The three-hour televised ceremony, which will feature the biggest prizes and the razzle-dazzle performances, starts at 8 p.m. Eastern. It’s being televised on CBS, and can be live-streamed by Paramount + with Showtime subscribers. For the third year in a row, the broadcast will be hosted by Ariana DeBose.
A preshow ceremony, at which awards for design and a handful of other categories will be handed out, will begin at 6:30 p.m. Eastern. It’s being hosted by Julianne Hough and Utkarsh Ambudkar and streamed on Pluto TV.
The broadcast will feature performances by the casts of all five shows nominated as best new musical: “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Illinoise,” “Suffs,” “The Outsiders” and “Water for Elephants.” Three shows nominated for best musical revival will also perform: “Cabaret,” “Merrily We Roll Along” and “The Who’s Tommy.” And the cast of a Tony-nominated play that has songs in it, “Stereophonic,” will also perform.
Among the best-known performers expected: Jay-Z and Alicia Keys will lead “Empire State of Mind” as part of a “Hell’s Kitchen” medley. Pete Townshend will join the cast of “Tommy.” Daniel Radcliffe will perform with “Merrily We Roll Along,” and Eddie Redmayne with “Cabaret.” And there will be a large number of celebrity presenters throughout the night, including Angelina Jolie, Brooke Shields and Jennifer Hudson.
As is traditional, there will be moments to remember theater artists who died over the last year. Nicole Scherzinger, who will be starring in a Broadway revival of “Sunset Boulevard” this fall, will sing during an In Memoriam segment. And Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Bebe Neuwirth will narrate a tribute to Chita Rivera.
The Tony Awards are presented by the Broadway League and the American Theater Wing, and this will be the 77th ceremony. For the first time, it is taking place at Lincoln Center, in the David H. Koch Theater.
The ceremony honors shows that opened during an eligibility period that ran from April 28, 2023, to April 25, 2024. During that period, 36 plays and musicals opened; 28 of them received at least one Tony nomination.
The broadcast comes at a time when Broadway is packed with shows — there are 35 now running — but facing financial challenges. Production costs have soared since the pandemic, while attendance remains about 17 percent lower than it was, so it has become harder for shows to break even, much less make a profit.
