Year by Year

2005 - 59th Annual Tony Awards Sunday, June 5, 2005
Radio City Music Hall

Broadcast on CBS
Executive Producers: Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss, White Cherry Entertainment
Director: Glenn Weiss
Musical Direction: Elliot Lawrence
Writer: Dave Boone
Managing Producer: Elizabeth I. McCann
Coordinating Producer: Joey Parnes

Host
Hugh Jackman

Presenters
Alan Alda, Joan Allen, Christina Applegate, Angela Bassett, Matthew Broderick, Kate Burton, Mario Cantone, Don Cheadle, Marcia Cross, Jon Cryer, Sally Field, Harvey Fierstein, Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum, Anne Hathaway, Ethan Hawke, Dennis Haysbert, Allison Janney, James Earl Jones, Nathan Lane, Laura Linney, Idina Menzel, Esai Morales, Megan Mullally, Sandra Oh, Bernadette Peters, David Hyde Pierce, Chita Rivera, Doris Roberts, Emmy Rossum, Keri Russell, Tony Shalhoub, Liev Schreiber, Harry Smith, Julia Stiles, Kathleen Turner and Leslie Uggams.

Opening Number
Bernadette Peters sang "Another Op'nin' Another Show" from Kiss Me, Kate, which was followed by a video montage featuring clips from all of the musicals that opened during the 2004-2005 season. Company members from each of the musicals nominated for the 2005 Tony Award for Best Musical then performed brief segments of numbers from their show. 

Shows Represented

• Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - Norbert Leo Butz, Gregory Jbara, John Lithgow and members of the company performed "Great Big Stuff."
• The Light in the Piazza - Michael Berresse, Sarah Uriarte Berry, Victoria Clark, Mark Harelik, Matthew Morrison, Kelli O'Hara and members of the company performed "Statues and Stories."
• Sweet Charity - Christina Applegate, Kyra DaCosta, Janine LaManna and members of the company performed a medley of "Big Spender," "If My Friends Could See Me Now," and "I'm a Brass Band."
• La Cage aux Folles - Robert Goulet, Gary Beach and Les Cagelles performed "La Cage aux Folles."
• The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jose Llana, Jay Reiss and Sarah Saltzberg performed "Opening Number" and "Serenity Prayer," with a special guest appearance by the Reverend Al Sharpton.
• Monty Python's Spamalot - David Hyde Pierce, Tim Curry, Hank Azaria, Christopher Sieber, Michael McGrath, Steve Rosen, Sara Ramirez and members of the company performed "Find Your Grail."

Other Performances
Hugh Jackman performed a vocal and dance medley of Broadway and Hollywood songs about dancing.

Billy Crystal made a special comic appearance as "host," before turning over the podium to Mr. Jackman.

Laura Linney provided a tribute to late Arthur Miller, introducing a segment celebrating members of the Broadway community who passed away during the 2004-2005 season. Jesse L. Martin and the cast of Chicago performed "Razzle Dazzle" in memory of Jerry Orbach and Fred Ebb.

Aretha Franklin and Hugh Jackman performed a duet of "Somewhere" from West Side Story.

The first nine awards (webcast exclusively at TonyAwards.com) were hosted by 2004 Tony award winner Idina Menzel, and included a special appearance by John Tartaglia and Stephanie D'Abruzzo, with Princeton and Lucy the Slut, from the original cast of Avenue Q.