59th Tony Awards - The Ceremony

The Ceremony

For the opening number Bernadette Peters sang "Another Op’nin’ Another Show" from Kiss Me, Kate, which was followed by a video montage of the musicals that opened during the 2004-2005 season, as well as short excerpts of those performing that evening. In other special performances, Hugh Jackman sang and danced in a tribute to songs about dancing and Aretha Franklin and Hugh Jackman performed a duet of "Somewhere" from West Side Story.

Laura Linney gave a tribute to the late Arthur Miller and Jesse L. Martin and the cast of Chicago performed "Razzle Dazzle" in memory of Jerry Orbach and Fred Ebb.

The award presenters included: Angela Bassett, Matthew Broderick, Don Cheadle, Sally Field, Harvey Fierstein, Anne Hathaway, Nathan Lane, Sandra Oh, James Earl Jones, Bernadette Peters, and Chita Rivera.

Shows that performed:

New Musicals

• Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: Norbert Leo Butz, John Lithgow and members of the company performed "Great Big Stuff".
• The Light in the Piazza: Victoria Clark and Kelli O'Hara with Matthew Morrison and members of the company performed "Statues and Stories".
• The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee: The company, joined by Al Sharpton, performed the title song and "Prayer of the Comfort Counselor."
• Monty Python's Spamalot: Sara Ramirez and Tim Curry with the voice of John Cleese performed "Find Your Grail" with the company.

Revivals

• Sweet Charity: The company did a medley from the show. The female chorus performed "Hey, Big Spender" and Christina Applegate performed 'If My Friends Could See Me Now' and 'I'm a Brass Band'
• La Cage aux Folles: Gary Beach and the company performed the title song.