At the 2023 Tony Awards, the drama is offstage. The awards show was almost canceled amid the WGA strike, but on May 15, the guild granted a waiver allowing Broadway’s big show to go on (the picket line would have required that writers not work if an unsanctioned show were aired). That means shows like Kimberly Akimbo, Sweeney Todd, Some Like It Hot, and all the other nomineesslated to perform will still get their big night June 11. So the only question left, as Rachel Bloom well knows, is can we watch?did the Tonys get back on?
Along with agreeing to make those changes, the main reason the Tonys are back on is because the playwrights (many of whom are in the WGA), advocated for the Tonys within their writing communities, according to the Times. Well-known playwrights like Tony Kushner, Jeremy O. Harris, David Henry Hwang, Lynn Nottage, and Martyna Majok, among many others, all advocated, getting the union to let the Tonys air without picketing owing to the impact the awards have on the theater community. Maybe now the Tonys will deign to give an award for playwriting.