Lin-Manuel Miranda says host Ariana DeBose will put on a ‘doozy’ of an opening number at Tony Awards

Lin-Manuel Miranda has set expectations high for Ariana DeBose‘s turn as host at the upcoming 75th Tony Awards.

In an interview with Deadline, the 42-year-old composer teased that the 31-year-old actress will kick off the Sunday night show with a ‘doozy of an opening number.’

‘There will be dancing,’ the three-time Grammy Award winner told the outlet, though he would not disclose additional details about the ceremony, which airs Sunday night with a one-hour segment on Paramount+ at 7 p.m. ET and the main show starting at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+.

Looking forward to it: Lin-Manuel Miranda has set expectations high for Ariana DeBose’s turn as host at the upcoming 75th Tony Awards; seen in June 2022

The multi-hyphenate performer added, ‘You couldn’t ask for a better host.’ 

DeBose was an original cast member in Miranda’s hit Broadway musical Hamilton, in which she played the role of Bullet from 2015 to 2016. 

The dancer was nominated for her first Tony Award in 2018 after playing Disco Donna in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. 

Exciting: In an interview with Deadline , the 42-year-old composer teased that the 31-year-old actress will kick off the Sunday night show with a ‘doozy of an opening number’; seen in February 2022

Sharing the stage: DeBose was an original cast member in Miranda’s hit Broadway musical Hamilton. She played the role of Bullet from 2015 to 2016; seen in 2016

The North Carolina native skyrocketed to fame after starring in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 big-screen adaptation of the classic musical West Side Story. 

In March, DeBose made history when she became the first openly queer woman of color to win an Oscar after receiving the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role as Anita.

Miranda, who has won three Tony Awards, told Deadline that he will be attending the upcoming show though he acknowledged that ‘he ‘doesn’t have a horse in the race.’

Making history: In March, DeBose made history when she became the first openly gay woman of color to win an Oscar after receiving the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role as Anita; seen in Mach in Hollywood

Held at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, the 75th Tony Awards will recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2021–22 season.

The awards show will also serve as a celebration of Broadway’s comeback after the theater industry endured its longest shutdown in history due to  the COVID-19 pandemic.  

‘We’re just rallying,’  Miranda told Deadline. ‘It is Job-like what theater has gone through, so this will be an incredible rally for the whole theater community.’ 

Honors: Held at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, the 75th Tony Awards will recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2021–22 season. Pictured: Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo and Ariana DeBose with Lin-Manuel Miranda in 2016

The industry faced another setback at the end of 2021 when the highly contagious Omicron variant became wide-spread during the Broadway’s lucrative holiday season. 

Miranda said that Omicron was ‘crushing at a time when we most depending on tourist business.’  

Over the past two years, the Broadway star has turned his focus to his feature film work. 

Multi-hyphenate: Over the past two years, the Broadway star has turned his focus to his feature film work; seen in March 2022

He wrote several songs for the Academy Award-winning animated Disney movie Encanto, produced and appeared in the big-screen adaptation of his Tony Award-winning musical In The Heights and directed Netflix’s Oscar-nominated musical tick … tick … BOOM!

Two weeks ago, Miranda contracted COVID-19 himself, leading him to skip a gala being held in his honor at the Greenwich International Film Festival in Connecticut.

The Pulitzer Prize winner also was absent from the Academy Awards in March after his wife Vanessa tested positive for COVID-19. 

Missing out: The Pulitzer Prize winner also was absent from the Academy Awards in March after his wife Vanessa tested positive for COVID-19; seen in May 2022

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