2026 Tony Awards: What to Expect

The 2026 Tony Awards, honoring plays and musicals staged on Broadway, will feature an eclectic bunch of performers: flying vampires, vogueing cats, a sweet transvestite and a Celine Dion sendup.

There will also be flashes of the past — the singing missionaries of “The Book of Mormon,” the publicity-seeking jailbirds of “Chicago” and the striving hoofers of “A Chorus Line.” Plus: Pink, the pop star, as the evening’s improbable host.

The Broadway season that just ended was sparser than many, especially on the musical front. But the producers of the 79th annual awards ceremony are hoping to turn that scarcity into an opportunity, packing the three-hour broadcast with nostalgia alongside newness.

The televised portion of the ceremony begins at 8 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, broadcast on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. There’s also a preshow segment, streaming on Pluto TV (a free service) beginning at 6:35 p.m. Eastern, at which awards for some of the design and other categories will be handed out.

Here’s what to expect:

The Host

Pink, a top-selling singer also known for her aerialism and activism, was a surprise pick to host the Tony Awards because, unlike other recent hosts, she has never performed in a Broadway show. But she is popular and talented, and the hope is that her name recognition will attract viewers and that her enthusiasm for theater will prove infectious. Her opening number, choreographed by Sarah O’Gleby and written by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Mark Sonnenblick, will feature over 170 Broadway performers.

My colleague Melena Ryzik spent time with Pink this week, and tells me that Pink has been getting advice from some of her famous pals, like Neil Patrick Harris, the Tony-winning actor and a four-time host of the show. “Our kids used to go to circus class together,” she told Ryzik. “He’s been super helpful and super supportive. And he’s also great because he has a lot of opinions and he’s not afraid to share them.”

Harris also advised her that she should be the ringmaster, not the center of attention. “‘You’re just Kermit the Frog and you’re here to celebrate everybody else,’” was his description, she said. “And I was like, ‘I can do that!’”

Pink promises to do some of her signature acrobatics — though not as much as in her own arena performances. (Radio City Music Hall, the venue for the show, is not built for it, she said.) Mostly, she just wants to be funny. Amber Ruffin, the comedian and a writer of the Off Broadway musical “Bigfoot!,” is helping with the writing, and the comic actress Kerri Kenney-Silver (“The Four Seasons”) also gave the script the once-over. Kenney-Silver will be coming to the ceremony with Pink’s daughter, Willow Sage Hart, a Broadway superfan whose enthusiasm is part of the reason Pink has embraced this gig.

“It’s just hilarious,” Pink told Ryzik. “None of this was on my bingo card. And I’m here for it; I’m committed, I’m all in. I just want to be a part of the celebration. I’m glad I get to be.”

The preshow ceremony will be hosted by the actors Laura Benanti and Tituss Burgess.

Tight Races

The competition for best musical revival is coming down to the wire, with voters split between two well-received, but very different, contenders: “Ragtime,” an epic show about America’s promise and perils, and “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” a radically reconceived take on the now-and-forever musical.

Other close contests include best actor in a play, where John Lithgow and Nathan Lane are leading the pack, and best play revival, where “Death of a Salesman” appears to have an advantage over “Oedipus.”

The race for best new musical — traditionally the one with the most box office impact — features four contenders: “The Lost Boys,” a teen vampire musical with a pop rock score, based on the 1987 movie; “Schmigadoon!,” a comedy about a couple trapped in a village whose residents sing, dance and generally behave like characters from Golden Age musicals; “Titaníque,” a spoof of “Titanic,” but with Celine Dion as one of the characters; and “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York),” a charming rom-com. My annual voter survey suggests that “Schmigadoon!” is likely to win, but an upset is always possible.

In the best play category, “Liberation,” a Pulitzer-winning drama about a 1970s women’s consciousness-raising group, looks likely to win over “Giant,” about an antisemitism controversy confronting the children’s author Roald Dahl; “The Balusters,” about a fractious neighborhood association; and “Little Bear Ridge Road,” about two lost souls in rural Idaho.

The Performances

There will also be moments noting big anniversaries for four very-well known and historically important shows: “Chicago” and “A Chorus Line” (both 50), “Rent” (30) and “The Book of Mormon” (15).

“Chicago,” a Jazz Age criminal justice satire and one of Broadway’s most enduring hits, will have a production number featuring Queen Latifah (she was in the “Chicago” film) and Pink, joined by Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Alex Newell, Adrienne Warren, Cedric the Entertainer, Julianne Hough, Whitney Leavitt and Dylan Mulvaney.

Members of the original cast of “The Book of Mormon,” including Josh Gad, Andrew Rannells, Rory O’Malley and Nikki M. James, will reunite to celebrate that show.

Rachel Zegler, who is returning to Broadway next spring in “Evita,” will perform a tribute to “A Chorus Line,” about a group of dancers going through an audition process. And Leslie Odom Jr., who joined the “Rent” cast when he was still in high school, will sing that show’s “Without You” during the telecast’s In Memoriam segment.

Also: All four shows nominated for best musical are scheduled to perform, as are the three shows nominated for best musical revival: “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” “Ragtime” and “The Rocky Horror Show.”

The Presenters

Expect lots of well-known personalities to take part. Some are currently performing on Broadway — Adrien Brody, Jim Parsons, Maya Rudolph. Others are expected soon — Billy Crystal, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sarah Paulson. And then there are Annette Bening, Neil Patrick Harris, Paul Rudd, Megan Thee Stallion, Sting, Bowen Yang and many others, most with some connection to Broadway’s past or present.

Why the Tonys Matter

Why should you care about any of this?

The Tony Awards are a moment for celebration of craft, of course.

The telecast is also important because it is the biggest marketing opportunity of the year for Broadway, which is, in part, a big business that employs a lot of people and has an important ripple effect on New York City. The broadcast can help persuade viewers to buy tickets to Broadway shows, in New York and on tour, and can remind them of their love for the art form, which can help local theaters as well.

This year’s Tony Awards ceremony will consider shows that opened between April 28, 2025 and April 26, 2026; there were 30 eligible shows — 11 musicals and 19 plays — of which 24 received at least one nomination. The industry is facing growing financial challenges, as expenses rise, profitability rates fall and concern about ticket prices persists, so a boost from the broadcast would be a help.

Tony Awards matter to individual artists, because those who win generally get better opportunities and higher salaries going forward. And they matter to aspiring artists, too; many performers, producers, directors and designers say that watching the ceremony helped cement their desire to pursue a life in the theater.

Melena Ryzik contributed reporting.