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Broadway's jam-packed 2023–24 season comes to an end on Sunday, June 16, when the 2024 Tony Awards are handed out at Lincoln Center. The nominations have been made, the reactions have been had, the profiles of nominees have been written. Now there's nothing left but the awarding—and, of course, the singing and dancing.
The CBS broadcast on Sunday night will feature musical performances by nine of this year's contenders: Best Musical nominees Hell’s Kitchen, Illinoise, The Outsiders, Suffs and Water for Elephants; Best Musical Revival nominees Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, Merrily We Roll Along and The Who’s Tommy; and Best Play nominee Stereophonic. The show is also sure to include a few original numbers—including at least one for Ariana DeBose, who is returning for her third year as host.
Here are five tips for watching the Tony Awards this year.
1. The Tony Awards will air live from coast to coast
Theater is all about the thrill of the live moment. But until recently, viewers who weren't in the Eastern Time Zone watched the Tony telecast hours after happened. In the age of social media, that kind of delay is increasingly old-fashioned. So CBS now broadcasts the three-hour main portion of the awards ceremony live and simultaneously from coast to coast, starting at 8pm ET, 7pm CT, 6pm MT and 5pm PT. The Tonys will also stream live and on demand on Paramount+. (Paramount+ Essential subscribers will not have the option to stream it live, but will have access to it on Monday.) If you're recording it on DVR to watch later, remember that the telecast sometimes runs long.
2. The Tonys will be in two parts—and the first will not be on CBS
As has been the case for decades, not all of the 26 races will be included in the televised portion of the Tony ceremony. Many of the prizes will be handed out in the 90 minutes before the CBS telecast begins, including all eight design awards and probably those for score, choreography and orchestrations. The practice of splitting the Tonys into two parts always engenders a certain amount of grumbling from Broadway fans who consider it a slight to the categories in the non-CBS portion. In fact, though, this division is what permits the existence of most of those categories to begin with. (When the telecast included every award, there were only three categories for designers and orchestrators; now there are nine.)
3. …But you can stream the first 90 minutes live on Pluto TV (and you should!)
That first section of the Tony ceremony, called The Tony Awards: Act One and hosted by Julianne Hough and Utkarsh Ambudkar, will be streamed live throughout the country in the "ET" section of the free streaming service Pluto TV starting at 6:30pm ET/3:30pm PT. You'll want to make sure that you have Pluto TV installed in advance, because if you're a true theater lover, Act One is definitely worth watching. In addition to its competitive awards, it is likely to include the honorary ones—such as the Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement that are being given this year to ace directors Jack O'Brien and George C. Wolfe.
4. Watch it in a group if you can
Theater, even theater on TV or a streaming service, is best experienced as part of a crowd. Host a viewing party with friends so you can participate in the collective experience, or find a venue near you that is hosting a Tonys-themed event. The largest of these in New York will be a big-screen simulcast—hosted by Pitch Perfect star Skylar Astin and sponsored by American Express—at Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park, right next to where the awards ceremony itself will be held; attendance is open to the general public on a first come, first served basis. (Doors open at 6:30pm.) If you prefer something more intimate, the ebullient Ben Cameron is hosting a Tonys-watching party at midtown's Green Room 42 and showtune savant Seth Rudetsky is convening one of his own at the Triad. Other options include a rooftop party at 230 Fifth and events at two gay bars: at the West Village's Stonewall Inn, hosted by Anthony Fett and Lavinia Draper, and at Hell's Kitchen's Vers, hosted by Andre Catrini and Lagoona Bloo. In the lands beyond Manhattan, you can find Tony celebrations at Brooklyn Art Haus and at Astoria's QED.
5. Follow along on social media
If you can't be part of an in-person audience, you can still be part of a virtual one. Theater Twitter goes nuts on Tony night, and tracking the community's reactions in real-time—the joy, the pain, the snark—can be part of the fun of the night. I'll be live-tweeting throughout the show from my own X account as well as from Time Out New York's main account. Join the party!
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