NOW ENTERTAINMENT June 00 8 - -14, Month 00,2025 2023
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The Broadway League and The American Theatre Wing present the 78th Annual Tony Awards at New York’s iconic Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 8. CBS and Paramount+ will show the event, hosted by Tony winner Cynthia Erivo. Cynthia Erivo hosts the 78th Annual Tony Awards
Cover Story Time for the Tonys: Broadway honors more of its best By Jay Bobbin Whatever challenges might come its way, the New York theater community manages to meet them and put on really big shows, as the continuation of the Tony Awards affirms. The 78th edition of Broadway’s annual event, presented by The Broadway League and The American Theatre Wing, will be staged Sunday, June 8, at New York’s iconic Radio City Music Hall. Again this year, CBS and Paramount+ carry the ceremony, to be marked as usual by performances of numbers from nominated musicals, and appearances by many stars of screen and theater as presenters. Three shows lead with 10 nominations each: “Buena Vista Social Club,” “Death Becomes Her” and “Maybe Happy Ending.” This time, the Tonys get a first-time host who’s no stranger to the ceremony: Cynthia Erivo, who won her own Tony Award in 2016 for the musical version of “The Color
Purple,” and she was nominated again in 2023 for the play “Fat Ham.” Erivo also has a Grammy Award and a Daytime Emmy Award from her participation in “The Color Purple,” and she was recently back on the award trail in a major way, with many nominations — including one for an Oscar — for her portrayal of Elphaba in the first movie to come from the musical “Wicked” (the second film will be released this coming holiday season). Among the nominees are performers well known for their television or movie (or both) work, such as George Clooney (“Good Night, and Good Luck”), Mia Farrow (“The Roommate”), Audra McDonald (“Gypsy” now makes her the most-nominated performer in Tony history with 11 bids, six of which she has won), Sarah Snook (“The Picture of Dorian Gray”), Daniel Dae Kim (“Yellow Face”), Nicole Scherzinger (“Sunset Blvd.”), Sadie Sink (“John Proctor is the Villain”), Me-
gan Hilty (“Death Becomes Her”), Darren Criss (“Maybe Happy Ending”), Harry Lennix (“Purpose”), Jeremy Jordan (“Floyd Collins”), Bob Odenkirk (“Glengarry Glen Ross”) and Justina Machado (“Real Women Have Curves: The Musical”). A special Tony Award for lifetime achievement will go to Broadway veteran (and four-time Tony winner) Harvey Fierstein (“Kinky Boots”). Here are the nominees in several categories in The 78th Annual Tony Awards. Best musical: “Buena Vista Social Club”; “Dead Outlaw”; “Death Becomes Her”; “Maybe Happy Ending”; “Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical.” Best play: “English”; “The Hills of California”; “John Proctor Is the Villain”; “Oh, Mary!”; “Purpose.” Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical: Megan Hilty, “Death Becomes Her”; Audra McDonald, “Gypsy”; Jasmine Amy Rogers, “Boop! The Musical”; Nicole Scherzinger, “Sunset
Blvd.”; Jennifer Simard, “Death Becomes Her.” Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical: Darren Criss, “Maybe Happy Ending”; Andrew Durand, “Dead Outlaw”; Tom Francis, “Sunset Blvd.”; Jonathan Groff, “Just in Time”; James Monroe Iglehart, “A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical”; Jeremy Jordan, “Floyd Collins.” Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a play: Laura Donnelly, “The Hills of California”; Mia Farrow, “The Roommate”; LaTanya Richardson Jackson, “Purpose”; Sadie Sink, “John Proctor is the Villain”; Sarah Snook, “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play: George Clooney, “Good Night, and Good Luck”; Cole Escola, “Oh, Mary!”; Jon Michael Hill, “Purpose”; Daniel Dae Kim, “Yellow Face”; Harry Lennix, “Purpose”; Louis McCartney, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.”