champion play, champion play revival and champion musical, volition aerial connected CBS. (AP Photo)

Leslie Odom Jr. presents an grant astatine the 72nd yearly Tony Awards successful New York connected June 10, 2018, left, and Audra McDonald presents an grant astatine the 73rd yearly Tony Awards successful New York connected June 9, 2019. Producers of the Tony Awards telecast announced Monday that McDonald volition big the grant ceremonial connected Sept. 26, followed by a two-hour solemnisation of Broadway's return, hosted by Odom. The bulk of the Tonys volition lone beryllium accessible to Paramount+ customers portion Odom's special, which volition grant the 3 apical awards: champion play, champion play revival and champion musical, volition aerial connected CBS. (AP Photo)

NEW YORK – The long-delayed Tony Awards person landed 2 awesome maestro of ceremonies: Tony- and Grammy-winning vocalist and histrion Leslie Odom Jr. volition big a splashy TV special, and the awards volition beryllium hosted by Tony-, Grammy- and Emmy Award-winning histrion and vocalist Audra McDonald.

Producers of the telecast announced Monday that Odom volition big the two-hour solemnisation of Broadway's instrumentality connected Sept. 26 from 9 p.m.-11p.m. ET/PT, and McDonald volition big the grant ceremonial from 7 p.m.-9 p.m. ET/PT

The four-hour lawsuit volition beryllium broadcast unrecorded from Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre. Capping the evening volition beryllium the awarding of the 3 apical awards: champion play, champion play revival and champion musical.

Broadway theaters abruptly closed connected March 12, 2020, knocking retired each shows — including 16 that were inactive scheduled to unfastened successful the spring. The four-hour awards and peculiar are an effort to observe unrecorded theatre and service arsenic a splashy advertisement that Broadway is inching backmost to normalcy.

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“While we look back, my top anticipation is that this lawsuit marks the opening of a caller epoch for Broadway — 1 with renewed committedness to inclusivity and belonging arsenic good arsenic appreciation for the ineffable acquisition of unrecorded theater,” McDonald said successful a statement.

This season’s nominations were pulled from conscionable 18 eligible plays and musicals, a fraction of the 34 shows the play before. During astir years, determination are 26 competitory categories. This twelvemonth determination are 25 with respective depleted ones.

Not everyone is blessed with the mode CBS is handling the awards this year. The bulk of the Tonys — the acting, directing and method ones — volition lone beryllium accessible to Paramount+ customers — with Odom's peculiar past airing connected CBS.

Odom broke done arsenic the Tony-winning Aaron Burr successful “Hamilton,” but McDonald is simply a nominee this time. She's hoping to interruption her ain grounds for the astir Tony Awards won by a performer for her enactment successful a revival of the Terrence McNally play “Frankie and Johnny successful the Clair de Lune.”

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

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