Tonys’ star search
With Kevin Spacey out, the awards show is hunting for its next host
CBS is wasting no time lining up a host for this year’s Tony Awards.
I hear the offer is out to James Corden, who hosted the telecast to great acclaim in 2016. Sources say the host of “The Late Late Show” is likely to accept.
The network scrambled to land a host last year after Tina Fey, its first choice, declined. Kevin Spacey stepped in at the last minute, delivering a game performance. But without a blockbuster like “Hamilton,” ratings tumbled — from 9 million viewers in 2016 to 6 million in 2017.
Of course, after a spate of sexual-harassment allegations, Spacey’s no longer on anyone’s list to host anything other than a yoga session at a rehab center.
This year’s June 10 telecast will likely have a slew of big names. Fey will present an award and may well end up accepting one for her script for “Mean Girls,” which will start previews March 12.
Expect a performance from Bruce Springsteen, who’ll collect a special Tony for “Springsteen on
Broadway,” which is grossing nearly $3 million a week. Denzel Washington, a likely contender for “The Iceman Cometh,” will be on the show, as will Amy Schumer (“Meteor Shower”), Laurie Metcalf
and Glenda
Jackson (“Three Tall Women”), and Nathan Lane (“Angels in America”).
I bet Jimmy Buffett pops up to sing “Margaritaville” from “Escape to Margaritaville,” which opens in March at the Marquis after a lucrative tour around the country. And Cher, whose musical “The Cher Show” opens in the fall, may well join Corden for some carpool karaoke.
ON Wednesday, “The Phantom of the Opera” marks its 30th anniversary at the Majestic Theatre. Andrew Lloyd Webber and producer Cameron Mackintosh will be in the house, celebrating a production that’s grossed nearly $900 million on Broadway and $6 billion around the world.
That’s not a bad return for the $1.50 Lloyd Webber spent in 1984 for a copy of Gaston Leroux’s novel at a book stall on Fifth Avenue. After reading the book in an afternoon, he thought it might make a good musical.
He and Mackintosh are throwing a lavish party at the Rainbow Room after the show. Imogen Lloyd Webber (Andrew’s daughter) and Sierra Boggess, who’s played the musical’s Christine several times, are hosting a live feed from the red carpet on the @PhantomBway Twitter account.
‘ON Stage,” NY1’s popular theater show, explores the Players Club this weekend. The club, one of New York’s treasures, is in a landmarked 19th-century mansion on Gramercy Park that was once owned by Edwin Booth.
I’m a proud member of the Players Club, and I take “On Stage” host Frank DiLella on a tour, which includes a stop in Booth’s bedroom, still kept exactly as it was the night he died. Check NY1’s Web site for showings.