Vanessa Williams to Host Audience Choice Awards; Radcliffe, Foster, Creel, Olivo & Miranda to Present

The stars are aligning for the Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards, which will be presented live at the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Sunday, May 15.

Broadway, television and recording star Vanessa Williams has signed on to host the event. Currently seen on TV’s Desperate Housewives, Williams made her Broadway debut in Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1994. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her portrayal of the Witch in Into the Woods in 2002 and was seen last season at Studio 54 in Sondheim on Sondheim, a performance which earned Williams a Broadway.com Audience Choice Award nomination in the category of Favorite Diva Performance.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying star Daniel Radcliffe will kick off the event with a special appearance. Nominated for two Audience Choice Awards this year, Radcliffe previously won two trophies in 2009 for his Broadway debut in Equus in the categories of Favorite Actor in a Play and Favorite Breakthrough Performance.

A lineup of Broadway favorites (and past winners) will also appear at the Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards as presenters, including Sutton Foster (nominated for three awards for Anything Goes), Gavin Creel (a three-time past winner), Lin-Manuel Miranda (another three-time past winner) and Karen Olivo (a 2009 winner for West Side Story).