James Corden will host this year’s Tony Awards.

[edjames]

James Corden will host this year’s Tony Awards.

 

Mr. Corden, a musical theater enthusiast who won a Tony Award himself in 2012, for starring in the comedy “One Man, Two Guvnors,” will preside over the award ceremony on June 9 at Radio City Music Hall. The ceremony will be broadcast on CBS, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern.

 

This will be the second time that Mr. Corden, who is the host of CBS’s “The Late Late Show,” will host the awards — he previously did so in 2016.

In addition to “One Man, Two Guvnors,” he also appeared on Broadway in a 2006 production of “The History Boys.”

 

The Tony Awards, formally called the Antoinette Perry Awards, are presented by the Broadway League and the American Theater Wing, and honor work done on Broadway during the previous season. This year’s ceremony will honor shows that open by April 25; the nominees will be announced on April 30.

[bostonman]

I think Corden is a natural choice, and a good one. He's both a true member of the Broadway community and a popular CBS host.

 

Will the fact of him hosting bring in huge ratings? Probably not. There's always been a niche audience for the Tonys, and that's how it is. I only bring it up because the ratings question always comes up, and over the years, the broadcast has tried to improve the ratings with guest appearances or celeb hosts that don't really have a connection to the industry, etc. My wish every year is that they don't worry about all that and just strive to do a quality presentation without a lot of mishegas.

 

That said, one of the most annoying things to me in the last few years are the (thankfully short) appearances by Rachel Bloom, doing some truly obnoxious hopped up "fangirl on speed" routine to segue into commercial breaks. Classless, IMO, and out of step with the rest of the show. If they'd like to include Bloom in the evening, I'd love them to find something with more of a professional comportment for her.