After months of uncertainty in the wake of the COVID-19 health crisis, Broadway's biggest night is heading online. The Broadway League and American Theatre Wing revealed August 21 that the 74th annual Tony Awards ceremony will be held digitally this fall, recognizing shows that played during the cut-short 2019–2020 season and have since navigated an atypical awards season.
Under new eligibility rulings, productions will have to have opened on or before February 19, 2020, in order to be in contention. Some shows had begun previews or opened between then and March 12 (the start of the Broadway shutdown), though nominators or voters may not have seen them in time to make determinations.
See below for the list of productions considered eligible for this year's awards. (Note: These are not the nominations, nor does a shortened list indicate that all contenders will receive a nomination. Additional rulings from the Tony Awards Administration Committee are expected to follow in the coming weeks.)
Best Musical
Opened July 25, 2019
The Lightning Thief
Opened October 16, 2019
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
Opened November 7, 2019
Jagged Little Pill
Opened December 5, 2019
New musicals scheduled for the season that did not open prior to the February 19 deadline: Girl From the North Country, Six, Diana, Mrs. Doubtfire, Flying Over Sunset, Sing Street
Best Play
Opened August 8, 2019
The Height of the Storm (by Florian Zeller)
Opened September 24, 2019
The Great Society (by Robert Schenkkan)
Opened October 1, 2019
Slave Play (by Jeremy O. Harris)
Opened September 6, 2019
Linda Vista (by Tracy Letts)
Opened October 10, 2019
The Sound Inside (by Adam Rapp)
Opened October 17, 2019
The Inheritance (by Matthew Lopez)
Opened November 17, 2019
A Christmas Carol (by Jack Thorne)
Opened November 20, 2019
My Name Is Lucy Barton (by Elizabeth Strout)
Opened January 15, 2020
Grand Horizons (by Bess Wohl)
Opened January 23, 2020
New plays scheduled for the season that did not open prior to the February 19 deadline: The Minutes (by Tracy Letts), Hangmen (by Martin McDonagh), The Lehman Trilogy (by Stefano Massini), Birthday Candles (by Noah Haidle)
Best Revival of a Musical
Musical revivals scheduled for the season that did not open prior to the February 19 deadline: West Side Story, Company, Caroline, or Change
Best Revival of a Play
Opened May 30, 2019
Betrayal
Opened September 5, 2019
The Rose Tattoo
Opened October 15, 2019
A Soldier’s Play (by Charles Fuller)*
Opened January 21, 2020
Play revivals scheduled for the season that did not open prior to the February 19 deadline: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Plaza Suite, American Buffalo, How I Learned to Drive, Take Me Out
*Though A Soldier’s Play has never played Broadway before the 2020 production, it would likely be considered a revival as a previously established title (it ran Off-Broadway in 1981). In accordance with the Tony Administration Committee’s 2019 ruling regarding writers of revivals, playwright Charles Fuller would be a part of the production’s nomination. Similarly, Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive would likely be considered a revival.
