Kevin Spacey to host the 2017 Tony Awards

Time for Kevin Spacey to dust off his dancing shoes! The Oscar winner and star of stage and screen has been named the host of the 71st annual Tony Awards on June 11, the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing announced Tuesday.

The ceremony will broadcast live from New York’s Radio City Music Hall on CBS starting at 8 p.m. ET.

Though Spacey is best known for his onscreen roles, winning Academy Awards for American Beauty and The Usual Suspects and earning multiple Emmy nominations for his turn as Frank Underwood on Netflix’s House of Cards, he also has a long history on the stage. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for his performance in Lost in Yonkers in 1991, and has also served as the Artistic Director of the Old Vic Theatre Company in London for over a decade, appearing in numerous productions during his tenure there, including a Sam Mendes-directed production of Richard III that toured 12 cities around the world. He appeared in the Broadway and West End productions of Long Day’s Journey Into Night opposite Jack Lemmon, and he won an Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Iceman Cometh. 

Breaking News: Tony winner @KevinSpacey will host the 71st Annual #TonyAwards on Sun, June 11! https://t.co/xt8ZcmdWOI pic.twitter.com/DIEp1I1C4F

— The Tony Awards (@TheTonyAwards) April 18, 2017

“I was their second choice for ‘Usual Suspects,’ fourth choice for ‘American Beauty’ and 15th choice to host this year’s Tony Awards. I think my career is definitely going in the right direction,” Spacey said in a statement. “Maybe I can get shortlisted to host the Oscars if everyone else turns it down.”

While Spacey is primarily known as an actor, he’s done his fair share of singing, as Bobby Darin in 2004’s Beyond the Sea and more recently duetting with Billy Joel on “New York State of Mind” at one of the singer’s recent Madison Square Garden concerts. Tony Award hosting duties typically call for some song and dance, and everyone will be waiting to see how much of that Spacey brings to the proceedings.

Source: ew.com