9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT, May 9, on the Tony Awards official YouTube page.
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As Broadway attempted to recover this season from the Covid shutdown and, more recently, an uptick in Covid cases throughout New York City, an unusually large number of show openings were crammed into a single month. Nine productions have opened since the beginning of April, with six more set to bow by the end of the month.
The next week is going to be very busy indeed, with Funny Girl opening Sunday, The Skin of Our Teeth on Monday, Strange Loop on Tuesday, POTUS on Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Saturday Night on Wednesday evening and Macbeth on Thursday.
As of this writing, no show has delayed its opening date.
Strange Loop, POTUS and Macbeth have been among the recent Broadway productions that have either canceled performances or temporarily replaced stars due to positive Covid tests.
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The nomination delays have not impacted the ceremony date: The 75th annual Tony Awards broadcast remains scheduled for Sunday, June 12, from Radio City Music Hall. The event begins with a one-hour pre-show at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on Paramount+, followed by the live coast-to-coast presentation of the awards at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS and Paramount+.