Broadway’s Tony Awards Move From Radio City to Beacon Theater for 2016

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The Beacon Theater, shown when it hosted the Tony Awards in 2011.Credit Jeff Christensen/Associated Press

The Tony Awards, unable to use Radio City Music Hall because of a scheduling conflict with the Rockettes, will be delayed by a week next year and then broadcast from the smaller Beacon Theater on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

The two theater advocacy organizations that oversee the awards, the American Theater Wing and the Broadway League, announced Tuesday that the Tony Awards management committee had decided, after weeks of assessing alternatives to Radio City, to return to the Beacon, where the ceremony was held in 2011 and 2012.

“We have been there before, we loved it, and it looks great on TV,” Charlotte St. Martin, the president of the Broadway League, said. And Heather Hitchens, the president of the American Theater Wing, said, “Our experience there, and the date working out, all made it the right choice.”

The Tony Awards will now be held on Sunday, June 12, one week later than had been planned. And the date by which plays and musicals must open on Broadway to qualify for Tony awards has been moved two days later than planned, to April 28 from April 26. The nominations will be announced May 3.

The slight extension of the eligibility period could affect scheduling decisions by some producers; Ms. St. Martin said she hoped it would somewhat spread out the annual crush of openings in the days before the eligibility deadline. Already this season eight shows have said they plan to open in April.

The change in venue poses challenges for awards administrators. The Beacon has 2,800 seats, compared to about 6,000 at Radio City; as a result, the League and the Wing will make less money from ticket sales, and will not be able to invite the public to attend, because the seats will be used by the theater industry. There are also logistical complications: the Beacon has smaller backstage facilities than Radio City.

Both Radio City and the Beacon are managed by the Madison Square Garden Company under long-term leases. Radio City is not available next year because a show called “Rockettes New York Spectacular” will be held there starting June 15.

The Tony Awards have moved multiple times: over the years the ceremony has been held in hotel ballrooms and Broadway theaters, as well as at Radio City and the Beacon. The coming Tony Awards — the 70th annual ceremony — will once again be broadcast on CBS. Ms. Hitchens said she and Ms. St. Martin would undertake a planning process to review location options for future years.