NC’s Ariana DeBose will do the thing again as repeat Tony Awards host
Ariana DeBose’s stint as host of last year’s Tony Awards went so well that she’s been asked to return this year.
The Academy Award winner and Tony Award nominee will lead the June 11 celebration from New York City’s uptown United Palace theater live on CBS and on Paramount+.
“I was honored to serve as host last year and even more so to be asked back,” DeBose said in a statement. “So looking forward to celebrating this incredible season and the people who make the work happen.”
Tony nominations will be announced May 2.
DeBose, a theater veteran, was born in Wilmington and raised in Raleigh and Wake Forest.
She won an Oscar for her role in Steven Spielberg’s remake of “West Side Story,” becoming the first openly gay woman of color to win an Academy Award for acting.
Before “West Side Story,” most of her career was spent in theater with roles in “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical,” “Hamilton,” “A Bronx Tale,” “Pippin,” “Motown the Musical,” “Bring It On: The Musical” and “Company.”
She earned a Tony nomination for playing Disco Donna in 2018’s “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.”
She recently performed two shows in London and in New York City and can be seen in the new season of “Schmigadoon!” on Apple TV+.
At the 2022 Tonys, DeBose broached the subject of diversity and representation on Broadway, saying it was becoming “more reflective of the community that adores it.”
She noted the season was full of Black creative voices both on and offstage, and that two Broadway theaters were being renamed for the great Black performers James Earl Jones and Lena Horne. And she quipped that she sees the phrase “The Great White Way,” as Broadway has long been called, to be a nickname — “as opposed to a how-to guide.”
She received some backlash on social media — and was the subject of memes — after performing an original rap in honor of the female nominees at the Feb. 19 BAFTA Awards show in London. Her performance mixed a high-energy medley of Eurythmics‘ “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves” and Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family” with a rap number that named-checked famous actors like Angela Bassett, Viola Davis and Jamie Lee Curtis.
“I had a blast,” she said later.
Jessica Banov contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 12, 2023 at 6:03 PM.