Year by Year

2019 – 73RD ANNUAL TONY AWARDS

Sunday, June 9, 2019
Radio City Music Hall
Broadcast on CBS

Executive Producers: Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss

Producers: James Corden, Ben Winston
Director: Glenn Weiss
Musical Direction: Jamie Lawrence
Writer: Dave Boone
Special Material: James Corden, Lauren Greenberg, David Javerbaum, Ian Karmel, Ben Winston, Matt Whitaker, David Young
Opening Number: David Javerbaum and Tom Kitt

Host
James Corden

Presenters & Performers
Sara Bareilles, Laura Benanti, Abigail Breslin, Rachel Brosnahan, David Byrne, Vanessa Carlton, Kristin Chenoweth, Darren Criss, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Tina Fey, Sutton Foster, Josh Groban, Danai Gurira, Jake Gyllenhaal, Christopher Jackson, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Samuel L. Jackson, Shirley Jones, Regina King, Jane Krakowski, Isabelle Stevenson Award recipient Judith Light, Laura Linney, Lucy Liu, Aasif Mandvi, Audra McDonald, Sienna Miller, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Catherine O’Hara, Tony Nominee Kelli O’Hara, Ben Platt, Billy Porter, Anthony Ramos, Andrew Rannells, Michael Shannon, Marisa Tomei, Samira Wiley and BeBe Winans.

Musical Performances

• Opening Number – Host James Corden joined cast members from each of the 2019 nominated musicals to remind audiences that live theatre is the most exciting form of entertainment. Written by David Javerbaum and Tom Kitt.
• Ain’t Too Proud – Tony nominees Derrick Baskin, Jeremy Pope, and Ephraim Sykes along with James Harkness, Jawan M. Jackson and the rest of the cast joined in a melody of “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me),” and “I Can’t Get Next to You.”
• Tootsie – Tony winner Santino Fontana, performing as both Michael Dorsey and Dorothy Michaels, led the cast of Tootsie in the show’s Act One finale, “Unstoppable.”
• Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! – Tony Award winner Ali Stroker introduced the show’s performance with “I Cain’t Say No.” The cast then joined to perform the show’s title song.
• Beetlejuice – Catherine O’Hara introduced the cast who sang “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).” Tony nominee Alex Brightman then exploded from the audience to join the company and explain “The Whole Being Dead Thing.”
• The Prom – Tony nominees Brooks Ashmanskas and Caitlin Kinnunen and the cast took a trip back to high school with a mash-up of “Tonight Belongs to You” and “It's Time to Dance.”
• Choir Boy – In a rare performance of a musical segment from a play, the men of Choir Boy performed “Rockin’ Jerusalem.”
• Hadestown – Tony winner André De Shields and Reeve Carney led the cast in a haunting performance of the ballad “Wait for Me.”
• Kiss Me, Kate – Tony nominee Kelli O’Hara introduced the sizzling dance number “Too Darn Hot.”
• The Cher Show – Tony winner Stephanie J. Block led the cast with “Believe.”
• James Corden joined past Tony Awards hosts Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban (with a cameo by Neil Patrick Harris) in a Radio City men’s room for a spoof of “Michael in the Bathroom,” a song from Be More Chill by Tony-nominee Joe Iconis.
• In Memoriam – Cynthia Erivo performed “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King in tribute to members of the Broadway community who passed on during the year. She was accompanied by Special Tony Award recipient Jason Michael Webb on the piano.

Other Elements

• Playwrights of the five Tony-nominated Best Plays—Jez Butterworth, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Taylor Mac, James Graham, and Heidi Schreck—too to the stage to introduce their plays.
• Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Billy Porter acknowledged Madeline Michel of Monticello High School in Charlottesville, Va., as the recipient of the 2019 Excellence in Theatre Education Award, presented by Carnegie Mellon and the Tony Awards.
• Moulin Rouge! stars Karen Olivo, Aaron Tveit, and Danny Burstein co-hosted the Creative Arts Awards, sponsored by City National Bank, which took place prior to and during breaks in the telecast.
• Denny Directo and Montego Glover co-hosted the Tony Awards Red Carpet coverage, which was streamed live on CBS’s Twitter feed.
• During a commercial breaks Broadway stars in the audience including Anthony Ramos, Christopher Jackson, Ben Platt and Billy Porter kept the crowd engaged with karaoke. Porter gave a spirited, off-the-cuff rendition of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from the classic Broadway musical Gypsy.