Tony Award Ceremony Musical Performance Roundup
June 15, 2017 4:21 AM   Subscribe

Have a round-up of the thrilling musical performances (with some introductions) from the 2017 Tony Awards [in no particular order]: Bandstand -- "Nobody", Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812 -- "Dust And Ashes" "The Abduction" (Medley), Dear Even Hansen -- "Waving Through A window", Come From Away -- "Welcome To The Rock", Miss Saigon -- Medley ("This Is The Hour", "I'd Give My Life For You"), Hello Dolly! -- "Penny In My Pocket", Groundhog Day -- "Seeing You", Falsettos -- "A Day In Falsettoland", Warpaint -- "Face To Face"

Bonus: Kevin Spacey's kind of bizarre "I'm a last minute host" opening number. [Best watched after the other videos to get the references if you aren't already familiar.]

Bonus bonus: Patti LuPone and Kevin Spacey at the end of the ceremony.

Videos provided by CBS. Apoiogies in advance for any region blocking. I can't check for that.
posted by hippybear (14 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
If I were doing any major event ever, I would call Kevin Spacey. The man is brilliant and talented beyond what anyone thinks he is. He fukin held his own on stage next to Patti LuPone. And she wasn't holding back.

Welcome To The Rock made me cry the 4 times I watched it. I'm afraid to watch it again. The Warpaint number made me think of the TV series about Bette and Joan. This was such a great year for Broadway, these awards feel unfair because of all those left out. Can't we have 2 hours of musical extracts rather than this smattering of examples?
posted by hippybear at 4:25 AM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


Come From Away is so god damn good.
posted by Space Coyote at 4:40 AM on June 15, 2017 [5 favorites]


The Bandstand number made me want to see the show when I previously had no interest. I think Great Comet also looked real good.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:53 AM on June 15, 2017


I've been listening to Groundhog Day on Spotify because I love Tim Minchin and really enjoyed Matilda. The show is pretty great just to listen to. It's a little odd to me that they chose Seeing You as the performance track though.
posted by lazaruslong at 8:19 AM on June 15, 2017


I was kind of obsessed with Miss Saigon as a kid and saw it twice on Broadway, about 20 years ago. I didn't expect this brief out-of-context performance to bring tears to my eyes while watching the Tonys on Sunday night, but, well, it did. GEEZ, YOU GUYS. I also wondered how loud it is for Kim's son as she sings against his head.

Now that I no longer live near NYC, I am grateful for national tours so I can see it when it comes to Durham next year. Also particularly looking forward to The Great Comet and Dear Evan Hansen, and maybe some of the other ones, if they come around.
posted by bananana at 10:35 AM on June 15, 2017


I was eagerly anticipating the number from Come From Away, and was sorely disappointed. I found it totally underwhelming and nearly pointless. Can someone tell me what I'm missing? (Yes, I know what the musical is about)
posted by tzikeh at 10:52 AM on June 15, 2017


I've been listening to Groundhog Day on Spotify because I love Tim Minchin and really enjoyed Matilda. The show is pretty great just to listen to. It's a little odd to me that they chose Seeing You as the performance track though.

I thought that was odd, too. Maybe it was due to the limitations of the stage? Most of the other big numbers rely pretty heavily on the wheels-within-wheels stage setup.
posted by jedicus at 11:10 AM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


I was eagerly anticipating the number from Come From Away, and was sorely disappointed. I found it totally underwhelming and nearly pointless. Can someone tell me what I'm missing? (Yes, I know what the musical is about)

Welcome To The Rock is the opening number (I believe) and it's all about setting up location and style. I don't know if it's a really dance-filled musical, that number seems to me to be related to the non-dancing choreography of Les Miz. I found it to be really effective at what it was doing.

What were you expecting from the number?
posted by hippybear at 12:25 PM on June 15, 2017


I was eagerly anticipating the number from Come From Away, and was sorely disappointed. I found it totally underwhelming and nearly pointless. Can someone tell me what I'm missing? (Yes, I know what the musical is about)

I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for in a musical number or were expecting, so it's hard to say. CFA isn't ever really a show about virtuoso individual performances or technical fireworks or acrobatic dance, so if you're looking for that, it's just not your show.

The plot of CFA is really told as a constellation of moments, building together to tell the story of an entire community and the thousands of strandees through small individual interactions. The number they showed, Welcome To The Rock, is the show opener, and so it doesn't really contain any of those actual moments - it's just setting up the main townspeople (and the island) as characters. If the show is a bouquet of hundreds of tiny buds, this number is the vase; establishing the foundation.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 12:30 PM on June 15, 2017 [3 favorites]


This isn't exactly the place for this, but can I just say how much I love that they put the exit music as the last track on the Come From Away album? It's got so much drive and is so much fun. And here's a random live cover I just found on YouTube, and I love that such a thing exists.
posted by zachlipton at 2:34 PM on June 15, 2017 [2 favorites]


I know one of the women who performs in Come From Away. I used to go to the barbeques her and her boyfriend held in their tiny shack on McMurrich Street in Toronto (which is long gone to make way for condos, as is the Toronto way). It's weird as hell seeing her showing up on the TV at work during news reports throughout the day. But at least I can say I know someone who hit the honest-to-goodness big-time. She's worked hard in the theatre scene in this town for years, and god knows she deserves it.
posted by spoobnooble II: electric bugaboo at 4:18 PM on June 15, 2017 [2 favorites]


zachlipton, it's not exit music. People aren't leaving during it. It's after the cast's curtain call, but definitely a part of the show. The cast leaves, and hands the stage over to the band. It's really great: the whole audience, still standing from the ovation, just stays in front of their seats and claps along.

When I saw the show a few weeks ago, they played about 3 times longer than the song is on the recording. Nobody wanted to leave.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 4:31 PM on June 15, 2017 [4 favorites]


So I just found a series of video diaries backstage at Come From Away, made by Jenn Colella, who, I now realize, is just awesome. Episode 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I can particularly recommend the second half of episode 2, where she goes out to dinner with the other Tony nominees in her category and just geeks out.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 12:22 AM on June 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


I came across an absolutely rocking version of Screech Out from Come From Away from the concert version they did last fall in Gander, featuring the town's mayor dancing.
posted by zachlipton at 8:17 PM on June 17, 2017


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