Laura Benanti and Tituss Burgess Hosting ‘The Tony Awards: Act One’ Is Exactly the Theater Kid Energy We Need

Broadway’s big night is already celebrated for emotional speeches, standing ovations and at least one acceptance speech that gets aggressively played off by the orchestra. But before CBS hosts the main event, Pluto TV is unveiling the red carpet ahead of time with The Tony Awards: Act One and frankly, they picked two hosts who have a grasp on theater people on a spiritual level.

Tony Award winner Laura Benanti and Emmy-nominated performer Tituss Burgess will host the live pre-show event on Sunday, June 7, free broadcast from 6:35 PM-8:00 PM ET on Pluto TV. The special will include the opening appearance of the first round of the Tony Awards as the audience get primed for the 79th Annual Tony Awards later in the evening.

Yes, yes, this pairing runs perilously close to perfection. Benanti has spent years walking the fine line between Broadway prestige and scene-stealing television appearances, which means she can render elegance while also appearing somewhat tired to everyone around her, a talent that deserves a spot in the Smithsonian. Amid the Mayor of Kingstown, The Gilded Age, Younger and Elsbeth, she’s become one of those performers who stealthily enhances every project that she approaches.

Then we have Tituss Burgess, who commands a massive size, near-omniscient charisma and a live microphone and the audience. Anyone who’s ever watched Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt knows already that Burgess can take one line-read and transform it into something cultural. I am constantly using his GIFs.

The real victory here is that The Tony Awards: Act One could arguably be more entertaining than the actual ceremony. Award show pre-shows tend to hang somewhere between “celebrity traffic report” and “network filler content nobody remembers.” But this lineup is refreshingly self-aware. Benanti and Burgess understand theater fandom, but they also understand the quirks of theatrical personalities. There’s a difference. Pluto TV is also to some degree to thank for making the pre-show something that is easy for those watching to get, it doesn’t take six subscriptions, blood oath, or a password that was stolen from your cousin’s ex-boyfriend.

Fans are free to stream the event thanks to Pluto TV’s “Live Music” channel on smart TVs, mobile devices and online venues. After the pre-show, The 79th Annual Tony Awards will air live on CBS, with music superstar P!NK serving as host from legendary Radio City Music Hall in New York City. That alone guarantees at least one moment for social media to work through for three separate days.

For Broadway audiences, theater children, and those who love to watch entertainers with great comedic rhythm, The Tony Awards: Act One suddenly looked compelled to be seen. Laura Benanti and Tituss Burgess have the sort of chemistry that could transform a simple awards pre-show in “Broadway: This isn’t Your Average Broadway show” into one of the funniest parts of the evening. Which, if we’re being honest, is a very Broadway thing to do.