Are the 2011 Tony Awards Headed for Washington Heights?

Broadway’s annual Tony Awards telecast may be moving on up…to the west side. The yearly awards ceremony could jump from Radio City Music Hall—home to the Tony telecast for the last thirteen years—to Washington Heights’ United Palace Theater, located at Broadway and 175th Street, for its 2011 edition. According to The New York Post network CBS, which broadcasts the Tony Awards, has yet to officially approve the move.

As previously reported, The Tony Awards must depart the 6,000-seat Radio City Music Hall to make room for a new production from recent Banana Shpeel creators and circus spectacle masters Cirque de Soleil. (The show moved to Radio City in 1997 and has been there ever since, with the exception of 1999, when the ceremony was held at the Gershwin Theatre.)

Built in 1930, The United Palace Theatre, nicknamed “Reverend Ike’s church” after Reverend Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II saved the structure from demolition in 1969, boasts 3400 seats (nearly half that of Radio City Music Hall) and lavish neo-Classical architecture and detailing. The hall functions as a concert and live music venue by night and a church, owned by the Christ Community United Church, by day.

No official confirmation has been made at this time.

The 2010 Tony Awards were broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall on June 13 in a ceremony hosted by Promises, Promises star Sean Hayes.