Broadway's Biggest Night Is On! The 74th Annual Tony Awards Sets September Date
A date has been set for Broadway's biggest night! CBS and Tony Award Productions will celebrate the return of live theater on Broadway with a multi-platform event, The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back! on September 26 beginning at 9PM ET on CBS. Many of the awards will be presented with a streaming presentation, but three awards—Best Play, Best Revival of a Play and Best Musical—will be broadcast on the network. Other winners will be celebrated throughout the broadcast.
The evening will kick off with the 74th Annual Tony Awards at 7PM ET live exclusively on Paramount+. The streaming presentation will honor the outstanding shows, performances and artistry of the 2019-2020 Broadway season, which was brought to a halt by the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally scheduled for June 7, 2020 at Radio City Music Hall, the ceremony was also postponed due to the coronavirus crisis.The Tony Awards are presented by the Broadway League and The American Theatre Wing.
“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,” said Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League, and Heather Hitchens, President and CEO of the American Theatre Wing in a joint statement
Immediately following the streaming event, The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back! will air on the network. It will be a live concert, featuring star entertainers and Tony winners reuniting on stage to perform beloved classics and celebrate theater.
“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 theater provides,” said Jack Sussman, Executive Vice President, Specials, Music, Live Events and Alternative Programming, CBS Entertainment. “With the combined power of CBS and Paramount+, the show will honor this year’s Tony Award nominees and winners in a new format.”
Tony winner James Monroe Iglehart announced the nominees on October 15, 2020. Leading the nominations are the musicals Jagged Little Pill with 15, Moulin Rouge! with 14 and Slave Play with a record-breaking 12 nods—the most ever given to a play. Check out the full list of 2020 Tony nominations here. Top winners at the 2019 Tony Awards included Hadestown and The Ferryman.
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.
The Antoinette Perry "Tony" Award, founded by the American Theatre Wing in 1947, is bestowed annually on theater professionals for distinguished achievement on Broadway. The Tony is one of the most coveted awards in the entertainment industry.