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As the 71st annual Tony Awards telecast on June 11 approaches, New Yorkers are writhing in the helpless grip of Tony fever. Thankfully, the Broadway League steps in every year with a balm: Stars in the Alley, a free outdoor concert that features informal but spirited performances from many of the year’s top Tony contenders.
This year's edition of Stars in the Alley is on Friday, June 2, at 1pm (a bit later than usual). The two-hour event will take place—rain or shine—in Shubert Alley, the poster-plastered passage between 44th and 45th Streets just to the west of Broadway. If you want to secure a good spot, get there early.
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The 2017 Tony nominees scheduled to perform include Jenn Colella (Come From Away), Rachel Bay Jones (Dear Evan Hansen), Dave Malloy (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812), John Douglas Thompson and Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Jitney), Richard Thomas (The Little Foxes), Eva Noblezada (Miss Saigon), Corey Hawkins (Six Degrees of Separation) and Johanna Day and Michelle Wilson (Sweat). The event will be hosted on social media by Falsettos mensch Brandon Uranowitz.
Along with their shows, participating musical productions include 2016-17's Anastasia, Bandstand, Groundhog Day, War Paint, Cats, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, A Bronx Tale and Sunset Boulevard, as well as long runners Aladdin, Beautiful, Chicago, Kinky Boots, On Your Feet!, The Phantom of the Opera, School of Rock, Waitress and Wicked. Among nonmusicals, The Play That Goes Wrong and Present Laughter will also be represented.
In other words, you'll get a free sample of nearly every current Broadway production. (Sorry, fans of The Lion King, The Book of Mormon, Hamilton and Hello, Dolly!, or of the new plays Oslo, Indecent and A Doll's House, Part 2: no alley stars for you this year.)