Tonys 2021: How to Watch and Who Is Performing
The Tonys are back after a break of more than two years. The 74th edition of the Broadway theater awards will air on Sunday, September 26, with productions such as Jagged Little Pill, the Tina Turner musical and Slave Play among those competing for the prizes.
As fits this strange time for live theater, the Tonys will look a bit different in 2021. Rather than a single telecast, the awards have been split in two this year.
The full ceremony will only be available on streaming, rather than broadcast TV or cable. But Broadway fans who simply want to see a few song-and-dance numbers will be able to watch a network TV special, featuring performances from some of the 2021 nominees as well as the night's three top awards—best play, best revival of a play and best musical.
Here's when and where you can watch both parts of this year's Tonys.
How to Watch the Tonys 2021 Online for Free
The livestream of the full 74th Tonys ceremony will only be on Paramount+.
The streamer, formerly known as CBS All Access, will air the ceremony, hosted by Audra McDonald, from 7 p.m. ET on September 26. McDonald, a six-time Tony winner and star of The Good Fight, is also up for best actress in a play.
The Tonys moving to streaming is bad news for viewers who wanted to watch it on cable, but good news for those who want to watch it for free. Paramount+ offers a week-long free trial for new subscribers, which will give you plenty of time to watch the ceremony and the network special.
That special—The Tony Awards Present: Broadway's Back!—is hosted by Hamilton and Many Saints of Newark star Leslie Odom Jr. It will include performances from some of the biggest musicals of the year, including Jagged Little Pill, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.
The special, including the best play and musical awards, will air on CBS from September 26 at 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT. It will also stream live on Paramount+.
After your week-long trial, Paramount+ costs $4.99 a month with ads and $9.99 without them.
The streaming service offers not only the Tonys, but most of the CBS catalog, as well as originals such as The Good Fight (starring McDonald), the new Star Trek shows and RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.
For Broadway's Back, the following presenters and performers have been confirmed: Jon Batiste, Stephanie J. Block, Wayne Brady, Tituss Burgess, Darren Criss, Robbie Fairchild, Beanie Feldstein, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jordan Fisher, Santino Fontana, Andrew Garfield, Jared Grimes, Josh Groban, Jennifer Holliday, Nikki M. James, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Ron Cephas Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Norm Lewis, John Lithgow, Lindsay Mendez, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jennifer Nettles, Lynn Nottage, Adam Pascal, Bernadette Peters, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Andrew Rannells, Anthony Rapp, Anika Noni Rose, Lea Salonga, Ali Stroker, Black Thought, Courtney B. Vance, Daniel J. Watts, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Kristin Chenoweth, André De Shields, Jake Gyllenhaal, Idina Menzel, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Annaleigh Ashford, Kerry Butler, Christopher Jackson, Ruthie Ann Miles, Bebe Neuwirth, Leslie Odom, Jr., Kelli O'Hara, Ben Platt, Jeremy Pope, Chita Rivera, Daphne Rubin-Vega and BD Wong.
Viewers can also expect numbers from David Byrne and his American Utopia show, John Legend and the cast of Ain't Too Proud, Lin-Manuel Miranda's group Freestyle Love Supreme and a reunion of the Hairspray cast featuring Marissa Jaret Winokur, Matthew Morrison, Kerry Butler, Chester Gregory and Darlene Love.
