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Over the past few weeks, Broadway shows have slowly been returning to the stage, after theaters have sat dark since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Along with the plays and musicals, the 2020 Tony Awards were also canceled (multiple times).
But the 2019-2020 season hasn’t been forgotten—the accolades are just running a year behind. On Sunday, September 26th, the 74th Annual Tony Awards will be back, celebrating live theater. And like everything else about this year’s awards, watching the 2021 Tonys will be a little different, too. Here’s how to catch the awards and (most importantly) the performances.
How to watch the 2021 Tony Awards
The 2021 Tony Awards, which celebrate the achievements of the 2019-2020 Broadway season, will take place on Sunday, September 26th at 7 p.m. EST. This year the show will be split into two parts: The awards ceremony, and the live performances.
In an unusual move, the awards ceremony component will stream exclusively on Paramount+. Like most streaming services, they have a seven-day free trial you can take advantage of (if you haven’t already). If you’d like to follow along but don’t have a way to watch the awards, you’ll be able to get live, up-to-the-minute updates at Playbill.com/TonyAwards.
The second part of the night—“The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!”—begins at 9 p.m. EST. It will be available to stream on Paramount+, but this time, it’ll also air on CBS, meaning that people with cable or a TV antenna, or access to Hulu with Live TV, YouTube TV, DirectTV Now, or fuboTV can tune in as well.
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Who will be at the 2021 Tony Awards?
The 7 p.m. EST awards ceremony will be hosted by six-time Tony-Award-winner Audra McDonald, and take place live at the Winter Garden Theater in New York City. Then, Leslie Odom Jr.—who won a Tony for his portrayal of Aaron Burr in Hamilton—will host the concert portion of the evening, which begins at 9 p.m. EST.
Both McDonald and Odom Jr. will also perform in “The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!” concert, alongside other artists, including Kristin Chenoweth, André De Shields, Jake Gyllenhaal, Christopher Jackson, Idina Menzel, Ruthie Ann Miles, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bebe Neuwirth, Kelli O’Hara, Ben Platt, Jeremy Pope, Chita Rivera, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and BD Wong.
