Will The Tony Awards Go on This Year?

This year’s live telecast of the Tony Awards on CBS and Paramount+ will likely look very different from past years if it happens at all. The current strike by the WGA (Writers Guild of America) put the future of the televised event in jeopardy, but there are various options for how the awards could still happen, including postponing the show until the strike is resolved, or holding a nontelevised press conference on the original date of Sunday, June 11th. nine each.

Traditionally, the live telecast includes fully staged numbers from most or all the nominated musicals, but exactly what shape the ceremony will take was still up in the air and could change after this article is in print.

Ariana DeBose was originally scheduled to host again this year, and Lin-Manuel Miranda had begun creating an opening number, but last I heard, both of those plans were in doubt given the WGA’s reluctance to grant the Tony Awards Management Committee a waiver that would allow the telecast to proceed.

No matter what happens with the ceremony this year, the nominees will not change, and there is no denying that this season has been a very good year for new Broadway plays and musicals, at least in terms of quality.

The new stage musical of Billy Wilder’s iconic film “Some Like It Hot” led all nominees with 13, followed by “New York, New York,” “& Juliet” and “Shucked,” with

“Kimberly Akimbo” and the current revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd,” starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford, both received eight nods.

In the play department, “Ain’t No Mo’” and Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt” tied for the most nominations, with six each, while the highly acclaimed “Fat Ham” (winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize) nabbed five Tony Award nominations, including Best Play.

“Fat Ham” is a queer, Black riff on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” that follows a gay Southern college kid named Juicy who is visited at a backyard barbecue by the ghost of his father, demanding that Juicy avenge his murder.

In other queer Tony news, both Ben Platt (the original Evan Hansen) and Alex Newell (of “Glee” fame) are Tony-nominated this year for their work in the revival of “Parade” and “Shucked,” respectively. For the latest updates on this year’s Tony Awards, go to www.tonyawards.com

by Chris Narloch

(this story is developing as we went to print)