Performances
Performances included scenes from nine Broadway musicals: Billy Elliot the Musical (with an appearance by Elton John); Guys and Dolls, with Tituss Burgess and company performing "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat"; Hair, with the company performing the title song and "Let the Sunshine In"; Next to Normal, with Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, and Aaron Tveit performing "You Don't Know/I Am the One"; Pal Joey, represented by Stockard Channing singing a few lines from "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" during the opening segment; Rock of Ages, with Constantine Maroulis and fellow cast members singing "Don't Stop Believin'"; Shrek the Musical, with the company performing "What's Up, Duloc" and "Freak Flag"; West Side Story; and 9 to 5, with Dolly Parton joining the cast to sing the title tune. Cast members from national touring companies of three musicals also appeared: The lead character from four Jersey Boys casts (Joseph Leo Bwarie (Toronto), Rick Faugno (Las Vegas), Courter Simmons (national tour) and Dominic Scaglione, Jr. (Chicago)) sang together with Jarrod Spector from the Broadway cast; Legally Blonde The Musical spotlighted Becky Gulsvig; and Michelle Dawson, Kittra Wynn Commer and Robin Tyler from the Reno, Nevada production of Mamma Mia! sang "Dancing Queen" with fellow cast members.
Performers from the nominated Best Plays category presented brief clips of those plays, which included God of Carnage, 33 Variations, Dividing the Estate and Reasons to be Pretty.
Liza Minnelli performed in the opening sequence, and rock singer Bret Michaels and his band Poison joined the cast of Rock of Ages during their segment in the opening number, performing its song Nothin' but a Good Time. While exiting the stage, Michaels was struck in the head by a descending set and knocked to the floor. He suffered a fractured nose and a split lip that required three stitches. He subsequently sued the event's organizers, claiming that the collision led to his 2010 brain hemorrhage. The suit is currently pending.
Neil Patrick Harris ended the show with a pastiche of "Tonight" from West Side Story and "Luck Be a Lady Tonight" from Guys and Dolls, with lyrics re-written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman that recapped the awards.
Read more about this topic: 63rd Tony Awards
Famous quotes containing the word performances:
“At one of the later performances you asked why they called it a “miracle,”
Since nothing ever happened. That, of course, was the miracle
But you wanted to know why so much action took on so much life
And still managed to remain itself, aloof, smiling and courteous.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“This play holds the season’s record [for early closing], thus far, with a run of four evening performances and one matinee. By an odd coincidence it ran just five performances too many.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)