Tonys plan to pack night with music

With lots of time on its hands, this year’s Tony Awards ceremony will be awash in music.
The telecast will be 8-11 p.m. ET Sunday (June 11) on CBS, with some West Coast stations airing it twice – at 5 and 8 p.m. PT. There will also be a preview show at 6:30 PT on Pluto, hosted by Julianne Hough and Skylar Astin.
With the writers strike continuing, there won’t be a script. That leaves plenty of time for music from the casts (including “Shucked,” shown here), the host (Ariana DeBose) and others. Alongside the awards (for musicals and plays), there will be:
–Numbers from the casts of the four nominated musical revivals. Two – “Sweeney Todd” (with Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford) and “Into the Woods” – are Stephen Sondheim shows; the others are “Camelot” and “Parade.”
— Numbers from the casts of the five nominated new musicals – “Some Like It Hot,” “New York, New York,” “Kimberly Akimbo,” “Shucked” and “&Juliet.”
— A performance by Joaquina Kalukango, the powerhouse winner of last year’s Tony for best actress in a musical.
— Numbers by the casts of “Funny Girl,” with Lea Michele, and “A Beautiful Noise.”
— And a performance honoring two winners of Lifetime Achievement awards – composer John Kander and star Joel Grey.