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Cynthia Erivo is set to host 2025 Tony Awards on Sunday, June 8. The ceremony will return to Radio City Music Hall in New York City for the first time since 2022. It will broadcast live to both coasts on CBS and stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.
“I am so proud and excited to take on this glorious honor,” Erivo said in a statement. “I am looking forward to ushering the theater community at large through a night that celebrates the wonderful performances we have witnessed throughout the year. I hope I can rise to the occasion.”
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This is Erivo’s first time hosting the Tonys, where she was a winner in 2016 for her lead role in The Color Purple. Ariana DeBose, also a Tony winner, hosted the Tonys the last three years. This will be the fifth year in a row that a woman of color has hosted the Tonys. Audra McDonald did the honors in 2021.
Erivo, 38, is the star of Wicked, which has become the highest-grossing film adapted from a Broadway musical. Erivo is Oscar-nominated for best actress for her role in Wicked, though she is not expected to win when the awards are presented on March 2. (Rumors persist that she and co-star Ariana Grande may be enticed to perform on the show.) It’s Erivo’s third Oscar nod, following dual nods (best actress and best original song) five year ago for Harriet.
In addition to her Tony win, Erivo has won a Grammy and a Daytime Emmy, both for projects related to The Color Purple.
“Cynthia is a remarkable talent and with her deep roots in the theater community, we are honored to have her host this year’s Tony Awards on CBS,” Mackenzie Mitchell, vp of specials at CBS, said in a statement.
Nominations for this year’s Tony Awards will be announced on Thursday, May 1.
The Tony Awards are produced in collaboration with Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League, and White Cherry Entertainment. Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss are executive producers and showrunners for White Cherry Entertainment. Weiss will serve as director.
As he nears the end of his run in Broadway‘s Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, singer Adam Lambert celebrated his run with a stunning performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday night (Feb. 10).
Dressed in all-black and wearing some glossy black lipstick and eyeshadow, Lambert performed “I Don’t Care Much,” the melancholy act II ballad sung by his character in the show, the Emcee. Dropping his character’s German accent, the American Idol alum sauntered through the jazzy number, placing particular emphasis on its harsh lyrics.
“Words sound false when your coat’s too thin/ Feet don’t waltz when the roof caves in,” he belted. “So if you kiss me, if we touch/ Warning’s fair; I don’t care very much.”
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Lambert released his rendition of the song as a single back in December, and in an interview with radio presenter Elvis Duran, explained the track’s painful meaning in the larger context of the show. “It’s like a torch song,” he said. “It’s really beautiful, and this is in the second act when things are sad, and it’s a song about indifference, and kind of just saying ‘I give up.’”
Cabaret takes place in Berlin during the late 1920s and early 1930s, as the Nazi party rose to power. In “I Don’t Care Much,” Lambert’s Emcee sings about Germany’s apathy in the face of the Nazis’ fascist, antisemitic rhetoric. While he was recording the song, Lambert says he couldn’t help but think about the parallels between that story and today’s politics.
“The day after the [2024 U.S.] election, I know we all felt some kind of way. We recorded this right around election week,” he explained. “I kept going back to how I felt, how a lot of the people that I know in my community felt [after the election], and it was this feeling of … ‘I don’t know what else to do, except to say that I guess I don’t care now as a coping mechanism.’”
Lambert currently stars in the production alongside Auli’i Cravalho (as Sally Bowles), with both of their last performances slated for March 29. Starting on March 31, the roles of the Emcee and Sally will be taken over by country singer-songwriter Orville Peck and Tony-nominated actress Eva Noblezada.
Watch Lambert’s full performance of “I Don’t Care Much” above.
Country music artists have long had ties to musical theatre — and it seems natural, given that both country music concerts and the electrifying shows of Broadway share similarities. Both are built around stories and tales that connect with human emotions, and both feature teams of people intent on combining music, songwriting, performance, lighting and […]
Kelly Rowland is an avid supporter of women supporting women — and she had a great role model to look up to in her Destiny’s Child days. The superstar joined Jennifer Hudson on the latter’s daytime talk show, where Hudson asked Rowland what inspired her passionate uplifting of her fellow women. The “Dilemma” singer revealed […]
Few American-made mythologies loom larger than L. Frank Baum’s Oz. His 1900 book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was an instant sensation that was made into theatrical productions and films, and later inspired songs by Elton John, America, ELO and even the Melvins.
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Now, Jon M. Chu’s blockbuster Wicked is taking audiences beyond the yellow brick road, thanks to bewitching performances by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. So put on your emerald-colored glasses for a look back at Billboard’s coverage of a story that transported people over the rainbow to another world.
Not In Kansas Anymore
Just two years after Baum published his book, a musical adaptation, The Wizard of Oz, opened in a Chicago theater. Thanks to vaudeville veterans Fred Stone and David C. Montgomery playing the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, respectively, the Jan. 3, 1903, Billboard raved, “It is one continuous case of laughter throughout.” The reviewer noted, however, that “the music isn’t so very catchy.” If they only had a Rodgers & Hart!
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If They Only Had a Brain
When the sixth silent film based on Oz opened in 1925, a Billboard critic wasn’t convinced it was King of the Forest. “No one ever expects logic in a film of this species and certainly no one finds any in The Wizard of Oz,” wrote a reviewer in the April 25 issue of director Larry Semon’s slapstick take. The good news: “You can safely invite the school committee and the clergy to view this film as it is wholesome and totally without objectionable features.”
‘What Happened Next Was Rich’
When MGM’s lush The Wizard of Oz premiered in New York, Billboard was there — as was star actress Judy Garland, who sang a few songs after the screening with frequent co-star Mickey Rooney. The “vaudefilmers” combo grossed $68,000 and broke “all house records,” according to the Sept. 2, 1939, issue. Two weeks later, Billboard forecast a bright future for “Over the Rainbow”: “You can count on its staying around for some time.” By Sept. 30, the song was a jukebox must: “No ifs and buts to it — it’s got to be in every machine.”
No Place Like Harlem
When The Wiz, a stage musical reimagining with an all-Black cast, opened on Broadway in 1975, a Jan. 18 Billboard review hailed its “sauce, moxy and innovation.” Sidney Lumet’s big-screen adaptation was “a wow” but “rather long,” according to the Oct. 14, 1978, issue. The same reviewer also said that Michael Jackson “excels as Scarecrow in several numbers,” including “a vibrant duet” with Diana Ross on “Ease on Down the Road” — which hit No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 the next week.
Age-‘Defying’ Appeal
A full century after Oz first hit the Gay White Way, Wicked debuted on Broadway. It was very “Popular”: When Billboard launched its Top Cast Albums chart in the Jan. 21, 2006, issue, the original cast recording was the first No. 1. Wicked’s broomstick flight to Hollywood was just as successful. “Ariana Grande is a revelation,” praised a Nov. 22, 2024, Billboard article, adding that Erivo’s Wicked Witch “feels real and relatable — even in a musical with talking goats.”
Wilkommen, bienvenue, howdy partner! Country star Orville Peck is set to make his Broadway debut as the Emcee in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. On Wednesday (Jan. 15), Cabaret announced that the “Dead of Night” singer would take over the iconic role from Adam Lambert starting on March 31, where he will be joined […]
Cast recordings are a crucial part of supporting a musical’s life, during its initial run on or off-Broadway, as well as far beyond that. While a show is running, a recording available on streaming platforms can reach a wide ticket-buying audience and thus potentially help increase its performing lifespan; the recording is also often the way that regional theaters first discover shows they might produce — which proves especially important to shows that have shorter lives on Broadway.
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But while shows have ample platforms for releasing their original cast recordings — from boutique labels specializing in theater to major labels getting in on the next big hit — a trio of journeyman theater musicians noticed a gaping hole in the market for a new kind of label: one that would support a show from its earliest writing stages all the way through is fully realized production.
That new label — aimed at amplifying new voices in musical theater as well as individual solo performers — is Joy Machine Records, co-founded and run by Ian Kagey, Sonny Paladino, Brian Usifer and Will Van Dyke.
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The quartet have musical theater bonafides in spades. Kagey is a Grammy-winning engineer and mixer who has engineered numerous Broadway cast recordings in addition to working in TV, film, and with artists including Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney; Paladino is a seasoned arranger and producer who most recently was music supervisor, arranger, orchestrator and conductor for Neil Diamond bio-musical A Beautiful Noise; Usifer is an orchestrator, arranger, music director, pianist, producer and composer who recently worked on the acclaimed (but short-lived) Swept Away and Huey Lewis’ The Heart of Rock and Roll musical; and Van Dyke is a Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter, music supervisor, orchestrator and arranger who was music director of Swept Away and is music supervisor/orchestrator/arranger for the long-running off-Broadway hit Little Shop of Horrors.
“Our approach comes from our experience being on many sides of the table in that process, and understanding what it takes to see a show from inception through opening night and beyond,” says Usifer. “We approach every project with not only a high bar musically but an emphasis on kindness and transparency throughout the process.”
Joy Machine, which will be distributed by The Orchard, is launched as a full-service record label which will offer what it calls “three tiers of support for musical development.” As Van Dyke explains, “from the first piano/vocal demos through fully produced tracks,” Joy Machine’s team will “help producers think about budgeting for these recordings from the jump. That kind of awareness will also help teams build a cast recording into their budget to be able to fully preserve their final product.”
The label’s current and upcoming client roster includes The Avett Brothers’ original Broadway cast recording of Swept Away; Huey Lewis’ OBCR of The Heart of Rock and Roll; and solo projects with Joy Woods (currently starring as Louise in Gypsy on Broadway), composer Joe Iconis (Be More Chill), Corey Cott (a star of The Heart of Rock and Roll) and more.
Thus far, the team has recorded at Kagey’s own Renaissance Recording in New York for demos and smaller concept albums, and at the storied Power Station studios for original Broadway cast albums. (“They really know how to make a cast album and make it a seamless and un-chaotic experience,” says Usifer of the latter). Joy Machine is currently working on a concept album for the new musical Joy, meant to give audiences an insight into the show’s music before it ventures to Broadway.
As an artist, Joy Huerta says she likes a good challenge. So when the producers of Broadway‘s upcoming adaptation of Real Women Have Curves reached out to her in early 2020 to see if she could write the songs for the musical, she was swept off her feet.
“I said, ‘For sure!’,” the Grammy Award-winning singer of Mexican pop duo Jesse & Joy — who had never composed music for theater before — tells Billboard Español. “I saw [the 2002 movie] and said, ‘I love the idea, of course, let’s do it.’ I think it was the weekend before we went into lockdown.” She adds: “You dream of challenges, but you don’t know what those challenges are going to look like.”
Five years later, Real Women Have Curves: The Musical is finally giving a glimpse of Huerta’s work ahead of its spring Broadway opening. First, the production released an acoustic performance video of “If I Were A Bird” three weeks ago, in which she sings with fellow Mexican actor and singer Aline Mayagoitia. Now, on Thursday (Jan. 9), arrives “Flying Away,” which Huerta — who is not part of the cast — performs in the clip accompanied by Nadia DiGiallonardo, Rich Mercurio and Yair Evnine. “They gave up so much so I could have more/ And if I don’t go what was all of it for,” say part of the lyrics.
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“’Flying Away’ is a song of longing of this teenage girl becoming a woman, who is growing up in a double culture [as the daughter of Latin American immigrants.] She’s becoming her own person while she’s trying to discover who she wants to be, who she is supposed to be, and who her family need her to be,” Huerta explains. “It’s a big struggle for her, and I think she doesn’t wanna let anyone down, but she ultimately has to think about her, without forgetting about her family. ‘Flying Away’ is that type of song about, how can I spread my wings, how can I fly, how can I be who I was born to be without leaving everyone behind.”
Additionally, fans can stream four demo tracks from the show, including “Make It Work,” “Flying Away,” “Daydream,” and “Real Women Have Curves,” all performed by Huerta, here. All songs were written by the Mexican star along with composer/lyricist Benjamin Velez, whom she calls “a very talented guy.”
Known for Hot Latin Songs hits including “Corre!”, “Me Soltaste” and “Ecos de Amor” as part of Jesse & Joy, the duo she shares with her brother, Huerta — who could relate to the story as the Mexican daughter of an American mother — has enjoyed learning the craft of writing songs for a different form of art in this project.
“Also understanding in what way you are telling the story, because the way I tell stories is in 3 minutes. Here, I especially had time to strike a certain nerve, knowing that what I did or said was going to have a domino effect half an hour, 45 minutes later,” she says enthusiastically. “And that’s been phenomenal because for me now writing songs for Jesse & Joy, knowing what I know after five years of working on this project, it’s been fascinating — it’s like I’m stealing little tricks from different sides for both worlds, and it’s been quite fun.”
Based on the play by Josefina López and the HBO’s movie adaptation, Real Women Have Curves: The Musical is set in East L.A. in 1987 and follows 18-year-old Ana García, a daughter of immigrants who struggles between her ambitions of going to college and the desire of her mother for her to get married, have children, and oversee the small, rundown family-owned textile factory. The 2002 movie, directed by Patricia Cardoso, put a young America Ferrera on the map.
Now Huerta hopes the show helps people see real immigrants in a different light.
“Something that’s really affected me with this story is that all these issues that were happening in the 80s are still happening today, and you would think no, it’s 2025, so many things have changed, it should be easier, and it’s not,” the artist says, wiping tears from her eyes.
“I have dual citizenship, I feel very privileged, but it is very difficult for those who are going to live right now in this new change of government,” she adds. “One of the reasons I’m very excited about this play is that I feel like, whenever you try and tell the story through a family perspective, a family point of view, I feel like maybe we can stop looking at our differences and we can start looking at each other as people. And when that happens, I think change really starts happening.”
As for her aspirations not only to write but also to perform on Broadway, Huerta would love to do it one day, but right now she is enjoying the ride behind the scenes. “I would definitely love to do it at some point. I would also love writing more for musicals,” she says. “This has been such a rewarding and such a beautiful experience.”
Real Women Have Curves: The Musical is produced by Waitress producers Barry and Fran Weissler, and Jack Noseworthy. It has a book by Lisa Loomer with Nell Benjamin, music supervision by Nadia DiGiallonardo, and direction & choreography by Tony and Olivier Award winner Sergio Trujillo. Cast and additional creative team will be announced at a later date.
It arrives on Broadway following its 2023 world premiere at American Repertory Theater (A.R.T) at Harvard University, with previews beginning on Tuesday, April 1, and an opening night set for Sunday, April 27 at the James Earl Jones Theatre (138 West 48thSt). Tickets can be purchased online now at Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200.
Watch Joy Huerta singing “Flying Away” from Broadway’s Real Women Have Curves: The Musical above.
Broadway Week in NYC is an annual ticket promotion that basically offers the chance to get Broadway tickets for half price (when you buy a pair), or the opportunity to get an upgraded seat location at a discounted price. If Broadway’s been on your family’s wish list, this could be a good time to make a trip to the city. Tickets for 2025 just went on sale and are available here.
The discount code to buy two tickets for the price of one is: BWAYWK25
The discount code to buy “better seat locations” at $138.50 per ticket is: BWAYUP25
Discounted tickets were made available for the following Broadway shows: & Juliet, Aladdin, A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, The Book of Mormon, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, Chicago, Cult of Love, Death Becomes Her, English, Eureka Day, The Great Gatsby, Gypsy, Hadestown, Hamilton, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Hell’s Kitchen, Left on Tenth, The Lion King, Maybe Happy Ending, MJ, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Oh, Mary!, Redwood, Romeo + Juliet, Six the Musical, Sunset Blvd and Wicked.
For elementary school-aged kids and older: Wicked is the obvious go-to right now, but seemingly too popular — I looked for tickets for my own kid at on-sale, and didn’t find anything that worked for us. They sold out quickly. The Lion King is a great choice for most families; Aladdin is also available. Both Disney productions suggest they’re best for ages 6 and up. It’s generally recommended to wait until kids are at least 4 to sit through any Broadway musical, in respect of the performers (and other patrons who paid to see the show without interruptions), but 6 is a better bet.
For tweens and up: Consider Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (this one is not a musical, and it’s a long show, but it’s a must-see for lovers of the Harry Potter series), Hadestown (especially for kids interested in Greek mythology) and Six the Musical.
For teens and older: Whether they love a good Broadway musical or find the idea of a Broadway musical cringe, Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler starring in Romeo + Juliet — with music by Jack Antonoff — might pique their interest. Other shows to look into that teens will likely enjoy: Maybe Happy Ending and The Great Gatsby.
Record producer Jay David Saks, who died last month, left behind a rich and unique legacy, one that spanned the worlds of classical music and Broadway cast albums. But it all began a member of a “one-hit-wonder” group which had a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Saks died on Nov. 16 of Parkinsonism-related causes. He was 79. News of his death was confirmed by Peter Gelb of The Metropolitan Opera.
Saks won 13 Grammys between 1983 and 2014, eight for classical music and five for his work on Broadway cast albums.
He won best opera recording four times, all for work with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra/The Metropolitan Opera Chorus. He won for Verdi: La Traviata Opera Recording; Adams: Doctor Atomic; Wagner: Der Ring Des Nibelungen and Adès: The Tempest.
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He won best musical show album five times for cast albums from Into the Woods and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway and revivals of Guys and Dolls, Chicago and Gypsy.
In addition, Saks won two Daytime Emmys, both for his work on Great Performances at the Met. He won outstanding individual achievement in any area of the performing arts – audio (1983) and outstanding individual achievement in the performing arts – audio (1984).
Born in New York City, Saks grew up in The Bronx. His older sister was the cellist Toby Saks.
During the 1960’s, Saks played bass guitar with The Balloon Farm, which had a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1968 with the psychedelic pop/rock song “A Question of Temperature.” Saks wasn’t the only member of The Balloon Farm who went on to success in the industry. Fellow member Mike Appel managed Bruce Springsteen from 1972-75 and co-produced his first three albums. Their sole hit was produced by Peter Schekeryk, who went on to produce hits for his wife, Melanie, including the Hot 100-topping “Brand New Key.”
Saks studied at the Juilliard School, and later continued his studies at the Mannes College of Music, from which he graduated in 1970.
As an audio producer for CBS Masterworks, RCA Red Seal (RCA Records), Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Saks was responsible for engineering and master recording hundreds of titles.
Beginning in 1980, Saks worked with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City to record and produce more than 1,600 of its telecasts, radio broadcasts and live HD transmissions.
Saks was nominated for 53 Grammys between 1977 and 2018. He received at least one Grammy nomination in 30 different years. He was nominated 10 times for classical producer of the year, but he never won in that category.
Saks’ other cast show album nominations (in addition to his five wins) were for Starting Here, Starting Now, Anything Goes, Assassins, Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying!, Ragtime the Musical (for two different recordings), Cabaret, Fosse, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Man of La Mancha, Avenue Q—The Musical and The Color Purple.
Saks was also nominated for best compilation soundtrack album for a motion picture, television or other visual media for Fantasia/2000.
Saks was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 2007 – outstanding sound mixing for a variety or music series or special – as audio producer for PBS’ The Magic Flute (Great Performances at the Met).
An avid runner, Saks completed one of the earliest New York City marathons.
Saks is survived by his wife, Linda Saks; their two sons, Jeremy Saks and Greg Saks; and three grandchildren, Bo Saks, May Li Saks, and Ben Saks.