THEATER TALK to Welcome Jesse Green, Michael Musto & Patrick Pacheco for Tony Predictions this Weekend

The annual Tony® Awards ceremony celebrating "Broadway's best" arrives on June 8, and THEATER TALK, in its time-honored tradition, reconvenes its opinionated panel of journalist-critics Jesse Green (New York Magazine), entertainment columnist Michael Musto (Out.com), and Patrick Pacheco (The Los Angeles Times) to share their instincts and insights about this year's nominations and who will win. Tony Predictions 2014, co-hosted by Michael Riedel of the New York Post and Susan Haskins, premieres Friday, May 23 (2014) at 1 AM (Saturday morning) on Thirteen/PBS, and repeats in the New York metro area on CUNY TV* Saturday 5/24 at 8:30 PM, Sunday 5/25 at 12:30 PM, and Monday 5/26 at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM.

The panel, never at a loss for words, evaluates the chances of the the four shows nominated for Best Musical, only one of which (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder) has a new score written specifically for Broadway. (The others - After Midnight, Aladdin and Beautiful - contain previously published material.) They also discuss shows with Best Score nominations - The Bridges of Madison County and If/Then - which were shunned in the Best Musical category, although their beloved stars, Kelli O'Hara and Idina Menzel, were nominated as Best Leading Actress.

Other topics include Neil Patrick Harris, previously a successful Tony telecast host but this year a nominee for Best Actor in A Musical for Hedwig and The Angry Inch; Will Eno's The Realistic Joneses, praised by the New York Times but not included in the Best Play category; and other predicted shoo-ins and long shots.

THEATER TALK is jointly produced by the not-for-profits Theater Talk Productions and CUNY TV. The program is taped in the Himan Brown TV and Radio Studios at The City University of New York (CUNY) TV in Manhattan, and is distributed to 100+ participating public television stations nationwide. THEATER TALK is made possible, in part, by The New York State Council on the Arts, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The TDF/TAP Plus Program, The CUNY TV Foundation and The Friends of THEATER TALK.

*CUNY TV, the City University of New York television station, is broadcast over-the-air in the New York metropolitan area on digital Ch. 25.3, and cablecast in the five boroughs of New York City on Ch. 75 (Time Warner and Cablevision/Optimum), Ch. 77 (RCN), and Ch. 30 (Verizon FiOS). The show is available online anytime at www.cuny.tv and www.theatertalk.org, and via iTunes podcasts. CUNY TV is also live-streamed in New York on www.Aereo.com. Beginning May 26, the above episode will be archived for viewing on CUNY TV's website www.cuny.tv as well as on www.theatertalk.org