NOT A TYPO. JUST A CHANGE OF PLANS. Top, the graphic that the Tony Awards people released roughly a year ago. We finally have a date.
THE 2020 TONY AWARDS are happening. It’s real. The American Theater Wing wouldn’t lie.
So here’s the good news. We have a firm date for the awards presentation. Here’s the other good news: We’re talking four full hours of television – or whatever you call sounds and moving images coming from your home screens these days. Here’s the bad news: It’s complicated.
THE INHERITANCE
1. When and where are the damned 2020 Tony Awards finally going to be awarded?
Sept. 26, 2021. It’s a Sunday night. The awards ceremony will be shown on Paramount+ from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Then CBS will join the party at 9 and broadcast a special live two-hour concert, “The Tony Awards Present: Broadway Is Back!”
TINA: THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL
2. So if I don’t have Paramount+, I can’t watch the actual awards show?
Yep, that’s pretty much the picture. But here are some encouraging factors to keep in mind.
(A) Paramount+ used to be called CBS All-Access, and maybe you already have that and just forgot.
(B) One-week free trials for Paramount+ are available, with regular plans going for $5.99 a month (with some commercials) and $9.99 a month (commercial-free). paramountplus.com.
JAMES MONROE IGLEHART
(C) The three biggest awards – best play, best musical and best revival -- will be presented during “Broadway Is Back!” (the CBS half of the evening).
3. Wasn’t it like a decade ago that the nominations were announced?
Almost. The 2019-20 Tony Awards nominations were announced in an online video on Oct. 15, 2020, by James Monroe Iglehart, best known for his Tony-winning role as the Genie in “Aladdin.”
AARON TVEIT IN “MOULIN ROUGE!”
5. Are there any sure winners?
Aaron Tveit, best actor in a musical, for “Moulin Rouge!” He’s the only nominee in the category.
6. What can we expect from the two-hour live concert? Big stars? Big numbers? People coming back from the dead?
No details yet, but CBS promises they’re coming soon. And we’re told there will be some old classics and some numbers from the three nominated musicals – so that’s “Tina,” “Moulin Rouge!” and “Jagged Little Pill.” In the case of “Jagged,” the Morissette show, we’d like to cast our vote now for “You Oughta Know.”
“GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY”
7. Where is all of this going to happen?
In a New York theater, says The New York Times. But as of the May 26, 2021, article by the theater reporter Michael Paulson , no one has announced which one.
8. What happened to “Girl From the North Country”? I thought everybody loved that show.
“
Everybody did. But the people who produce the awards – notably the Broadway League and the American Theater Wing – sat down and talked about it and decided that not enough voters had managed to see the show before theaters closed for the pandemic. So the production will, theoretically, be eligible for Tonys next year.
9. And what happened to the Ivo van Hove “West Side Story”?
Same thing.
10. Has this ever happened before?
No.
P.S.
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AND THE WINNER OF THIS YEAR’S AWARD FOR
BIGGEST THEATER-SCANDAL VILLAIN GOES TO…
The producer Scott Rudin.
Did you miss our special Rudin quiz in the May issue? Check it out now. It’s multiple-choice: Click on Latest under the black-and-white Press Nights photo on the home page. You’ll find “Take the Scott Rudin quiz” in Latest Stories.
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