‘Broadway’s Back!’ Tony Night Concert Special To Feature David Byrne, ‘Hairspray’ Reunion & ‘Freestyle Love Supreme’ Performance – Update

Additional performers and presenters have been announced for The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!, the two-hour live concert special airing on CBS and Paramount+ this Sunday following the livestream-only presentation of the 74th Annual Tony Awards.

Joining the special’s roster are Jon Batiste, Stephanie J. Block, Wayne Brady, Tituss Burgess, Darren Criss, Robbie Fairchild, Beanie Feldstein, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jordan Fisher, Santino Fontana, Andrew Garfield, Jared Grimes, Josh Groban, Jennifer Holliday, Nikki M. James, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Ron Cephas Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Norm Lewis, John Lithgow, Lindsay Mendez, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jennifer Nettles, Lynn Nottage, Adam Pascal, Bernadette Peters, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Andrew Rannells, Anthony Rapp, Anika Noni Rose, Lea Salonga, Ali Stroker, Black Thought, Courtney B. Vance, Daniel J. Watts and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.

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The telecast also will feature performances including David Byrne and the cast of American Utopia, John Legend and the cast of Ain’t Too Proud, a reunion of the cast members of Hairspray including Marissa Jaret Winokur, Matthew Morrison, Kerry Butler, Chester Gregory and Darlene Love.

The special will conclude with a number by the cast of Freestyle Love Supreme featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda, James Monroe Iglehart, Christopher Jackson, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Wayne Brady, Anthony Veneziale, Chris Sullivan, Kiala Mullady, Aneesa Folds, Bill Sherman, Arthur Lewis, Tarik Davis, Andrew Bancroft, Ashley P. Flanagan and Ian Weinberger.

PREVIOUS, Sept. 20 Broadway’s Back!, the live two-hour broadcast special immediately following this Sunday’s streaming-only Tony Awards ceremony, will include appearances by Kristin Chenoweth, André De Shields, Jake Gyllenhaal, Audra McDonald, Idina Menzel, Lin-Manuel Miranda and more, CBS and The American Theatre Wing announced today.

The special, presented live on Sunday, Sept. 26 from Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre, will be hosted by Leslie Odom, Jr., as previously announced.

Designed as a celebration of Broadway’s return to the stage following the Covid pandemic shutdown, the special (full title: The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!) airs on CBS from 9-11 pm ET (live) and PT (delayed). The special also will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

The concert special will include Broadway performers and Tony Award winners re-uniting on stage to perform classics, and will feature performances from the three Tony-nominated Best Musical contenders: Jagged Little Pill, Moulin Rouge! The Musical and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.

The special also will include the live presentation of three Tony Awards: Best Play, Best Revival of a Play and Best Musical.

As previously announced, the 74th Annual Tony Awards, delayed from June 2020 due to Covid and representing a shorter roster of nominees because of the shutdown, will stream exclusively on Paramount+ live beginning at 7 p.m.ET/4 p.m. PT. The ceremony will be hosted by Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award-winning singer and actor Audra McDonald, and will cover productions from the abbreviated 2019-2020 Broadway season.

The line-up of Broadway’s Back! performers and presenters released today also includes Annaleigh Ashford, Kerry Butler, Christopher Jackson, Ruthie Ann Miles, Bebe Neuwirth, Leslie Odom, Jr., Kelli O’Hara, Ben Platt, Jeremy Pope, Chita Rivera, Daphne Rubin-Vega and BD Wong. Additional performers and presenters will be announced later this week.

The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back! will be produced in collaboration with Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, and White Cherry Entertainment, the team behind the annual Tony Awards telecast. Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss are executive producers for White Cherry Entertainment. Weiss will serve as director.