Tony Awards and TV special hope to be the jab Broadway needs

NEW YORK – The Oscars, Grammys, Emmys and Golden Globes person each held their ceremonies during the pandemic. Now it's time for the Tony Awards, celebrating an creation signifier that truly needs the boost — unrecorded theater.

Sunday's amusement has been expanded from its emblematic 3 hours to four, with Audra McDonald handing retired Tonys for the archetypal 2 hours and Leslie Odom Jr. hosting a “Broadway’s Back!” solemnisation for the 2nd half, including the awarding of the apical 3 trophies — champion play revival, champion play and champion musical.

“What this does is it gives a accidental for a batch of these shows — with conscionable the joyousness of what Broadway brings — to beryllium showcased successful a mode that helps punctual the wide nationalist that we’re present and to travel backmost and there’s a mode to bash it safely,” said McDonald.

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While different amusement industries similar TV and movie recovered ways to restart during the pandemic, Broadway was incapable until now owed to fiscal and carnal impediments. The lifting of each capableness restrictions was important to immoderate reopening since Broadway economics request afloat venue capacity.

The sobering philharmonic “Jagged Little Pill,” which plumbs Alanis Morissette’s 1995 breakthrough medium to archer a communicative of an American household spiraling retired of control, goes into the nighttime with a starring 15 Tony nominations.

Nipping connected its heels is “Moulin Rouge!,” a jukebox adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s hyperactive 2001 movie astir the goings-on successful a turn-of-the-century Parisian nightclub that has 14 nods.

“Slave Play,” Jeremy O. Harris’ ground-breaking, bracing enactment that mixes race, sex, taboo desires and class, earned a twelve nominations, making it the astir nominated play successful Tony history.

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Other shows to support an oculus connected are “The Inheritance” by Matthew Lopez, which nabbed 11 nominations. It’s a two-part, seven-hour epic that uses “Howards End” arsenic a starting constituent for a play that looks astatine cheery beingness successful the aboriginal 21st century. And “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical,” which tells the stone icon’s beingness with songs that see “Let’s Stay Together” and “Proud Mary,” earned 12 nods.

This season’s nominations were pulled from conscionable 18 eligible plays and musicals from the 2019-2020 season, a fraction of the 34 shows the erstwhile season. During astir years, determination are 26 competitory categories. This twelvemonth determination are 25 with respective depleted ones. But theatre insiders deliberation an awards amusement is adjacent much captious now.

“I would reason it’s much important than ever, successful a way,” said James Corden, who hosted the Tonys successful 2016. “If there’s a twelvemonth that we should ever observe them, it’s this year, wherever people’s full lives person conscionable been ripped distant and turned upside down.”

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Some intriguing races see whether Celia Rose Gooding, a girl of Tony Award-winner LaChanze, volition triumph a Tony of her ain for her enactment connected “Jagged Little Pill” and if instrumentality favourite Danny Burstein volition yet triumph a Tony for “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.” Many volition beryllium seeing if Karen Olivo wins champion starring histrion successful a musical, contempt quitting her show, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” successful vexation with Broadway.

Six-time Tony-winner McDonald is not conscionable a host. She’s up for champion histrion grant successful a play, which, if she won, would springiness her 7 awards, breaking her ain grounds for the astir Tonys won by a performer. And thing bizarre has to hap to contradict Aaron Tveit winning for champion starring histrion successful a musical; he’s the lone idiosyncratic nominated successful the category. Voting for the nominees was done successful March.

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The past Tony Awards ceremonial was held successful 2019. The microorganism forced Broadway theaters to abruptly adjacent connected March 12, 2020, knocking retired each shows and scrambling the outpouring season. Several person restarted, including the alleged large 3 of “Wicked,” “Hamilton” and “The Lion King.”

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Mark Kennedy is astatine http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits.

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