The annual Tony Awards kicked off at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, celebrating excellence in theatre, on Sunday.

The event was hosted by Kevin Spacey for the first time.

Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League who helped organize the Tony Awards with the American Theatre Wing, said Broadway hit a record year with $1.45 billion in box office receipts, Reuters reported.

The New York Times Square Media (NYTSM), a partner of the American Theatre Wing, teamed up with two Chinese partners, BestTV and Tencent, to broadcast the red carpet and Tony Awards to China. Shirley Chen, president of NYTSM and Tony's only authorized Chinese partner, said the company has broadcast the well-known event for three consecutive years. She said the company set up good relationship with the theater circle in the US, and added it was conducive to the exchange and cooperation between China and the US in theater.

Chinese singer-songwriter Han Hong was also expected to attend the awards ceremony as the only invited pop star from the Chinese mainland.

In April, musical Alzheimer love premiered in Beijing with the music written by Han.

"It used a variety of elements including symphony, rock, pop, electric music," she said at a press conference in New York on Saturday.

Han, who described herself as new in the arena of musical, further said the musical was a "brave try" for her and it turned out the Chinese audience liked it.

"This is a successful innovation in art," she said.

"And it's in line with the innovation in Broadway."

According to NYTSM, it plans to run a theatre training class in July in Beijing, with theatre professionals and experts selected by the American Theatre Wing as lecturers.