The 74th Annual Tony Awards to offer a digital ceremony this fall

The Broadway League and American Theater Wing will recognize the 2019-2020 Broadway season vitrually, with eligibility requirements still undetermined.

The 74th Annual Tony Awards ceremony, which was previously scheduled for June 7, 2020 at Radio City Music Hall, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will now offer a digital ceremony this fall.

No further details have been announced yet by co-presenters The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, including date, eligibility requirements, and award presenters. 

The League and Wing announced on March 25 that the Tony Awards ceremony at Radio City Music Hall was delayed indefinitely. The following months left the theater community uncertain about how the achievements of the 2019-2020 season would be recognized. The awards administrators even debated a joint 2019-2020 and 2020- 2021 in summer 2021, but with Broadway's return date still up in the air, a virtual fall ceremony is the solution.

The announcement of a virtual ceremony broadcast follows the model of other award shows in the theater community, including The Drama Desk Awards, Obie Awards, and Lucille Lortel Awards.

"Though unprecedented events cut the 2019-2020 Broadway season short, it was a year full of extraordinary work that deserves to be recognized," Charlotte St. Martin, the Broadway League president, and Heather Hitchens, the American Theater Wing president, said in a joint statement. "We are thrilled not only to have found a way to properly celebrate our artists' incredible achievements this season, but also to be able to uplift the entire theater community and show the world what makes our Broadway family so special at this difficult time. The show must go on, no matter what — and it will."

Eligibility requirements for nominated shows will be announced in the coming days.