The stars are out! The 2022 Tony Awards red carpet was a celebration of style after a rocky few years for the Broadway community.
Actors, singers and more lined up outside Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Sunday, June 9, posing for photo-ops before heading into the awards show. Rather than costumes and stage makeup, attendees donned red carpet worthy gowns, tuxedos and fashion-forward ensembles.
The 75th annual Tony Awards return to their usual June slot after being held in September 2021 due to coronavirus delays. Last year, host and Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr. stunned in a white Celine suit before joining Broadway legend Audra McDonald to emcee the 2021 awards.
Sunday’s event will be hosted by Ariana DeBose, who swept the awards circuit this year for her performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg‘s West Side Story. Before making it on the big screen, the So You Think You Can Dance alum earned applause on stage in Bring It On: The Musical, Motown: The Musical, A Bronx Tale, Hamilton and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.
“We’re going to have a lot of fun. I’m trying to keep it light, keep it joyful, say a little something that maybe we need to hear. But we’re celebrating,” the Oscar winner told The Associated Press days before the awards show. “It feels great. I am, in the words of Stephen Sondheim, ‘excited and scared.’”
DeBose teased that she had “many things up [her] sleeve” for the live event, telling CBS Mornings one week before the Tonys that she wanted to celebrate every person who’s involved in putting on a Broadway show — from the understudies to the bands.
“It is from a real, genuine place because the reality is those are the folks who have kept Broadway alive and it is not just swings and understudies. It is also dance captains, associates, stage managers. Everyone in the pit,” she explained.
Nominations were announced in May, with stars of both stage and screen earning recognition for their work. Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster are up for individual trophies for their performances in the revival of The Music Man, while Sam Rockwell and Uzo Aduba received nominations for their roles in their respective Broadway plays, American Buffalo and Clyde’s.
Along with this year’s nominees, a wide variety of A-listers will take the stage to present the awards, from Bowen Yang and Lin-Manuel Miranda to Vanessa Hudgens and Cynthia Erivo.
Scroll down to see the most daring and dazzling looks from the 2022 Tony Awards red carpet: