🎭🏆 Tony Awards Take a Curtain Call, Sees a Whooping 39% Jump in Viewership from Last Year’s Act 🎟️📈
TL;DR:
Lights, camera, action! 🎬 The 75th annual Tony Awards made an epic comeback with a live coast-to-coast broadcast and streaming, drawing a substantial 3.86 million viewers for its three-hour-long segment on CBS, a significant rise from last year’s performance special. The star-studded celebration of Broadway’s first full season post-COVID lockdown was led by Ariana DeBose, a “Hamilton” alum and newly crowned Oscar winner. 🌟💃
Full Story:
Broadway is back and it’s better than ever! The stage was set, the lights were bright and it was time for the 75th annual Tony Awards to steal the show. A spectacular return to the stage, this year’s event saw a jaw-dropping 39% increase in viewership on CBS, pulling in a captive audience of 3.86 million viewers. 👏🎉
Last year, we watched the Tony’s on our couches, as the four-hour ceremony premiered exclusively on Paramount+. This time around, the curtain raised not only on Paramount+ but also on CBS, restoring its full three-hour broadcast. Paramount+ continued the encore with streaming and on-demand viewing of the Tony’s. 📺🛋️
But the question that’s surely on everyone’s mind is – how does it feel to be back in the theater after a year of lockdown? 🤔 The answer was shining brightly in the eyes of the host Ariana DeBose, a “Hamilton” alumna and freshly-minted Oscar winner, as she led Broadway’s grand celebration of its first full season post-pandemic.
In comparison to the previous year’s Tony Awards on CBS, which pulled a 0.4 rating among adults in the advertiser’s dream demographic (18-49) and 2.77 million total viewers, this year was a showstopper. 💥💯
Back in 2019, before COVID-19 dimmed Broadway’s lights, the Tony Awards raked in a 0.8 rating and 5.5 million total viewers. But how did last night’s show compare? Well, let’s dive into the playbill. 📖🕵️♀️
In the spotlight was “A Strange Loop,” grabbing the award for the best musical, while “The Lehman Trilogy” clutched the prize for the best play. Additionally, “Company” bagged the best revival of a musical, and “Take Me Out” hit a home run with the award for the best revival of a play. 🎶🏅
“Company”, a classic musical by Stephen Sondheim, flipped the script this year by changing the gender of the protagonist to tell a more female-focused story, and was honored with five awards. But this victory held a somber note as well, coming approximately seven months after Sondheim passed away at 91. 😢💔
Now, who doesn’t love a little drama? “The Lehman Trilogy,” an epic saga that traces the history of one of the financial institutions sparking the 2008 recession, also bagged five Tony Awards. Its recognition included awards for Sam Mendes’ direction and Simon Russell Beale’s stellar lead performance. 🎭🏆
So, Broadway fans, as we see the curtain fall on this year’s Tony Awards, it begs the question – does this resurgence in viewership mark a promising future for Broadway, or is it simply a flash in the pan, driven
