Ariana DeBose Flings Herself Down a Staircase in Wild Dance Opening to the 2023 Tony Awards

The 76th annual Tony Awards are airing live on CBS and Paramount+

Ariana DeBose did the thing!

On Sunday, DeBose, 32, took the stage at New York City's United Palace Theatre to host the 2023 Tony Awards, marking her second consecutive hosting stint for Broadway's annual awards show.

After performing a bevy of impressive dance moves to a medley of Broadway hits — including one particularly gravity-defying stunt in which she leapt backwards down a flight of stairs, only to be caught spectacularly — the singer and Oscar-winning actress launched into her opening monologue, in which she acknowledged National Puerto Rican Day and addressed the ongoing writers' strike.

After discussing the "compromise" it took among "a whole host of people" for the show to go on, DeBose said, "We are all here."

"So to every single person who had a hand in finding that compromise, I say a full-throated, THANK YOU!" she added, singing the last two words before admitting, "We don't have a script, you guys!"

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Related: 2023 Tony Award Nominations: Jessica Chastain, Josh Groban and More Earn Noms — See the Full List

The 76th annual Tony Awards are airing Sunday night as an unscripted broadcast and production due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, which began on May 2.

Lin-Manuel Miranda was previously expected to write a song for the show, though he stopped working on the production in solidarity with the strike, as The Hollywood Reporter reported in May.

The Writers Guild did not grant the Tony Awards a waiver to allow the ceremony to air as originally planned, originally casting doubt on whether the ceremony would happen at all. The WGA later announced it would not picket the event after the Tony Awards producers committed to altering the show “to conform with specific requests from the WGA,” according to THR.

Some Like It Hot, the musical adaptation of the 1959 hit comedy, leads the ceremony with with a whopping 13 nominations, including best musical. Other best musical nominees — & Juliet, New York, New York and Shucked — followed suit with nine, while Kimberly Akimbo, the other nominee, earned eight.

Stars like Jessica Chastain, Jodie Comer, Ben Platt, Brian D'Arcy James, Sara Bareilles, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Samuel L. Jackson, among others, are nominated for various acting awards at Sunday's awards ceremony.

Related: Nonbinary '& Juliet' Performer Withdraws from Gendered Tony Awards Consideration: 'The Only Right Thing'

"I was honored to serve as host last year and even more so to be asked back," DeBose said in a press release when she was announced as the show's host in April.

"So looking forward to celebrating this incredible season and the people who make the work happen. Here's to adding some uptown flavor to the magic of the Tony Awards."

The West Side Story star and Hamilton alum went viral for another awards show gig back in February, when she went viral for her musical number performed at the 2023 BAFTA Awards, hosted by Richard E. Grant. At the London-based awards show,

DeBose opened the ceremony with a rap celebrating the female nominees, saying lines like, "Angela Bassett did the thing / Viola Davis, my Woman King / Blanchett, Cate, you're a genius / And Jamie Lee, you are all of us."

The 76th Tony Awards are airing live on CBS and Paramount+.

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