Miki Jo (2:57)

Yes, the Tonys this year are returning to their most frequent home, Radio City Music hall, chosen largely for two reasons, one being its enormous scale. They can bring these huge productions onto the stage, they can recreate set pieces, and they can host an extraordinary number of people in the audience. There are a lot of people who attend the Tony Awards, not only nominees and presenters and performers and their guests, but also producers and investors and other members of the Broadway theatre industry and community, as well as many eager audience members and fans. But the other really attractive feature of Radio City Music hall is its proximity to the theatre district, to Midtown Manhattan where all of these shows are performing. Many shows will perform matinee performances on the afternoon of the Tony Awards and then head over to Radio City for the ceremony, after which they will disperse to different after parties for each production. And the host of this year's Tony Awards hosting for the very first time is previous Tony Award winner Cynthia Erivo, who of course is best known currently for starring as Elphaba in the long awaited two part feature film adaptation of the hit musical Wicked. Which makes this fantastic timing because the theatre community is very proud of Wicked and it's brought a lot of attention back to the Broadway show and to theatre in general. So there is a tremendous, tremendous amount of pride in Cynthia Erivo and it's all a really valuable, you know, cross promotional marketing opportunity. People who like Cynthia because of the Wicked movie are going to tune into the Tonys. People watching the Tonys will be reminded of the Wicked movie. Everybody wins. Not to mention it's great to see someone really platformed and celebrated who comes from this community. Cynthia Erivo started as a UK musical theatre star, taken to Broadway for her fantastic performance in revival of the Color Purple and became a huge name on the back of that skill and success. Now, in terms of how the actual ceremony is going to work, work, obviously awards are presented. Those presenters also tend to come from within the Broadway community. Sometimes they will be tangentially relevant to the categories that they are presenting. It might be previous winners, it might be recent winners. Occasionally you also see presenters who are going to appear on Broadway in the upcoming season. That's why a lot of shows have been announced recently, like the Broadway revival of Chess. We can expect to see the stars of that production, Aaron Tveit, Nicholas Christopher Lea Michele, presenting at the Tonys and being announced with a voiceover that goes returning to Broadway next season in Chess. Please welcome to the stage Aaron Tveit, Nicholas Christopher Lea Michele, etc. That's why that happens. And as well as the awards and the speeches, which you can expect to be heartfelt and thankful of a great many people because theatre is such a collaborative act with so many different people involved and maybe some topical political commentary as well, given that this is such a, you know, incendiary political moment that we're living in. There will also be performances from the nominated new musicals and revivals, specifically those nominated for best New Musical and best revival of a musical. Those are Operation Mincemeat may be Happy Ending, Death Becomes Her Dead Outlaw, Buena Vista Social Club, Sunset Boulevard, Gypsy Pirates, the Penzance Musical, and Floyd Collins. But in addition to this, some other shows will also be performing. Real Women have Curves is going to be performing on the Tonys. So is the new musical Just in Time. There's also going to be a special performance from Broadway inspirational Voices. I dare say this might be during the In Memoriam segment and another very special performance from the cast of Hamilton, celebrating the show's 10 year anniversary on Broadway. Hamilton, obviously being this huge Broadway musical that had an enormous cultural impact. And with rehearsals having taken place over the last few days, I have heard that the Hamilton segment is pretty extraordinary and something to really look forward to. Of course, host Cynthia Erivo, who has one of the most sensational voices, will also be performing an opening number, and I am, as always, very excited about that as well. One other thing to look out for in the speeches when a show wins, particularly Best New Musical expects to see a great many people flooding the stage. If you're wondering why that is, it's because it takes a village, nay a town, nay a worth of producers to bring these elaborate and expensive and huge productions to the stage. Even of comparatively smaller musicals, expect to see a great many people arriving on stage for the duration of the speech. And since we've begun mentioning some of them already, you might be wondering which shows are nominated for the Tony Awards this year and what are those shows about? And which show had the most nominations. Well, don't worry, I've got you covered. Here is the last season of Broadway shows by Tony Nominations One of the.

Aaron James (7:17)

Most talked about Tony Awards races this year is between two different musical revivals. The Broadway transfer of the West End originated revival of Sunset Boulevard, currently playing at the St. James and right across the street, the revival of Julie stein and Stephen Sondheim's Gypsy starring Audra McDonald at the Majestic. Audra, the most Tony Award winning actress in Broadway history, and Nicole Scherzinger, the star of Sunset Boulevard, are going head to head in the Best Leading Actress in a Musical category with co stars from both shows also nominated alongside for Gypsy, that's Joy woods and Danny Burstein for their supporting performances. And for Sunset Boulevard, that is Tom Francis, the leading star of the West End revival who won an Olivier Award for his performance and has been walking up and down Schubert Alley possibly en route to a Tony Award here. As well as both shows being nominated for Best revival of a musical, Gypsy is also nominated for its choreography by Camille A. Brown, though notably not for its direction by George C. Wolff. Sunset, meanwhile, is nominated for its bold, reimagined, talked about direction by visionary creative Jamie Lloyd, but not for its choreography by Fabien Aloui. Sunset has a further two nominations for its sound and lighting design. One of this year's biggest smash hits is O Mary, the hilarious and outrageous new comedy play written by and starring Cola Scola in which former first lady of the United States, Mary Todd Lincoln is reconceived as an alcoholic former cabaret star. The show is hilarious. It has been nominated, as you can see on the doors behind me, for five Tony Awards including Best New Play for writer Cole Escola. Cole is also nominated for their leading performance as is another supporting cast member, Conrad Rick Amora. The production is also nominated for Best Direction and Best Costume Design here at the Belasco Theatre. Maybe Happy Ending is one of this year's most Tony Award nominated musicals. It has nominations not only for Best New Musical but also for its book, for its original score, for its orchestrations, for its direction by Michael Arden in all of the design categories, I.e. set design, costume design, lighting design, sound design, and for one of its two stars, Darren Criss. One of this year's frontrunners for the Tony Award for Best New play is the Steppenwolf production of Brandon Jacobs Jenkins Purpose here at the Hayes Theatre. It also features nominations for five of its six outstanding cast members, Harry Lennox, John Michael Hill, Natanya Richardson Jackson, Kara Young and Glen Davis. The play Follows a prestigious black family over the course of a chaotic dinner coming to terms with a bunch of stuff Staggering New realities Previously seen in London at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and before that in Sydney. Kip Williams new adaptation of Oscar Wilde's the Picture of Dorian Gray combines brilliant on stage performance with pre recorded and filmed elements and a symphony of different cameras, screens and brilliant crew members helping to bring it all together around Sarah Snook's central commanding performance in which she plays every one of the novella's characters. It is for this reason that Sarah is considered a front runner in the category of Best Leading Actress in a Play. Kip Williams is also nominated for his direction and the production is also nominated alongside for its brilliant design elements, set design, costume design, sound and lighting. Currently playing at the Broadhurst Theatre is Boop the Musical which tells the story of the icon that is Betty Boop coming to present day New York and meeting a cast of colorful characters. Jasmine Amy Rogers stars as the iconic character and is nominated for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. The show has also been nominated for its choreography by director choreographer Jerry Mitchell and for its eye catching costume design. Now, a little earlier in the season, the Hills of California was playing at the Broadhurst, a new play by Jez Butterworth which originated in London. The play takes place simultaneously over two time periods and sees a group of sisters reuniting as we gradually come to learn more and more about the circumstances of their childhood. The production is nominated for Best New Play, for Best Direction, Scenic Design, Costume Design, Lighting design, sound design and for its star playing dual roles, Laura Donnelly. Jointly leading this year with 10 nominations is the musical Behind Me, Buena Vista Social Club here at the Schoenfeld Theatre based on the film of the same name, documenting the recording of the album of the same name. It is another one that tells a story set over two time periods simultaneously about the unifying power of music. The show is nominated for Best New Musical for its direction, its choreography, for its scenic costume, lighting and sound design. Natalie Venetia Belcon is nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and might be considered a front runner in that category. The show is a jukebox musical and as such doesn't feature an original score, but it is nominated for its orchestrations as well as Best Book of a Musical and it's also a recipient of a special Tony Award this year for its fantastic band. Another show nominated nominated for 10 Tony Awards this year is the campy musical comedy Death Becomes her, of course based on the iconic film of the same name. This production is nominated for Best New Musical for its two leading actresses, Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard. For its set design, its costume design, its lighting design, as well as for its book, its original score, its direction and its choreography. One of a handful of productions to transfer from the West End to Broadway this season is the Olivier Award winning new musical Operation Mincemeat, still running successfully at the Fortune Theatre. Having started its life at various small off West End venues like the New Diorama, Southwark Playhouse and Riverside Studios, it is now playing here in New York at the Golden Theatre and tells the impossibly true story of a real World War II intelligence operation that helped to turn the tide of the war. Created by Spit Lip Theatre Company, three of the show's writers also perform in its original Broadway cast. They are Natasha Hodgson, Zoe Roberts and David Cumming. They, along with co writer Felix Hagan, are jointly nominated for best book and Score of a Musical. The show itself is nominated for Best New Musical. Another of its stars, Jack Malone, is nominated for his show Stopping performance in Best Featured Actor in a Musical here at the Marquee Theatre. Stranger Things, the First Shadow, a production they originally seen in London, is the jaw dropping stage adaptation of a new prologue story from the world of the iconic Netflix series. The show's original west end star, Louis McCartney, reprising his role here in New York, is nominated for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his already acclaimed performance. And there are also nominations in every single design category. Scenic, costume, lighting and sound. Based on the NBC series of the same name. Smash has finally arrived as a full Broadway musical here at the Imperial Theatre and is nominated for two Tony Awards this year with Brooks Ashmanskas nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and Joshua Bagasse, who also choreographed for the original TV show, nominated for his show Stopping Choreography. Another theater which has homed multiple Tony Award nominated productions this season is the Longacre behind me. First we saw Swept Away Here, nominated at the Tonys this year for its scenic design. And then next a transfer of the award winning off Broadway hit Dead Outlaw, nominated for Best New Musical for three of its cast members, Andrew Durant, Julia Knightle and Jeb Brown, as well as for its book, its score and its direction. Broadway is of course also the home to many stars. One of this year's brightest is screen actor George Clooney, making his Broadway debut as both an actor and a writer with this new stage adaptation of a film he previously starred in, Good Night and Good Luck. It's playing here at the Winter Garden Theatre George is nominated for best leading actor in a play. With four further nominations for the production's design, for its set design, costumes, its sound and its lighting. The new musical at the James L. Jones is reminding audiences that real women have curves. And something else they have is two Tony Award nominations, one for their uplifting score and another for best Featured Actress in a musical for the TV icon now back on stage, Justina Machado. Screen stars can also be found here at the Palace Theatre in a revival of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. And one of them, Bob Odenkirk, is a nominee for the Tony Awards this year for best featured actor in a play. Some of the shows nominated at this year's Tony Awards will be limited productions that already closed, such as the Roommate, which played at the Booth Theatre for which Mia Farrow is nominated for her leading performance. Others continue to run and you can get tickets to see them after the Tony Awards, such as John Proctor is the Villain running at the same theatre, the Booth. With multiple Tony Award nominations, it's another of this year's nominees for best new play. Written by Kimberly Bellflower, it follows a group of young students responding to the Arthur Miller play the Crucible through a contemporary lens. Three of its brilliant company members are also nominated for their performances. They are Sadie Sink, Gabriel Ebert and Fenestrasa. The production is also nominated for its direction by Tony Award winning director Danya Taymor who won previously for the Outsiders, as well as for its lighting and sound design. Earlier this season, a new production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet starring Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler played here at the Circle in the Square. This year it's nominated for a Tony Award for best revival of a play. Since then, a musical has opened here Just in Time starring Jonathan Groff who is nominated for best Leading Actor in a musical for his performance as Bobby Darren. His co star Gracie Lawrence is nominated alongside him. The production is also nominated for its sound design, its set design, its costume design and its orchestrations. Here at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Centre, a new revival and in fact the Broadway premiere of Floyd Collins is nominated for six Tony Awards. This tells the true story of an explorer named Floyd Collins who found himself trapped in a cave and the media circus that ensued subsequently. Jeremy Jordan stars and is nominated for a Tony Award for best leading actor in a musical. So is his co star Taylor Trench in the featured category. The show is also nominated for best revival of musical for its orchestrations, for its cave like lighting design and for its yodeling Sound Design the theatre behind Me, the Todd Haymes Theatre, formerly the American Airlines Theatre, has housed three different Tony Award nominated productions this season. The first was a revival of David Henry Wang's Yellow Face, nominated for Best Revival of a Play, with two further nominations for its performers, Daniel Dae Kim and in the Supporting Actor in a Play category, Francis Jiu. Later, Roundabout Theatre Company brought to the Todd Haymes the Broadway premiere of the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Snaz Tusi English, which is nominated as one of this year's best new plays. The production also saw nominations for two of its cast members in Best Featured Actress in a Play, Marjan Neshat and Tala Ash, as well as nominations for its direction and scenic design. Finally, currently playing here at the Todd Haymes is the Penzance musical, a reworking of the Gilbert and Sullivan classic nominated for Best Revival of a Musical. Of course, not every show that opened on Broadway this season has been nominated for a Tony Award. Behind me is the high profile and high earning revival of Othello, starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, one of multiple productions to be snubbed this year at the Tony Awards with no nominations. However, previously at the same theatre, the Barrymore, the revival of Thornton Wilder as Our Town was nominated for Best Revival of a Play. Similarly, the review behind Me, Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, originally seen in the West End, was not nominated for any Tony Awards for its Broadway transfer. However, another production at this theatre was. Earlier in the season, Manhattan Theatre Club presented Jonathan Spector's Eureka Day, which has been nominated for Best Revival of a Play as well as Best Featured Actress in a Play for Jessica Hecht's remarkable performance. And finally, while we have talked considerably about shows from last season even before the Tony Awards take place, Broadway is already moving on, looking to the future and starting on the 2025-2026 season with the first show of the next year of shows already beginning previews here at Studio 54, that is call me Izzy starring Jean Smart. However, earlier in this season, A Wonderful World, the Louis Armstrong musical played at this same theatre, and James Monroe Iglehart, Tony Award winner, already is nominated for his leading performance.

Miki Jo (18:56)

Finally, you may be wondering, how can we watch the Tony Awards if we're not lucky enough to be attending this ceremony in person? And don't you worry, because I'm not either. I actually have a little guide here for Time out, written by Adam Feldman, because British people famously don't understand American TV channels, which is why a bunch of the British nominees this year didn't find out that they were nominated until people started calling them. So here's what you need to know. The Tony Awards this year will air live from coast to coast. That's if you're living in the U.S. until recently, viewers who weren't in the Eastern time zone, which is the east coast, watch the Tony telecast hours after it happened. But in the age of social media, that kind of delay is increasingly old fashioned, writes Adam Feldman. So CBS now broadcasts the three hour main portion of the awards ceremony live and simultaneously from coast to coast. It's going to start at 8pm Eastern Time, 7pm Central Time, 6pm Mount I don't know which one that is and 5pm Pacific Time. Someone will tell me in the comments. I could google it, but I have Tonys to tell you about. The Tonys will also stream live on Demand on Paramount. Plus the other thing that everyone needs to know if you're planning on watching the Tony Awards on TV is that the Tony Awards are going to air in two parts. There is a pre show Tony Awards act one in which they begin to give out a handful of creative awards. This has been the case for decades. Not all of the 26 award categories will be included in the televised portion of the ceremony, but you can still watch it, don't worry. So before the official CBS telecast begins, all eight design awards and probably those for book, choreography and orchestrations will be shown on Pluto TV. So this is the Tony Awards Act One streamed in the US via the Pluto TV Celebrity section of the free streaming service Pluto TV. Starting at 6:40pm Eastern Time, 3:40pm Pacific Time. This is going to be hosted by 2025 nominee Darren Criss, which is only a little bit unusual and past winner of course, original Hamilton cast member Renee Elise Goldsberry. This segment also includes the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Tony Award to Harvey Fierstein. But the question that I get asked the most, particularly as a British musical theatre and Broadway enthusiast, is how do we watch the Tony Awards in UK or indeed in Europe? And I'm sorry to say that at the moment there is still no robust and straightforward answer for how this is possible. And every year when I attempt to do so from the uk, I do sort of feel like I'm starting from scratch. The answer essentially is to be aware of the channels via which the Tony Awards are streaming, that's Pluto TV and cbs, and try and find a way to watch those from the UK. Occasionally, as a YouTuber I get offered deals on VPNs I'm very sorry that I don't have one to offer you at this exact moment. If you have friends in the US as we do, sometimes they can be helpful helpful in helping you log into streaming platforms. But I wish you the best of luck searching out on the Internet for a way to watch the ceremony. It is always a frustrating challenge every single year. I would say to practice in advance and don't leave it till the last.

Aaron James (21:43)

Minute, but that I think is pretty much everything that you need to know.

Miki Jo (21:47)

Ahead of the Tony Awards tomorrow. If you want to know my thoughts on who I think will win, then I just recently shared my predictions alongside my stagey fiance, Aaron James. We agreed on many categories, but we disagreed on some as well. If you want to find out more about all of the nominated shows, you can check out my reviews of many of them here on YouTube or over on podcast platforms. And you can also find out what my reaction was to the original nominees and which shows I thought were snubbed in major categories. I have plenty of Tonys coverage to get you excited ahead of the broadcast. In the meantime, I hope that you're excited about the Tony Awards as I am. Thank you for listening to this. Make sure to comment down below with all of your Tonys enthusiasm and I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey Tony Awards. Oh my God.

Aaron James (22:36)

Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.