It's Official: Neil Patrick Harris Will Host 2011 Tony Telecast

A week after initial reports, Neil Patrick Harris is confirmed as host of the 2011 Tony Awards. Harris, who hosted the show in 2009, will preside over the 65th annual Tony ceremony, to be held at the Beacon Theatre on June 12 and broadcast live on CBS.

“I'm honored and stoked to have been asked to host the 2011 Tony Awards,” Harris said in a statement. “It should be a great show—we’ve got a fantastic mix of live performances, a few secret surprises, and since they're closed for retooling, we’re using all the rigging equipment from Spider-Man. What could possibly go wrong?”

The 2011 Tony Awards will be executive produced by Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss of White Cherry Entertainment. In 2010, Kirshner and Weiss, along with Harris, earned a Creative Arts Emmy Award on behalf of the 63rd annual Tony Awards in the category of Outstanding Special Class Program. “We're thrilled to have Neil back as our host," Kirchner and Weiss said in a statement. “And we're even happier he fits in the Spider-Man rigging.”

The star of the hit CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, Harris most recently appeared onstage as Robert in the New York Philharmonic’s concert production of Company. He has appeared on Broadway in Assassins, Proof and Cabaret and previously starred in the Philharmonic's production of Sweeney Todd. His many other theater credits include All My Sons, Amadeus, tick, tick...BOOM and Rent. He also directed a production of Rent in summer 2010 at the Hollywood Bowl.