Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban are set to host the 2018 Tonys, the theater industry’s biggest awards ceremony announced Wednesday.
The 72nd annual show will mark both Bareilles and Groban’s first time hosting the event, just one similarity they share in the world of theater, as both singers made their Broadway debuts last year.
Bareilles starred in the hit musical “Waitress,” for which she also composed the music and lyrics, and earned her first Tony nominations, while Groban headlined “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812,” also receiving a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical.
“The theater has completely transformed my life in every way possible. I have never felt more embraced and encouraged by a professional community, and I am so grateful for that,” Bareilles said. “I feel incredibly lucky to get to spend an evening celebrating and applauding this outstanding collective of artists, friends, collaborators and creatives. It is my great honor to join my friend Josh Groban in hosting the Tonys this year, and use the opportunity to simply say a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to this wonderful community…in high heels, with jokes.”
“I am humbled and ecstatic to be co-hosting the Tony Awards this year with such a brilliant artist and wonderful friend, Sara Bareilles,” Groban added. “The dedication and inspiration surrounding live theater gave me my life path as a young kid, and the warmth and support of the Broadway community has been the highlight of my career. So to be at the helm of a night celebrating the best of that theater with a person I just laugh way too much with, is beyond words. But I will have words on Tony night! The best words! I look forward to flailing about in front of my peers. It will be with all the love and respect in the world for the room we’re lucky enough to be in.”