Actress, Ariana DeBose, her presenter 76th Tony Awards, of the American Theater Achievement Awards, made reference to his ongoing strike Union of Screenwriters of America (WGA) during the opening of the evening, which would normally be a monologue accompanied by songs and dances.

Instead, the planned Lin-Manuel Miranda-scripted show was pulled from the ceremony, which featured awards and musical Tony nominees.

Ariana DeBose opened the ceremony by dancing on stage to the sounds of a jazz mix of pre-existing Broadway hits, reimagined and newly orchestrated, without a script. The dance and music number enthralled the audience who applauded enthusiastically.

“It was very special for me to be able to open tonight with dance music to the number choreographed by Carlo Garcia. Very special. Thanks. Our brothers at the WGA are currently on strike in pursuit of a fair deal. And how many of us know what that is?” emphasized the presenter of the Tony Awards ceremony.

“I’m sure some of you at home are thinking, okay, what are the Tony Awards? Thanks for asking. The awards ceremony is traditionally scripted by WGA members. In order to continue, a compromise had to be found. To each person who contributed to finding this compromise, I say a big thank you!“, he added.

“So now you’re asking, well, what’s the trade-off? We don’t have a script, guysDeBose said.

DeBose also noted how Broadway was becoming more culturally diverse and inclusive onstage and backstage.