How to watch 2025 Tony Awards for free: Time, streaming, nominees

The 2024-2025 Broadway season will officially come to a close tonight at the 2025 Tony Awards.

This year, 21 plays and 21 musicals opened between April 29, 2024, and April 27, 2025, making them eligible for this year’s Tonys. “Buena Vista Social Club,” “Maybe Happy Ending,” and “Death Becomes Her” are all tied for this year’s most-nominated musicals with 10 each, while “John Proctor is the Villain” and “The Hills of California” lead all plays with seven nods each.

This year, “Torch Song Trilogy” playwright Harvey Fierstein will receive a lifetime achievement award and Broadway mainstay Celia Keenan-Bolger will receive the Isabelle Stevenson Award for her philanthropic efforts as they related to the theater.

The musicians who make up the band of “Buena Vista Social Club” and the illusions and technical effects team of “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” will be honored with special Tony awards as well.

It’s sure to be a star-studded evening, with appearances by Samuel L. Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, and Keanu Reeves, along with performances by the casts of nominated shows, including the reigning Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, Jonathan Grof,f and the company of “Just in Time.”

Keep reading for your Tony Awards cheat sheet, including free streaming info and more on nominees, performers, and presenters.

What time are the 2025 Tonys?

The 2025 Tony Awards begin at 8 p.m. ET tonight, June 8.

As it has happened at the past few ceremonies, an 80-minute pre-show, “The Tony Awards: Act One” will air first, beginning at 6:40 p.m. ET exclusively on free streamer Pluto TV. You can find it on Pluto by clicking on the “Live Music” channel found within the streamer’s Entertainment category.

How to watch the 2025 Tony Awards for free:

If you have traditional cable, the 2025 Tonys will air on CBS, as they do every year. All you’ll have to do at 8 p.m. tonight is flip the TV over to CBS.

If you don’t have cable, however, you’ll need to use a live TV streaming service with a free trial to watch the Tony Awards for free. One option we love is Hulu + Live TV, which comes with three days free and starts at $82.99/month after. The Hulu + Live TV base plan includes CBS.

Another streamer we recommend checking out is DIRECTV, with a five-day free trial and a number of customizable plans and packages starting at $59.99/month.

As noted above, only the pre-show is airing on Pluto TV, a free streaming service that anyone can access without a subscription or account.

Who is hosting the 2025 Tony Awards?

Fresh off her Oscar-nominated turn as Elphaba Thropp in “Wicked,” Cynthia Erivo will host the Tony Awards for the first time. Erivo won a Tony herself in 2016 for her performance as Celie in “The Color Purple.”

“The Tony Awards: Act One” will be hosted by “Hamilton” Tony winner Renée Elise Goldsberry and Darren Criss, who received his first Tony nomination this year for his role in “Maybe Happy Ending.”

What shows are nominated at the 2025 Tony Awards?

Below, find the nominees for the evening’s top four prizes, along with noti.group’s review of the productions, the original or revival Broadway cast recordings where applicable, and quick and easy links to get yourself tickets to all of the shows currently running from Post Wanted’s ticketing partner Vivid Seats.

Best Musical:

Best Play:

Best Revival of a Musical:

Best Revival of a Play:

Who is performing at the 2025 Tony Awards?

The casts of the following nominated musicals are expected to perform at this year’s Tony Awards:

• “Buena Vista Social Club”
• “Dead Outlaw”
• “Death Becomes Her”
• “Floyd Collins”
• “Gypsy”
• “Maybe Happy Ending”
• “Operation Mincemeat”
• “Pirates! The Penzance Musical”
• “Sunset Blvd.”
• “Just in Time”
• “Real Women Have Curves”

Additionally, nearly every member of the original cast of “Hamilton” will reunite on stage with a performance to celebrate 10 years of the record-breaking musical, and the Broadway Inspirational Voices will take the stage for a special performance.

Who is presenting at the 2025 Tony Awards?

There are a handful of Tony Award nominees and winners among this year’s crop of presenters, including Brian Stokes Mitchell, who will serve as the evening’s announcer:

• Sara Bareilles
• Danielle Brooks
• Kristin Chenoweth
• Bryan Cranston
• Charli D’Amelio
• Ariana DeBose
• Jesse Eisenberg
• Renée Elise Goldsberry
• Katie Holmes
• Samuel L. Jackson
• LaTanya Richardson Jackson
• Allison Janney
• Rachel Bay Jones
• Adam Lambert
• Lea Michele
• Lin-Manuel Miranda
• Kelli O’Hara
• Sarah Paulson
• Carrie Preston
• Keanu Reeves
• Lea Salonga
• Jean Smart
• Ben Stiller
• Aaron Tveit
• Michelle Williams
• Oprah Winfrey
• Alex Winter

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This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Writer/Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping and New York Post’s streaming property, Decider. Angela keeps readers up to date with cord-cutter-friendly deals, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on every streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she’s also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. Prior to joining Decider and The New York Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews