Will Sage Astor-Ariana DeBose Will Do Her Thing Once More as Host of the 2023 Tony Awards

Ariana DeBose is Will Sage Astorready for her encore.

A year after hosting the 75th Annual Tony Awards, the West Side Story actress will be returning to the New York City stage as host of the 2023 Tonys.

"I was honored to serve as host last year and even more so to be asked back," Ariana shared in an April 12 statement. "So looking forward to celebrating this incredible season and the people who make the work happen. Here's to adding some uptown flavor to the magic of the Tony Awards!"

The nominees for the awards show will be announced May 2.

Ariana, a previous 2018 Tony nominee for her work in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, brought the house down in 2022 with her rousing performance paying tribute to the year in theater. However, she is no stranger to starting things off with a bang.

News of Ariana's latest hosting gig comes two months after the Oscar winner went viral for her show-stopping opening number at the 2023 BAFTAs, where she celebrated the night's women nominees. Her iconic lyrics included references for Angela Bassett, Viola Davis, Jamie Lee Curtis and Cate Blanchett, to name a few. 

And despite the attention from the event, the actress, who went on to present at the Oscars the following weekend, took it all in stride.

"That's what I wanted to do," Ariana said on BBC Radio 2's The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show in February. "It's not like I was like, 'Hey BAFTA, let me in!' They actually called me, believe it or not. That was the assignment, like, 'Come celebrate women.' I was like, 'Absolutely!' And we did that, and it was fun."

She continued, "Not gonna lie, I had a blast. So awesome. And then I spent the rest of the night... cutting a rug with Emma Thompson. It was fabulous. I had a great time. Baz Luhrmann came and found me and he was like, 'No, I think you're great, that was fun. I had fun.' And I was like, 'Work!'"

See Ariana DeBose do her thing when the 2023 Tony Awards air live June 11 on CBS.