Tony awards show keeps no-host format
For the second year in a row, there will be no single host of the Tonys, the annual awards presentation that honors the Broadway theater season.
Lack of a celebrity host didn’t seem to hurt the viewership last year when the ratings for the television broadcast of the Tony awards actually rose a bit, making the three-hour program the most-watched Tonys since 2003.
The star power at the 61st annual Tonys on June 10 - to be broadcast on CBS from Radio City Music Hall in New York City - will be reserved for the presenters, who will include a smattering of the nominees themselves along with television actors, pop stars and even all four original “Jersey Boys” - Christian Hoff, Daniel Reichard, J. Robert Spencer and John Lloyd Young.
Among the presenters will be Harry Connick Jr., Claire Danes, Carla Gugino, Neil Patrick Harris, Anne Heche, Marg Helgenberger, Felicity Huffman, Eddie Izzard, Jane Krakowski, Angela Lansbury, Audra McDonald, Bernadette Peters, William Petersen, David Hyde Pierce, Liev Schreiber, Kevin Spacey, John Turturro, Usher, Rainn Wilson, Vanessa Williams and Patrick Wilson.
In the past, such performers as Rosie O’Donnell, Hugh Jackman, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick have hosted the award presentations.
The Antoinette Perry Tony Awards were founded in 1947 by the American Theatre Wing and are presented by the Wing and the League of American Theatres and Producers.