The Awards Show, Which Has Aired on CBS for the Past 32 Years, Is Renewed Through 2013
Continuing its commitment to showcase the performing arts on primetime television, CBS has extended its long-standing relationship with the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing with a new three-year agreement to broadcast the annual TONY® Awards through 2013. The awards show, which honors theater professionals for distinguished achievement on Broadway, has been a part of the CBS family since 1978.
The American Theatre Wing’s “65th ANNUAL TONY AWARDS,” presented by the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, will be broadcast live in a three-hour ceremony in June 2011 on the CBS Television Network.
“For more than three decades, The TONY Awards has been an annual CBS showcase and a big part of our ongoing commitment to support the performing arts on television,” said Jack Sussman, Executive Vice President, Specials, Music and Live Events, CBS Entertainment. Â “We look forward to continuing this great partnership and bringing the best of Broadway to our viewers for many years to come.”
“We hear time and time again how the TONY Awards inspire students and young professionals across the country in their dreams of theatrical careers,” said Howard Sherman, executive director of the American Theatre Wing. Â “The commitment of CBS over the past 32 years has had an immeasurable effect on the lives and careers of those who are a part of the theatre community, and we are fortunate that they give us this unprecedented opportunity to display the variety and vitality of theatre to audiences beyond those in Manhattan. Â The Wing is also gratified that this sustains a partnership with CBS that began during World War II, when the Columbia Network broadcast The Wing’s ‘Stage Door Canteen’ and continued into the ’60s when WCBS in New York broadcast The Tonys locally before they were carried nationally.”
“The TONY Awards on CBS puts Broadway center stage for all the world to see, hear and enjoy! We are thrilled to continue a trusted collaboration working with a broadcast network whose executives understand and appreciate the magic of Broadway. Â They work tirelessly to present our unique awards show in the most exciting ways. Â The TONY Awards broadcast brings the best of Broadway entertainment to the CBS audience, and encourages the CBS audience to come see a show on Broadway!” said Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director of the Broadway League.
“THE 63rd ANNUAL TONY AWARDS” just received two 2010 Primetime Emmy® Awards: Outstanding Special Class Programs and Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special.
Next year marks the 65th anniversary of the TONY Awards, which were first held on April 6, 1947 at the Waldorf Astoria’s Grand Ballroom. The ceremonies are presented by TONY Award Productions, which is a joint venture of The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, which founded the Tonys in 1947.
The Tonys were founded in memorial to Antoinette (“Tony”) Perry, the American Theatre Wing’s World War II chairperson. The winners are selected by the governing board of Actors Equity, The Dramatists Guild, the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, the United Scenic Artists, the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers, the Casting Society of America, the New York Drama Critics Circle, the American Theatre Wing and members of The Broadway League.