Broadway’s Biggest Night: 10 Fun Facts About the 2026 Tony Awards

Broadway fans, get your playbills ready! The 79th Annual Tony Awards are officially happening this Sunday, June 7, 2026. Live from the iconic Radio City Music Hall, the evening promises showstopping musical numbers, highly anticipated red-carpet fashion, and plenty of history-making drama.

Whether you’re hosting a watch party or tracking the winners live on social media, you need to be in the know. To get you hyped for theatre’s biggest night, here are 10 fun facts and stats about the 2026 Tony Awards.

1. P!NK is Ready to Raise Your Glass as Host

Get ready for an energetic evening, because global pop superstar and three-time Grammy winner P!NK is officially hosting the main ceremony! While she is best known for her chart-topping pop-rock anthems and death-defying aerial arena stunts, P!NK has plenty of Broadway-adjacent love—her tracks have previously pumped up the energy in hit shows like & Juliet and Moulin Rouge!. Expect her trademark powerhouse vocals and charismatic edge to completely revitalize the Radio City stage.

2. June Squibb Makes All-Time Tony History

Age is truly just a number on the Great White Way. At 96 years young, legendary actress June Squibb has broken the record as the oldest Tony-nominated performer of all time! Up for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for her brilliant work as an aging widow in Marjorie Prime, this marks Squibb’s very first Tony nomination. Fun fact: She made her Broadway debut a whopping 66 years ago in the original 1959 production of Gypsy!.

3. A Blood-Sucking Tie at the Top of the Pack

Two incredibly distinct musicals are leading the 2026 nominations with 12 nods each: The Lost Boys (a thrilling stage adaptation of the classic ’80s vampire flick) and Schmigadoon! (the hilarious, star-studded parody of golden-age musical theatre). Because their styles are polar opposites, watching them go head-to-head in 11 overlapping categories—including the coveted Best Musical prize—is going to be one of the night’s most thrilling showdowns.

4. Nicholas Christopher Lung-Powers Chess to the Finish Line

One of the most buzzed-about nominees of the season is Nicholas Christopher, who snagged a Best Leading Actor in a Musical nomination for his powerhouse performance as Anatoly Sergievsky in the critically acclaimed revival of Chess. While the legendary score is notoriously difficult to sing, Christopher leaves audiences completely breathless eight times a week during the show's climactic number, "Endgame". In a display of sheer vocal athleticism that has gone viral online, Christopher belts out a single, sustained note on the word "Never" for a staggering 20 seconds straight—completely without vibrato at first, before seamlessly blending it out right as the full chorus joins in. The jaw-dropping feat earns him a massive mid-show standing ovation every single show!

Nicholas Christopher (Anatoly Sergievksy) and the cast of Chess. Photo by Matthew Murphy, 2025.

5. A Huge British Invasion is Taking Over

Broadway may be a New York staple, but West End talent is crossing the Atlantic in droves this season. Heavyweight British stars are dominating major categories, including Daniel Radcliffe (Every Brilliant Thing) and Mark Strong (Oedipus) competing against each other for Best Leading Actor in a Play. Meanwhile, West End darling Sam Tutty earned a nod for his highly anticipated Broadway debut in the London export Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). And finally Layton Williams is looking to do the double and add a Tony Award to his Olivier Award-winning performance as the iceberg in Titanique.

Photo credit Alexandra Appleton

6. SNL Alumni Battle It Out on Stage

Theatre fans who also love late-night comedy are in for a treat in the Best Featured Actress in a Musical category. Former Saturday Night Live co-stars and real-life friends Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer are both nominated this year! Dratch is nominated for her hilarious turn as the Narrator in the 50th-anniversary revival of Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show, while Gasteyer snagged her nod for playing Mildred Layton in Schmigadoon!.

7. The Original Cast of The Book of Mormon is Reuniting

In a spectacular surprise twist, the American Theatre Wing announced that the original Broadway cast of the mega-hit The Book of Mormon will take the stage for a special performance during the broadcast. It has been 15 years since the show first shocked and delighted audiences back in 2011, making this nostalgic reunion an absolute must-watch for long-time theatre geeks.

8. Linda Cho is Double-Booked in the Costume Category

Designing the wardrobe for a single Broadway show is already a massive undertaking, but costume designer Linda Cho has managed to completely dominate this season. She pulled off a rare and impressive feat by earning two separate nominations in the exact same category (Best Costume Design of a Musical)! Voters fell in love with her distinct styles for both the vibrant, satirical wardrobe of Schmigadoon! and the sweeping, turn-of-the-century historical garments of Ragtime. No matter which way the vote swings, she has doubled her chances of taking home the hardware. And she’s not the only double-nominee in the same category: Heather Gilbert received two individual nominations for Best Lighting Design of a Play for her work on Bug and The Fear of 13, and Adam Honoré earned double recognition in the Best Lighting Design of a Musical category, for his solo work on Cats: The Jellicle Ball and a collaborative nomination with Donald Holder and 59 Productions for Ragtime.

The cast of Cats: The Jellicle Ball. Photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

9. Out of 30 Eligible Shows, 24 Secured Nominations

The 2025–2026 Broadway season was packed with a diverse array of storytelling, with 30 productions ultimately deemed eligible for competition. Demonstrating just how fierce the field was this year, 24 different shows walked away with at least one solitary nomination. With the love spread out so evenly across the community, predicting the winners on your Tony ballot is going to be harder than ever.

10. Radio City Music Hall Welcomes the Tonys Home

After a brief stint exploring other historic New York venues in recent years, the Tony Awards have returned to their most famous home: Radio City Music Hall. The massive, Art Deco venue is perfectly suited for the grand scale of Broadway's big musical numbers. Under a brand-new production team led by Raj Kapoor, Sarah Levine Hall, and Jack Sussman, the staging and set design are expected to utilize the venue’s massive proscenium arch like never before.

Are you planning to watch the Tony Awards this Sunday? Which show are you rooting for to take home Best Musical?