Days after the Tony Awards presented their strict no-slap policy, they announced another striking development. The Tonys will push back their nominations announcement from May 3 to May 9. That also means that the eligibility window has been extended from April 28 to May 4, so EGOT hopefuls will have another week or two to stage a Tony Award–winning play. In a press release, president of the Broadway League Charlotte St. Martin and American Theatre Wing president and CEO Heather Hitchens provided the reason for the extension: “Due to challenges that Broadway has faced in recent weeks, and in an effort to allow nominators to see Tony eligible shows, we have decided to extend the deadline for eligibility requirements.”
The “challenges” they alluded to are currently unspecified, but we’re not not saying that it may have something to do with several actors testing positive for coronavirus. Macbeth star Daniel Craig and other cast members tested positive for coronavirus during previews and director Sam Gold ended up stepping in as an unlikely understudy to play Lennox, a Scottish nobleman, on April 28. However, the curse of Macbeth is not limited to the confines of the Longacre Theatre. Many other possible Tony contenders have been hit by COVID-19, including POTUS, starring Julianne Hough, who said she tested positive April 20. Plaza Suite also added five extra performances earlier this month after stars Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker got COVID-19. The Tony Awards will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ on June 12 — as long as no one else says the name of the Scottish play aloud.
