Tony Awards to go ahead as virtual ceremony

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief

Published: August 22 2020 | 03:34

Last updated: August 22 2020 | 07:40

The coronavirus-delayed Tony Awards will go ahead this autumn as a virtual event, it is announced.

The organisers of the Tony Awards have announced that this year's ceremony will go ahead this autumn as a virtual event.

Broadway's annual showpiece had been due to take place in June in New York City but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed around 180,000 lives in the US to date.

With live theatre having also shut down because of COVID-19, there had been speculation that the Tonys could be cancelled altogether for 2020, but The New York Post has reported that it will still go ahead at on an unconfirmed date in the next few months.

A joint statement from the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing said: "Though unprecedented events cut the 2019-2020 Broadway season short, it was a year full of extraordinary work that deserves to be recognised.

"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 theatre 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."

Among the productions expected to do well this year are Alanis Morissette musical Jagged Little Pill and The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical.