The hanging Writers Guild of America denied a request for a waiver to permit for the Tony Awards to air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ on June 11, The Hollywood Reporter has discovered.
This week, this season’s Tony Awards Administration Committee — which is comprised of eight representatives of the Broadway League, together with president Charlotte St. Martin and well-known producers Jordan Roth and Scott Sanders, and eight representatives of the American Theater Wing, together with president Heather Hitchens — formally petitioned the Writers Guild for such a waiver, noting how a lot financially struggling Broadway exhibits depend upon publicity from the Tonys telecast for a field workplace bump. (This season, exhibits hanging on in hopes of a Tonys bounce embrace the front-running musicals Some Like It Scorching and Kimberly Akimbo and the play Leopoldstadt.)
The administration committee has set an emergency assembly for Monday morning to find out the perfect path ahead.
The 2 various programs of motion apparently being weighed are: (a) persist with the date of June 11 and maintain a non-televised presentation of the awards, maybe within the type of an intimate dinner or press convention with nominees and media in attendance; or (b) postpone the ceremony till the strike involves an finish and the present might be televised.
Representatives of the Broadway League, which incorporates many producers, theater house owners and operators, are extra inclined to help the primary choice, as many exhibits could not be capable to survive for months on finish with out the imprimatur of a Tony on their marquees and promotional supplies.
The American Theater Wing, nonetheless, is outwardly extra open to a delay, as that group is seen because the guardian of the Tony Awards model, which might not be helped by a non-televised presentation.
Whereas the Tony Awards honors the Broadway business, which many within the discipline argue is separate from the tv and movie business and nonetheless wants the awards present as a part of its post-pandemic restoration, the ceremony is broadcast on CBS and Paramount+, that are members of the Alliance of Movement Image and Tv Producers.
The 76th Annual Tony Awards have been introduced for June 11 on the new location of the United Palace in New York Metropolis’s Washington Heights. (The ceremony has historically been held at Radio Metropolis Music Corridor). Ariana DeBose had been tapped to host the ceremony for a second 12 months in a row.
The present was scheduled to be cut up into two elements, with a pre-show, entitled The Tony Awards: Act One, airing reside on Paramount International’s FAST platform, Pluto TV, from 6:30-8 p.m. ET/ 3:30-5 p.m. PT. The primary ceremony was set to air on CBS, from 8 p.m.-11 p.m. ET/5 p.m.- 8 p.m. PT and in addition stream reside and on-demand on Paramount+. The pre-show hosts had not but been introduced.
That is the second time in current historical past the Tony Awards have been disrupted. The 74th Tonys, honoring the 2019-20 Broadway season, happened in September 2021, 15 months after it was initially scheduled. Theaters had been closed for a lot of that point interval, however the ceremony additionally coincided with advertising across the comeback of Broadway.
At the very least one different awards present has been disrupted by the WGA strike thus far. The MTV Film Awards was moved to a pre-taped present from a reside ceremony on Could 7, after the WGA had stated it could picket the awards present. Host Drew Barrymore additionally dropped out earlier than the present pivoted to pre-taped, in solidarity with the WGA. The guild canceled its picket after the formatting modified.
Caitlin Huston contributed to this story.
