The Struggle to Watch the Tony Awards As a Broke Student in Canada

Ah, the Tony Awards. As a theater lover, this is an important day for me. It's the day when New York and the world celebrate the cast and creatives of Broadway. And this is also the day when people get to watch performances from the musicals that are currently open on Broadway, so, there's no way that I'm going to miss it. There's only one problem… I don't know how to watch it.

I am currently living in Canada as an international student. That means that I can’t watch the Tony Awards as easily as those who live in the US. I did some research on how to watch the show from here, and there are two options that I can choose. Number one, the show is streamed on Paramount+ in both the US and Canada, but I can only access it if I'm a subscriber. Now, I did mention that I'm a student, and that means that I have a tight budget for all of my streaming needs. I usually only subscribe to one streaming service at a time, and if I want to switch, I do it at the beginning of the month. I’m currently binging a few series on Netflix, so there’s no way I’m giving that up for another streaming service that I’ve never even heard of. I guess this option is out. 

The second option is using VPN, which could be a good option. However, I've heard too many warnings from friends in tech about how free VPN can put your data and privacy at risk. They told me that if I wanted to use VPN, I should choose a paid one with good reviews, and that means that I have to shell out some money. Now, didn't I say that I’m a broke student with a student budget? So I guess... that’s a no. I mean, I could just ignore that and use a free VPN anyway, however, I’ll be too paranoid that I won’t be able to enjoy the show. I guess there’s always a price to pay if you want to use VPN, it’s either your money or your sense of security. And I’m not willing to pay, so this option is also out.

So, what did I do then? Well, when the Tony Awards was finally live, I turned to social media, hoping that some theater fans in the US would share parts of the show online. And thank God for Twitter, because a lot of users (both official and personal accounts) uploaded snippets of the show. I finally got to watch Ariana DeBose leapt from the stairs, Josh Groban raised his razor, and Lea Michele belted that money note. It was pretty great, I didn’t feel like I was missing out too much. 

But that didn’t mean that it was the best way to watch the Tony Awards. Most of the videos that I saw were pretty short. For example, during the performance of Shucked, I can only watch Alex Newell’s solo part. Or during Parade, I can only watch the second half when Micaela Diamond entered the stage. Plus, there were some speeches that I couldn't understand, because the clips were too short and I didn’t know the context. For example, I didn’t know why Michael Arden was censored, or why Denée Benton got a huge applause after mentioning DeSantis’ name. So the whole night turned into a puzzle night, where I tried to connect the dots by watching several videos and reading some tweets to make sense of what's happening.

Anyway, it was a fun night, and based on what I saw on social media, the performers were awesome! I can't wait to watch the full version of all the performances soon. I know that they’re already available on YouTube, but again, they're only available in the US for now (cue the tears). But that’s okay, I'm sure I’ll get to watch them pretty soon. In the meantime, I'll just enjoy the short clips on social media, and send my love to fellow theater-lovers in the US whose posts allowed me to be part of the big night.