NEW YORK — The Tony Awards are going to new heights.
The 76th annual Tony Awards will be held June 11 at the United Palace, a grand theater in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, in a departure from the ceremony’s traditional Midtown setting, organizers said Tuesday.
The annual celebration of Broadway’s best performances, sharpest shows and most memorable musicals has often been held at Radio City Music Hall in recent years. It has also taken place at Broadway houses — the 2021 Tonys were held at the Winter Garden Theatre — and at the Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side.
But the ceremony has never headed so far uptown.
The switch to the United Palace, which seats some 3,400 people, came in a surprise announcement almost six months ahead of the awards show that will honor the current season. The change appeared to offer a nod to Broadway’s efforts to diversify its audiences, which tend to be white and wealthy.
The United Palace opened in 1930 and is Manhattan’s fourth largest theater, according to the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, which put on the Tonys. The theater, built for movies, has an ornate, filigreed ceiling and sits between 175th and 176th St. in majority-Latino Washington Heights.
The neighborhood was the setting for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash 2008 Broadway hit “In the Heights,” adapted into a well-reviewed 2021 film.
Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, and Heather Hitchens, president of the American Theatre Wing, issued a joint statement expressing their excitement about the setting.
“As we celebrate the best of this Broadway season and 76 years of the Tony Awards, we look forward to ushering in a new golden age for the show from this majestic, golden age theatre,” they said.
The show is to be broadcast by CBS, which has aired the Tonys since 1978. The ceremony has seen lagging ratings in recents years — a common trend for awards shows across the entertainment industry.
The Tonys will honor productions from the 2022-2023 season; shows need to open by April 27 to be eligible. Nominees are expected to be revealed May 2.
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