Neil Patrick Harris will be hosting the 67th annual Tony Awards, his fourth time acting as the master of ceremonies for the event.
Harris hosted last year’s awards show , and also served as a producer. He will serve as a producer again this year along with executive producers Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss of White Cherry Entertainment.
Harris also hosted the Tony Awards in 2009 and 2011. The host in 2010 was Will & Grace actor Sean Hayes.
Awards shows often ask the same producers to return for subsequent telecasts. In the case of the Oscars, producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron were asked back for next year’s telecast for “continuity .” This is especially true if the ratings are good — which they were for Zadan and Meron’s telecast; the 18-34 demographic was up 20 percent under their watch.
“I’m very excited to be back hosting the Tony Awards at the legendary Radio City Music Hall. It’ll be more impressive than ever — if my math is correct, it will be 267 times bigger than last year,” NPH said in a statement. “Oh, wait. No, that can’t… hold on… carry the one… I’m awful at math. But rest assured, the show will rock!”
Surprisingly, Harris — who has worked on Broadway for over a decade — has never received a Tony award. He did, however, receive an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Bryan Ryan, an old high school nemesis of Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), in Glee . Harris appeared as a school board member in the episode “Dream On” and wants to cut district arts programs — including McKinley High’s glee club as revenge for giving him false hope when he was the lead singer.
The Tony Awards will be held June 9 at Radio City Music Hall. CBS will air the awards show live on the east coast with a tape delay broadcast for the west coast.
Are you excited to watch Neil Patrick Harris host the Tony Awards?
[Photo credit: Jaguar PS / Shutterstock.com ]
