NEW YORK — Twenty-nine shows on Broadway got Tony Award nominations this season, but not all will walk away with a trophy — and the box office attention they usually bring.

Here are some key things to know as Broadway’s biggest night approaches, including how to watch, who is poised to make history, what old favorite gets to take a victory lap and how you can see George Clooney on Broadway from the comfort of your couch.

When are the Tony Awards?

The Tonys will be broadcast to both coasts on Sunday, June 8, from 8 p.m. ET-11 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT to 8 p.m. PT., live from Radio City Music Hall.

How can I watch them?

On CBS and streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S.

Who’s hosting the Tony Awards?

Tony-, Emmy- and Grammy-winner and three-time Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo, the “Wicked” star, will be making her debut hosting the Tonys. She won the lead actress in a musical Tony in 2016 for “The Color Purple” and will have just released her new album, “I Forgive You.”

A pre-show will be broadcast on Pluto TV from 6:40 p.m.-8:00 p.m. ET/3:40 p.m.-5:00 p.m. PT, where some Tonys will be handed out. Darren Criss and Renée Elise Goldsberry will host that telecast. Viewers can access it on their smart TV, streaming device, mobile app or online by going to Pluto TV and clicking on the “Live Music” channel, found within the Entertainment category on the service.

How many awards are there?

A total of 26 competitive categories, from lead and featured actors to scenic, costume and lighting design. Some technical award handouts may be pre-taped and winners won’t appear on the live show, only cut down into edited bits sandwiched into the telecast.

What are the top nominees?

There are three of them: “Buena Vista Social Club,” which takes its inspiration from Wim Wenders’ 1999 Oscar-nominated documentary; “Death Becomes Her,” based on the 1992 cult classic film; and “ Dead Outlaw,” a musical about a real life alcoholic drifter shot dead in 1911 and whose afterlife proved to be stranger than fiction. Each have a leading 10 nominations.

Who is vying for best new play and musical?

For new musicals, it’s “Buena Vista Social Club,” “Dead Outlaw,” “Death Becomes Her,” “Maybe Happy Ending” and “Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical.”

For new plays, it’s “English,” “The Hills of California,” “John Proctor Is the Villain,” “Oh, Mary!” and “Purpose.”

Many of the races are unusually tight this year, the product of a Broadway heaving with shows after having largely rebounded from the pandemic.

“I haven’t seen one nominated show that I haven’t been wowed by. Everything brings something,” says Lowe Cunningham, lead producer of “Death Becomes Her” and also a Tony voter.

“How dare the Broadway community come together with such excellent work,” she jokes. “I needed everything else to be much worse, and I don’t appreciate it.”

Can history be made?

Audra McDonald, the most recognized performer in the theater awards’ history, could possibly extending her Tony lead. Already the record holder for most acting wins with six Tonys, McDonald could add to that thanks to her leading turn in an acclaimed revival of “Gypsy.” She will push the record for a performer to most wins with seven if she prevails on Tony night.

And Kara Young — the first Black actress to be nominated for a Tony Award in four consecutive years — could become the first Black person to win two Tonys consecutively should she win for her role in the play “Purpose.”

Other possible firsts: — Daniel Dae Kim could becomes the first Asian winner in the category of best leading actor in a play for his work in a revival of “Yellow Face.” And Marjan Neshat and her co-star Tala Ashe are vying to become the first female actors of Iranian descent to win a Tony.

A special guest

Normally, shows open for several years don’t get any Tony telecast attention but “Hamilton” is no normal show. The original cast will celebrate the show’s 10th anniversary on Broadway with a performance featuring creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and actors Goldsberry, Ariana DeBose, Daveed Diggs, Jonathan Groff, Christopher Jackson, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Javier Muñoz, Leslie Odom, Jr., Okieriete Onaodowan and Phillipa Soo.

What will producers hope to avoid?

Any repeat of last year, when Jay-Z’s electrifying reunion with Alicia Keys on what appeared to be a live duet of “Empire State of Mind” was actually pre-taped hours before the live show. The appearance by the rapper in support of Keys’ musical “Hell’s Kitchen” turned out to be a piece of Hollywood trickery, undercutting the Broadway community’s full-throated embrace of live singing and dancing.

Broadway’s big season

The health of Broadway — once very much in doubt during the pandemic lockdown — is now very good, at least in terms of box office. The 2024-2025 season took in $1.9 billion, the highest-grossing season in recorded history, overtaking the pre-pandemic previous high of $1.8 billion during the 2018-2019 season.

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In terms of attendance, Broadway welcomed nearly 14.7 million ticket buyers, the second best attended season on record, behind only 2018-2019. But sky-high ticket prices have led to fears that Broadway is getting financially out of touch.

A revival of “Othello” with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal broke the record for top-grossing play in Broadway history with a gross of $2,818,297 for eight performances, fueled by some seats going for as high as $921.

How can you get in the mood?

Even if you haven’t been able to get to Broadway this season, you can still see one of the shows. The night before the Tonys, “Good Night, and Good Luck” — starring and co-written by Clooney, a Tony acting nominee — will stream across CNN properties.

For more coverage of the 2025 Tony Awards, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/tony-awards

By PATRICK WHITTLE, Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — James Talbot, a former Catholic priest convicted of sexually assaulting boys in Maine and Massachusetts after he was exposed by the investigation that led to the movie “Spotlight,” has died. He was 87.

Talbot, a former Jesuit, appeared on a list provided by the religious order of northeastern Jesuits who faced credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. Talbot died on Feb. 28 at a hospice center in St. Louis, said Mike Gabriele, a spokesperson for Jesuits USA East.

Talbot was one of the subjects of an investigation into priest sex abuse by The Boston Globe that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 and was adapted into the 2015 movie “Spotlight.” The investigation revealed widespread sexual abuse, and coverup of that abuse, within the Catholic Church. Jesuits USA East did not offer a comment about Talbot’s death.

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He pleaded guilty in 2018 to gross sexual assault and unlawful sexual contact after charges that he sexually abused a 9-year-old boy at a Maine church in the 1990s. He was ordered to serve three years in prison for that conviction.

Prior to the Maine conviction, Talbot spent six years in prison after pleading guilty to raping and sexually assaulting two students in Boston. He has settled lawsuits with more than a dozen victims in addition to the convictions.

Talbot was a former teacher and athletic coach at Boston College High School from 1972 to 1980 who then transferred to Maine. He was at Cheverus High School in Portland, Maine, until 1998.

Former Boston College High School student Jim Scanlan, 63, reported Talbot’s abuse in Massachusetts. The Associated Press does not typically use the names of sexual assault victims without their consent, which Scanlan provided. His reports led to criminal charges against Talbot.

Scanlan said he has reached out to other survivors of Talbot’s abuse. He said he holds people in positions of power within the church accountable for allowing Talbot to continue committing abuse over many years.

Scanlan said he has tried to move on from his own anger at Talbot, but it’s a long process.

“The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference,” Scanlan said. “Maybe I just parked him away a long time ago, resolved I couldn’t change what happened.”

Jesuits USA East said Talbot had been residing at the Vianney Renewal Center in Dittmer, Missouri, prior to entering hospice care. The center cares for sexually abusive priests as well as providing other health care services.

By MARK THIESSEN, Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska man who was pinned facedown in an icy creek by a 700-pound (318-kilogram) boulder for three hours survived the ordeal with only minor injuries, thanks in part to his wife’s quick thinking and lots of luck.

Kell Morris’ wife held his head above water to prevent him from drowning while waiting for rescuers to arrive after Morris was pinned by the boulder, which crashed onto him during a hike near a remote glacier south of Anchorage.

His second stroke of luck came when a sled dog tourism company that operates on the glacier overheard the 911 dispatch and offered up its helicopter to ferry rescuers to the scene, which was inaccessible to all-terrain vehicles.

Once rescuers arrived, it took seven men and inflatable air bags to lift the boulder off as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

Morris, 61, said he realizes he is probably the luckiest man alive. “And luckier that I have such a great wife,” he said Thursday.

This May 24, 2025, photo shows Kell Morris, upper right in a brown hat, trapped under a 700 pound rock near Seward, Alaska. (Jason Harrington/Seward Fire Department via AP)

His wife, Jo Roop, is a retired Alaska State Trooper. They moved to Seward, about 120 miles south of Anchorage, from Idaho last fall when she took a job with the local police department.

Last Saturday, they wanted to avoid the big crowds that converge on the Kenai Peninsula community during holidays and decided to hike near Godwin Glacier on an isolated and undeveloped trail behind a state prison, Seward Fire Chief Clinton Crites said.

Their trail was actually a rocky creek bed lined with large boulders deposited by the glacier.

Morris said he noticed dangerous boulders, some weighing up to 1,000 pounds, along the banks of the creek and avoided them the best he could, until he ran into an area he couldn’t pass.

“I was coming back and everything, the whole side slid out from under me,” he said.

This May 24, 2025, photo shows the creek near Seward, Alaska, where Kell Morris was trapped under a 700 pound rock. (Jason Harrington/Seward Fire Department via AP)

He said things became a blur as he tumbled down the embankment about 20 feet, landing face down in the water.

Then he immediately felt the boulder hit his back in what Crites described as “basically an avalanche of boulders.”

The way Morris landed, there were rocks under him, in between his legs and around him that caught the weight of the boulder, preventing him from being crushed, Crites said. But the massive rock still had him pinned, and Morris felt intense pain in his left leg and waited for his femur to snap.

“When it first happened, I was doubtful that there was going to be a good outcome,” Morris said.

His wife tried to free him for about 30 minutes, putting rocks under the boulder and trying to roll it off him, before she left to find a cell signal.

Amazingly, she only had to walk about 300 yards to connect with 911 and relied on her law enforcement experience to send exact GPS coordinates to dispatch.

A volunteer at the neighboring Bear Creek Fire Department heard the call while working at the sled dog tourism operation and diverted the helicopter used to ferry tourists to the scene. Ultimately, firefighters who couldn’t navigate their all-terrain vehicles over the boulder field jumped out of the helicopter.

By this time, Morris was hypothermic from the cold water running off the glacier, Crites said, and his wife was holding his head out of the water.

“I think if we hadn’t had that private helicopter assist us, it would have taken us at least another 45 minutes to get to him, and I’m not sure he had that much time,” Crites said.

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The firefighters used two air bags normally reserved to extract people from wrecked vehicles to slightly lift the boulder.

“But then it just became an all-hands brute force of ‘one, two, three, push,’ ” Crites said. “And seven guys were able to lift it enough to pull the victim out.”

An Alaska National Guard helicopter lifted them out of the creek bed with a rescue basket.

Morris spent two nights at the local hospital for observation but walked away unscathed.

“I fully anticipated a body recovery, not him walking away without a scratch on him,” Crites said.

Morris, who is now reflecting on his ordeal at home, acknowledged it might have been a little wake-up call to stop doing things like this at his age.

“I was very lucky. God was looking out for me,” he said.

When he and his wife go hiking this weekend, they are going to stick to established trails.

“We’re going to stop the trailblazing,” he said.

By MIKE BALSAMO, SCOTT BAUER and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON, Associated Press

A claim by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that an immigrant threatened the life of President Donald Trump has begun to unravel.

Noem announced an arrest of a 54-year-old man who was living in the U.S. illegally, saying he had written a letter threatening to kill Trump and would then return to Mexico. The story received a flood of media attention and was highlighted by the White House and Trump’s allies.

But investigators actually believe the man may have been framed so that he would get arrested and be deported from the U.S. before he got a chance to testify in a trial as a victim of assault, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Law enforcement officials believe the man, Ramon Morales Reyes, never wrote a letter that Noem and her department shared with a message written in light blue ink expressing anger over Trump’s deportations and threatening to shoot him in the head with a rifle at a rally. Noem also shared the letter on X along with a photo of Morales Reyes, and the White House also shared it on its social media accounts. The letter was mailed to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office along with the FBI and other agencies, the person said.

Cain Oulahan, Ramon Morales Reyes’ immigration attorney addresses the media Friday, May 30, 2025 in Milwaukee about the detention of his client Ramon Morales Reyes. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

As part of the investigation, officials had contacted Morales Reyes and asked for a handwriting sample and concluded his handwriting and the threatening letter didn’t match and that the threat was not credible, the person said. It’s not clear why Homeland Security officials still decided to send a release making that claim.

In an emailed statement asking for information about the letter and the new information about Morales Reyes, the Department of Homeland Security said “the investigation into the threat is ongoing. Over the course of the investigation, this individual was determined to be in the country illegally and that he had a criminal record. He will remain in custody.”

His attorneys said he was not facing current charges and they did not have any information about convictions in his record.

Kime Abduli, Ramon Morales Reyes’ attorney addresses the media Friday, May 30, 2025 in Milwaukee about the detention of her client Ramon Morales Reyes. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s records show Morales Reyes is being held at a county jail in Juneau, Wisconsin, northwest of Milwaukee. The Milwaukee-based immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera, which is advocating for his release, said he was arrested May 21. Attorney Cain Oulahan, who was hired to fight against his deportation, said he has a hearing in a Chicago immigration court next week and is hoping he is released on bond.

Morales Reyes had been a victim in a case of another man who is awaiting trial on assault charges in Wisconsin, the person familiar with the matter said. The trial is scheduled for July.

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Morales Reyes works as a dishwasher in Milwaukee, where he lives with his wife and three children. He had recently applied for a U visa, which is carved out for people in the country illegally who become victims of serious crimes, said attorney Kime Abduli, who filed that application.

The Milwaukee Police Department said it is investigating an identity theft and victim intimidation incident related to this matter and the county district attorney’s office said the investigation was ongoing. Milwaukee police said no one has been criminally charged at this time.

Abduli, Morales Reyes’ attorney, says he could not have written the letter, saying he did not receive formal education and can’t write in Spanish and doesn’t know how to speak English. She said it was not clear whether he was arrested because of the letters.

“There is really no way that it could be even remotely true,” Abduli said. “We’re asking for a clarification and a correction from DHS to clear Ramon’s name of anything having to do with this.”