76th Tony Awards
The 76th Tony Awards recognized the achievements in Broadway productions during the 2022–23 season. The ceremony was held at the United Palace in New York City on June 11, 2023. Ariana DeBose served as the host for the second year in a row, with Skylar Astin and Julianne Hough co-hosting a pre-show on Pluto TV prior to the main telecast on CBS.
The most-awarded production of this season was new musical Kimberly Akimbo, which won five awards, including Best Musical. Leopoldstadt was the most-awarded play, winning four awards, including Best Play. Some Like It Hot led the nominations, at 13. With J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell winning awards for their performances on Some Like It Hot and Shucked, respectively, they became the first openly non-binary performers to win a Tony.
The ceremony was held amid the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike; while the guilds denied a waiver to the Tony Awards' organizers, they agreed to not picket the venue, and no scripted materials were included in the ceremony.
Ceremony information
In January 2023, The Broadway League and American Theatre Wing renewed its contract with Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss's White Cherry Entertainment to produce the ceremony. On April 12, 2023, it was announced that Ariana DeBose would return as host for a second consecutive year. On April 25, 2023, it was announced that the pre-show The Tony Awards: Act One would move from Paramount+ to its sister free ad-supported streaming television service Pluto TV, prior to the main presentation on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.Nominees were announced on May 2, 2023; the musical Some Like It Hot was the most-nominated show of the season, while A Doll's House, Ain't No Mo', and Leopoldstadt were tied for most nominated play.
Impact of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike
On May 2, 2023, the Writers Guild of America went on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. On May 12, the WGA denied the American Theatre Wing's request for a waiver to allow the CBS telecast, thereby placing the ceremony's broadcast in uncertainty. The Tony Awards Management Committee held an emergency meeting on May 15 to discuss the future of the ceremony. The meeting, however, was unproductive, with sources saying the committee would make another effort to convince the WGA for a strike waiver. The options were to either hold a non-televised press conference on the original date—akin to the response of the 65th Golden Globe Awards to the 2007–08 WGA strike—or to postpone the ceremony until the strike is resolved—similar to the 74th Tony Awards, which were postponed by more than a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The same day as the emergency meeting, the WGA still once again denied the waiver but announced they would not picket the event, and the broadcast was set to continue as planned.The Tonys ceremony ultimately went on unscripted. Before the show began, host Ariana DeBose revealed to the audience the only words that would appear on the teleprompter that night: "Please wrap up". The broadcast's opening performance number began with DeBose paging through a script of blank pages before launching into a dance number that was backed by music but free of lyrics. Lin-Manuel Miranda initially wrote an opening number for the awards, but it was not performed because of the strike.
Eligibility
The Tony Awards eligibility cut-off date for the 2022–23 season was April 27, 2023, for all Broadway productions which meet all other eligibility requirements.;Original plays
- Ain't No Mo
- Between Riverside and Crazy
- A Christmas Carol
- The Collaboration
- Cost of Living
- Fat Ham
- Good Night, Oscar
- The Kite Runner
- Leopoldstadt
- Life of Pi
- Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool
- Peter Pan Goes Wrong
- Pictures from Home
- Prima Facie
- Summer, 1976
- The Thanksgiving Play
- Walking with Ghosts
- & Juliet
- Almost Famous
- Bad Cinderella
- A Beautiful Noise
- Kimberly Akimbo
- KPOP
- New York, New York
- Shucked
- Some Like It Hot
- A Doll's House
- Death of a Salesman
- Ohio State Murders
- The Piano Lesson
- The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window
- Topdog/Underdog
- 1776
- Camelot
- Dancin
- Into the Woods
- Parade
- ''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street''
Winners and nominees
The musical Some Like It Hot led the nominations, with 13 nominations, while Ain't No Mo' and Leopoldstadt tied for the most nominations for a play, each receiving six.
Competitive awards
Winners for each award are listed first and highlighted in boldface type.| Best Play ‡ | Best Musical ‡ |
| |
| Best Revival of a Play ‡ | Best Revival of a Musical ‡ |
| Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play | Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play |
| Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical | Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical |
| Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play | Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play |
| Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical | Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical |
| Best Direction of a Play | Best Direction of a Musical |
| Best Book of a Musical | Best Original Score Written for the Theatre |
| Best Scenic Design of a Play | Best Scenic Design of a Musical |
| Best Costume Design of a Play | Best Costume Design of a Musical |
| Best Lighting Design of a Play | Best Lighting Design of a Musical |
| Best Sound Design of a Play | Best Sound Design of a Musical |
| Best Choreography | Best Orchestrations |