Tony Awards Shines Spotlight on Broadway June 7

For Immediate Release

Contact: Lyndsay Borko

The 69th Annual Tony Awards

New York City, April 2015 – Spring is a very exciting time of year for the Broadway community. It's spring cleaning time, and many of the theatres in Times Square are cleaning house and making way for new shows for the 2015-2016 season. And with new shows comes the Tony Awards. Tony Awards are to celebrate distinguished artists in various aspects of the theatre, such as direction, choreography, and performance. The 69th Annual Tony Awards are set to be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall on June 7, 2015 at 8 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time).

Official nominations for all categories will be released on April 28 through a live web-cast presented at TonyAwards.com. A few notable shows that are eligible for Tony Awards this year include “Dr. Zhivago” (Broadway), “It Shoulda Been You!” (Brooks Atkinson), “An American In Paris” (Palace), “Finding Neverland” (Lunt-Fontanne), “Something Rotten!” (St. James), “Gigi” (Neil Simon), “The King and I” (Vivienne Beaumont), “On the Town” (Lyric), and “On the Twentieth Century” (American Airlines).

Although theater aficionados are anxiously awaiting the official nominations, there are two awards they don't have to wait for. On April 2, the Tony Awards Administration Committee announced that the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre will go to 9-time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune. He has worked in the theatre industry for more than 50 years, and his achievements are not only as an actor, but also as a director and choreographer on shows such as “The Will Rogers Follies” and “My One and Only.”

On April 7, the Tony Awards Administration Committee announced the winners of the 2015 Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre: Arnold Abramson, Adrian Bryan-Brown, and Gene O'Donovan. This award is for individuals and/or organizations who demonstrate outstanding achievement in theatre, but are not eligible in any of the standard categories. Abramson has been designing and creating sets since the 1950's, Bryan-Brown is a partner at one of the largest theatrical public relations offices still in operation, and O'Donovan has been a theatre technician for more than forty years.

Tune in to the web-cast of the official nominations on April 28 at TonyAwards.com, and the live broadcast of the Tony Award on June 7 at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.