Ariana DeBose acknowledged the unusual task in her opening number, which began by zooming in on a binder that read “script,” but was filled with blank pages. She then danced her way through the hallways of the United Palace in Washington Heights, where the awards show is taking place, in fast-paced, acrobatic number that saw her jumping down flights of stairs.

DeBose then informed the audience about the WGA strike and thanked all parties for coming to a compromise that allowed the show to move forward. She also poked fun at the issue, saying “I’m live and unscripted, you’re welcome.”

 

“To anyone who thought last year was a bit unhinged, to them I say, “Darlings, buckle up,” DeBose said.

Before introducing a category, DeBose later looked down at writing on her forearm, saying “Also I don’t know what these notes stand for, so please welcome whoever walks out on stage next.”

The Tonys are the first major awards shows to be affected by the strike. The WGA did not grant the Tony Awards a waiver for the televised ceremony, but agreed not to picket the event.

In turn, the Tony Awards agreed to proceed without script.

The hosts of the Tonys’ preshow, Act One, Skylar Astin and Julianne Hough, acknowledged the atypical circumstances of this year’s Tonys.

“Tonight we’re going to do things a little bit differently in solidarity with WGA,” Astin said. “We’re going to focus on this incredible community and spirited works from the past season.”

They then presented the first award, best score, to Kimberly Akimbo, where lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire, who is a member of the WGA, urged support for the writers. (With the win, Kimberly Akimbo‘s Jeanine Tesori, who wrote the music for the musical, becomes the first female composer to win the Tony for best score twice.) Lindsay-Abaire later won for best book of a musical, and urged members of the theater community to join the picket lines.

Patrick Marber, who won for best director of a play for Leopoldstadt during the main telecast, wore a WGA pin to the Tony Awards and told press after his win that he’s been a member of the WGA for 20 years and has recently attended rallies and stopped writing.

“I hope we win this battle, it’s important,” Marber said. He added that he wasn’t surprised at the quality of the Tony Awards broadcast, since “actors are great improvisers.”

Miriam Silverman, who won a Tony Award for best performance by an actress in a featured role in a play, for her role in The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, also acknowledged the WGA in her speech, saying “we are a staunchly, pro-union household” and one that believes in power of labor and workers being compensated. Speaking to press after the win, Silverman, who said she’s also a SAG-AFTRA member, said she was “thrilled with the compromise” that allowed the Tony Awards to move forward, noting its importance to bringing the theater community to a national level.

While the Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike since May 2, agreed not to picket the ceremony, it asked members who are Tony Awards nominees not to attend the ceremony and to instead send in pre-recorded acceptance speeches or have a non-WGA member accept on their behalf.

While some nominees mentioned the union, many also spoke to other causes close to their hearts.

Alex Newell became the first openly nonbinary actor to win a Tony Award for their performance in Shucked, and addressed the historic nature of the win.

Newell’s win was followed shortly after by J. Harrison Ghee, who also identifies as nonbinary and won for their role in Some Like It Hot.

“Thank you for seeing me, Broadway. I should not be up as queer, nonbinary, fat Black little baby from Massachusetts, and to anyone that thinks that they can’t do it, I’m going to look you dead in your face [and say] that you can do anything that you put your mind too,” Newell said.

“For every trans, nonbinary, gender nonconforming human who ever was told you couldn’t be, you couldn’t be seen, this is for you,” Ghee said.

Michael Arden, who won for best director of a musical for Parade, voiced support for the trans and non-binary communities. Bonnie Milligan, who won for best featured actress in a musical for Kimberly Akimbo, spoke to “everybody that doesn’t maybe look like how the world is telling you to look,” saying “you belong somewhere.”

Annaleigh Ashford, another WGA member, presented the Isabelle Stevenson Award to Jerry Mitchell during the pre-show, honoring his contributions to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and additional volunteer work, particularly through his annual “Broadway Bares” show, which he said onstage Sunday has raised more than $25 million over 30 years.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, meant to write the opening number, stopped writing out of solidarity with the WGA strike. And the presenters are proceeding without a teleprompter, and instead reading from cue cards.

Lifetime Achievement Award

During the preshow, Miranda presented the lifetime achievement award to John Kander, the composer of Cabaret and Chicago and composer of the new musical New York, New York, for which Miranda wrote additional lyrics.

“Thank you all for coming uptown. Never in my wildest dreams,” Miranda joked, remarking on the fact that the ceremony is taking place in Washington Heights for the first time. He went on to call Kander not only “one of greatest composers,” but also the “kindest man in show business.”

In his acceptance speech, Kander said in part, “When your own community honors you it’s very humbling and a little scary.” He went on to thank his parents, longtime partner Albert Stephenson and music.

Jennifer Grey presented a lifetime achievement award to her father, Joel Grey, greeting the audience with one of many seemingly off-the-cuff remarks, saying “Hi, friends of my dad!” Grey began his speech by singing his famous line, “Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!” from his role as the Emcee in Cabaret.

The two were also honored during the main telecast, with Hough returning to join DeBose in a dance number from Chicago.

Overall, the Tonys’ Act One preshow moved briskly, with the presenters only make brief remarks before launching into the nominee names.

This is not the first time the Tony Awards has gone unscripted. The 1988 ceremony, the year of The Phantom of the Opera, also took place during a WGA strike with Angela Lansbury as the host.

This year’s ceremony is taking place at the United Palace theater in Washington Heights, a first for the show, which typically takes place at Radio City Music Hall in Midtown.

The ceremony is split into two segments, with the first round of Tony Awards airing on Pluto TV from 6:30-8 p.m. ET and 3:30-5 p.m. PT and the main telecast airing coast-to-coast on CBS and Paramount+ from 8-11 p.m. ET and 5-8 p.m. PT.