The high-profile Writers Guild of America has rejected a request for a waiver to allow the Tony Awards to air June 11 on CBS and Paramount+. The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
This week, this season’s Tony Awards Management Committee — which consists of eight representatives from the Broadway League, including President Charlotte St. Martin and well-known producers Jordan Roth and Scott Sanders, and eight representatives from the American Theater Wing, including President Heather Hitchens — formally petitioned the Writers Guild for such an exemption, noting how much financially struggling Broadway shows rely on exposure from the Tonys telecast for a box office bump. (This season, there are shows that linger in hopes of a Tonys bounce, including the leading musicals Some love it when it’s hot And Kimberly Akimbo and the play Léopoldville.)
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The management committee has called an emergency meeting for Monday morning to determine the best way forward.
The two alternative courses of action apparently being weighed are: (a) sticking to the June 11 date and holding a non-televised awards ceremony, perhaps in the form of an intimate dinner or press conference with nominees and media in attendance ; or (b) postpone the ceremony until the strike is over and the show can be televised.
Representatives of the Broadway League, which includes many producers, theater owners, and operators, are more inclined to support the first option, as many shows cannot survive months without a Tony imprimatur on their marquees and promotional materials. .
However, the American Theater Wing is apparently more open to a postponement, as that organization is seen as the custodian of the Tony Awards brand, which wouldn’t be helped by a non-televised presentation.
While the Tony Awards honor the Broadway industry, which many in the field believe is separate from the television and film industry and still need the awards ceremony as part of the post-pandemic recovery, the ceremony will be broadcast on CBS and Paramount+, which be a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
The 76th Annual Tony Awards were announced for June 11 at the new United Palace location in New York City’s Washington Heights. (The ceremony is traditionally held at Radio City Music Hall). Ariana DeBose was asked to host the ceremony for the second year in a row.
The show would be split into two parts, with a pre-show, titled The Tony Awards: Act One, broadcast live on Paramount Global’s FAST platform, Pluto TV, from 6:30-8:00 PM ET/ 3:30-5:00 PM PT. The main ceremony aired on CBS, 8-11pm ET / 5-8pm PT and also streamed live and on-demand on Paramount+. The pre-show hosts have not yet been announced.
This is the second time in recent history that the Tony Awards have been disrupted. The 74th Tonys, celebrating the 2019-2020 Broadway season, took place in September 2021, 15 months after it was originally scheduled. Theaters were closed for much of that period, but the ceremony also coincided with marketing around Broadway’s comeback.
At least one other award ceremony has been disrupted by the WGA strike so far. The MTV Movie Awards were moved to a pre-recorded show from a live ceremony on May 7, after the WGA said it would pick up the awards show. Host Drew Barrymore also quit before the show flipped to pre-recorded, in solidarity with the WGA. The Guild canceled his picket after formatting.
Caitlin Huston contributed to this story.
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