January 19, 2023
Promoting Black Voices and Stories in the Theatreby Randi / June 4, 2020Frens, as you know, the 2020 Tony Awards were supposed to be last night. Instead of this post-Tony Monday bringing you a list of my favorite moments, the best speeches, the performances that weren’t medleys (huzzah), the worst losses, and so on, I’m sharing some superlatives from Tony Awards past. All I have been doing* during quarantine, honestly, is watching old recordings of Tony broadcasts. I’ve watched like 40 years’ worth. You might be thinking that’s a weird preoccupation or even a waste of time but if you would say something that unbelievably stupid I bet you wouldn’t be reading this. Also old Tony broadcasts are the bee’s knees.
* well at least while cooking dinner, which honestly adds up for me time-wise because no matter what your 30-minute recipe! bullshit is about it will take me those 30 minutes just to chop my onions so back off
Before I get to the ridiculous categories I chose to honor, I have to mention how much the Tony Awards have changed even just since I’ve been alive. Watching old ones has been enlightening. First of all, in like the ’80s, they literally NEVER cut off long speeches! They were like you just won a Tony? Amazing job! Thank everyone you want this is important shit! You wanna pause when it seems like you’re finished but then keep going? That’s wonderful dear! I wish they were still like that. I despise cutting people off who just had their life’s work recognized. (Unless they’re reading their speech. No matter what else has changed – and everything has – prewritten speeches that winners reeeead off paperrr are THE WORRRST.) Ugh and it’s awful when the producers not only bring up the orchestra but also cut the mic. That’s just cruel, because a) it prevents any amazing Bette-style complete ignoring of the music where the winner continues to yell over it for just ever (which is usually soo fun) like ‘are you kidding me get OUT of here with that nonsense’ I adore that, and b) winners always, always save thanking their families for last. (Which is its own bullshit. Thank your fam bam before Scott Rudin you moron. If I ever won a Tony I would grab the mic and scream at the top of my lungs THANKS MOM WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING THIS IS AMAAAZING I DIDN’T KNOW YOU COULD WIN TONYS FOR PETTING DOGS!!!)
Also, the Best Revival categories were mixed! Plays and musicals together like the Wild West. I guess it makes sense, though; there were fewer properties to choose from back then.
Once you hit the 2000s, the award show gets obviously bigger, louder, more raucous. (Change approved.) In part thanks to Neil Patrick Harris and Hugh Jackman’s hosting abilities (how lucky we are to be alive for the 2013 opener), in part just due to times changing and people wanting more, it’s quite the contrast to watch the modern Tonys with jaw-dropping 10-minute musical number intros after you’ve seen the 1991 Tony Awards hosted by I shit you not Julie Andrews and Jeremy’s Iron, who began the show in fancy British accents and were like “Hello and welcome to the 45th Annual TOE-ny awaaaahds. What a time to celebrate being a pahht of the theatuhhhhh. Here’s the first awaaahd” and like that’s it. So calm. Adorable.
As for future Tony Awards, I hope we have them. All thanks to CBS for airing them at all (you better keep it up), but I hope in the future they realize who they’re for. They’re never going to attract new uninterested viewers, so just stop trying. Stop getting random movie stars to present awards and then billing their presence in all the commercials. Like, no non-theatre but pro-Marvel fan is going to tune in just to see one of the Chrises present Best Choreography. Have they not realized this yet? In the ’80s, all the presenters were stage luminaries and it was exciting to celebrate them in this, their one arena for that kind of acknowledgment. Let the Tonys be for actual theatre fans. Let the telecast go on as long as you can give them, and let theatre people be involved, no matter how famous they are. And have plays perform short scene! They used to do this and it WORKED! It was great! And present Book of a Musical as part of the live telecast and not just when you think Tina Fey is going to win! (Although that surprise was one of my absolute favorite things about the last decade, when the producers did decide to air Best Book on the telecast just because they thought Tina would win and then she lost to Itamar Moses omg it was so funny.)
On that note, let’s share some other memories. Some of the videos below are just the entire telecast recording so just like enjoy.
Most Fun Performance for Posterity
There’s no question about this one. What can I watch no matter how I’m feeling and just laugh my ass off? Patti LuPone singing Buenos Aires at the 1981 Tony Awards. Why? Oh my dear, because of these (fake but come on, real.) subtitles. Sure there are 100s of incredible, perfect, soaring performances I could actually have chosen for ‘best performance’, but nothing compares to this gem.
My god I just watched literally 15 seconds of this and I am screaming and shrieking from laughter. EBBA DO ME!
Best Treat that Might be Cooler than the Tony Award You Just Won
Ten years after Patti sang about the laddad rat hat, Baby Daisy Eagen won the Best Featured Actress in a Musical Tony forThe Secret Garden. Baby Daisy was only 11 years old! Obviously she was crying and overwhelmed, and presenter Audrey Hepburn came back over to her and kissed her head. It’s the sweetest little moment but I imagine it didn’t help her outsized emotions to realize that Audrey Hepburn just kissed her head. LOVES IT.
Biggest “We Should Have Known“
In 2009, Susan Sarandon presented both Best Director awards (for play and musical). We should have known she was about to come out as a piece of a nothing when, despite reading a teleprompter and you know being a professional word-sayer, she said Matthew Warchus’s name wrong like 3 times. When she announced his win it came out something like Tathy Martis. SHAME. SHAAAAME. Almost as much as the shame you should feel for being so g-d stupid about politics. Nothing bother me more for the purposes of this sentence than when people say ‘actors should stay out of politics’ – that’s just nonsense, everyone affected should have a say – but when it comes to Susan actors should stay out of politics.
Biggest “We Really Didn’t Need That But Thanks?”
In 2014, Emmy Rossum introduced the performance from Best Revival nominee Les Miserables because I guess one of the telecast producers mixed up two classics. She introduced the performance by unironically, completely sincerely describing the plot of Les Mis as if it were this new thing no one knew about, as if every fucker in that audience and at home didn’t know every single word of that show by heart since they were children. Lol I was HYSTERICAL.
Cutest Outdated Joke
In 1986, Rupert Holmes won Best Score (for Drood) and then 10 seconds later won Best Book of a Musical. In his second speech in two minutes, he quipped “Wow I hope my home VHS recording is working.” Man remember not having technology, woof. Anyway it was adorbs, and watching someone win Tonys back to back made my heart grow even bigger, another reason why they should air Best Book on the live show.
Best Slogan for Life Learned from a Speech
In 2005, the great Mike Nichols (RIP) won for directing Spamalot and in his speech he said to the losers, “Cheer up, life isn’t everything.”
Worst Change for Tony Performance But a Cute Little Coincidence Makes it Okay
One of my favorite productions ever was the 2005 The Light in the Piazza, introducing me to that gorgeous, soul-buoying score and to my queen Kelli O’Hara. But their Tony performance, hoo boy. For some reason, instead of just singing the beautiful opening song, they had Victoria Clark in character be like, ‘Hello, I’m Margaret Johnson, and this is my daughter Clara. It’s her first time in Italy!’ ahhh it was beyond cringe. But soon afterwards, Norbert Leo Butz won the Best Actor in a Musical Tony (for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and in his speech he thanked his daughters Clara and Maggie – the names of the LITP characters! Cute!
Best Host Sentiment Continuity Decades Apart
In 1987, host/ledge Angela Lansbury talked in her opening monologue about how during an early pre-Broadway tryout (in Philly!), she was thinking about how she didn’t belong there and how she wanted to be home in California. Later in her career, in another leading performance on a Broadway stage, she realized that she was home. She said from everyone tonight who is coming home to Broadway to celebrate, welcome to the Tonys. It felt very much like the precursor to what would be the best opening of all time – Neil Patrick Harris’s 2013 song, in which he said, to the kid in the middle of nowhere, “So we might reassure that kid, and do something to spur that kid, ‘cause I promise you, all of us up here tonight, we were that kid.”
Best Sixth Win
My other queen Audra McDonald winning her sixth Tony Award, for Best Actress in a Play for Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, expressed more gratitude and humble appreciation and overwhelmed joy at belonging to this community than most first-time winners. What a ledge. The audience’s reaction was wonderful too. And yes, I agree that Lady Day was rightfully considered a play, as all the music was presented in a concert format.
Best Line From an Opening Number
As I’ve said, the greatest opening number of all time is NPH’s 2013 behemoth, never to be topped (it’s below ps like I’d ever write this sort of nonsense post of my thoughts and not share the vid). It continues to blow my mind every day, 7 years later, and I’m particularly OB. SESSED with this part:
Hats off to Berry Gordy
He runs Motown like a boss.
He dominates Top 40 and he banged Diana Ross!
He wrote his own libretto which is really kinda ballin’
He took every Motown classic and he said “Eh, put ’em all in!”
The audience’s shocked laughter at the Diana Ross line, my god it was AMAZING. And I just adore how Neil says “eh put all ’em all in!” It’s perfect, while also kind of a burn at how overstuffed Motown the Musical was!
A close, close second is this line later in the song, about all the children on Bway that season:
They barely come up to your knees
But God they’re singing like MVPs
And they’re the reason this whole season seems to look like Chuck E. Cheese!
If you didn’t know Lin-Manuel wrote that song, you did when you heard the assonance in that line.
Best Line from a Closing Number
Another NPH performance, this time from the end of the 2009 telecast, had the unforgettable line:
Chris Sieber! Please! Performing on your knees? Dude that only works to win Golden Globes.
Forking classic.
BEST ACCEPTANCE SPEECH NEVER TO BE TOPPED
Forget his official works, Lin-Manuel’s first ever Tony win, for the score of In the Heights, is responsible in itself for a new era in musical theatre. Reminding everyone that he’s just as talented freestyle-rapping as he is with the written word, his genuinely heartfelt speech managed to on-the-fly make an unforgettable proclamation to Chris Jackson’s talents as well as an incredible reference to Sondheim’s greatest work about making art. Perfection.
MOST.
Alright, it’s time to just share the best opening of all time, the best Tony Awards celebration of all time, the best just simply, best. The 2013 opening number. I’ve watched this at least twice a week every week since 2013, so, you know, a lot, and every time it still brings me to happy tears. ENJOY!
What did I miss? What are your favorite Tony moments?
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Current Broadway Production of “Cabaret” A Must-See If You Are Human
Everyone knows the famous opening strings of this classic musical about debauchery and self-preservation during the start of World War Two: “Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome…im Cabaret, au Cabaret, to Cabaret!” Sung by the Emcee, the ringleader of the seedy Kit Kat Klub in Berlin, these words welcome you into a crazy, thrilling, frightening place and convince you of amazing theatre to come.
In the off chance that you don’t know these words, then you should go see the Broadway revival of Kander & Ebb’s “Cabaret” right now because it is spectacular. See it anyway. If you are old, your Emcee is probably the lovely and amazing Joel Grey, who originated the role on Broadway and in the movie. But if you are not-old-to-medium, your Emcee is the incredible and forever young Alan Cumming, who originated the role in the London and Broadway revivals in the 1990s. He is back, playing the same role, in pretty much the same exact physical condition. He has the blood of tigers running through his veins. The Emcee does not stop moving and grooving, making sure everyone who visits his Klub is having a ball, mainly by showing off the Kit Kat girls.
In the off chance that you don’t know these words, then you should go see the Broadway revival of Kander & Ebb’s “Cabaret” right now because it is spectacular. See it anyway. If you are old, your Emcee is probably the lovely and amazing Joel Grey, who originated the role on Broadway and in the movie. But if you are not-old-to-medium, your Emcee is the incredible and forever young Alan Cumming, who originated the role in the London and Broadway revivals in the 1990s. He is back, playing the same role, in pretty much the same exact physical condition. He has the blood of tigers running through his veins. The Emcee does not stop moving and grooving, making sure everyone who visits his Klub is having a ball, mainly by showing off the Kit Kat girls.
The favorite of all the girls, at least at the moment, is Sally Bowles, fresh off the boat from England and looking for something good in her life. She finds this in the form of Cliff, a nice American boy who wants to help Sally get her life back on track. What a poor confused man.
Sally Bowles stands as one of the few classic, coveted, and career-defining roles for women. In your 20s and 30s, you dream of the chance to play Sally, and then in 20-30 years, when one of your illegitimate children from your Kit Kat Club patrons grows up to be a stripper, you dream of the chance to play her overbearing mother (Mama Rose). These are the two big Hamlets for women.
Sally Bowles stands as one of the few classic, coveted, and career-defining roles for women. In your 20s and 30s, you dream of the chance to play Sally, and then in 20-30 years, when one of your illegitimate children from your Kit Kat Club patrons grows up to be a stripper, you dream of the chance to play her overbearing mother (Mama Rose). These are the two big Hamlets for women.
Michelle Williams – the blonde Oscar nominee, not the Destiny’s Child member – opened the current revival as Sally, in her Broadway debut. Her last performance was two days ago, and I feel sorry for you if you missed her. (Emma Stone takes over the role tonight. She is prob vomiting from nerves as we speak.) Michelle brought such vulnerability to the role that you could tell Sally was made of glass, with her façade of strength ready to shatter at any moment.
Michelle started the show a little harshly, with the dirty and hilarious song “Don’t Tell Mama”, but when that’s your introduction to the character, it’ll always be harsh and unnerving (especially because we’ve never seen Michelle like this before). It’s performed here with all the dancers/strippers in baby doll clothes and squeaky voices, so uber uncomfortable but that’s the point. We did this song as part of a cabaret (not Cabaret) in college and I had super fremdschamen for the girl singing it to the crowd of friends and family. The song is about how her other relatives are cool with where she’s working but begs you not to tell her mother. It’s a very efficient title.
After, in her first book scene, her Mayfair accent is crazy uncomfortable. It’s not pleasant to listen to like so many British accents, and it’s off-putting. But this choice makes sense for Sally. She is a jarring person and she is unstable. You see immediately that this girl is trying to find solid ground to stand on but is simultaneously frightened of staying still. Michelle evokes this inner push and pull with every word she says. You kind of hate her, you kind of feel bad for her, and most of all you just want her to take a deep breath.
But once she sings her best song, “Maybe This Time”, you realize what an incredible actress Michelle Williams really is. We are lucky she began her hopefully long career in live theatre with this show. As she prays and hopes through this heartbreaking song, you realize how badly she was snubbed for a Tony nomination.
But of course this is “Cabaret”, it’s World War Two Berlin; it’s not going to end well. Of course Sally never learns how to accept comfort or stability, or love. She throws away what we know she wants due to fear, maybe not of anything in particular but of everything. Yet you still feel relieved for Cliff, a wonderful Bill Heck. Sure you don’t want him to be heartbroken, but a) Sally is a freaking train wreck and b) you want him to hightail it the hell out of Berlin.
Also, Sally and Cliff do not have the most compelling relationship in the show. That honor belongs to Herr Schultz and Fraulein Schneider, played by the inimitable Danny Burstein and Linda Emond (both of whom should have won Tonys). Herr Schultz adorably woos the Fraulein with kindness and pineapples, and they adorably decide to marry and fill their older age with companionship. But, as one could see from space, Herr Schultz is a Jew, and the increasing strength and brutality of the Nazi party scares Schneider away, leaving Schultz broken-hearted but not broken in spirit. Even before we see his fruit shop vandalized, we know how things will end for him. And even though we want the two to be together, you can’t help feeling for Schneider as well, because there is no right decision for her in this situation.
Spoilers!! Seriously don’t read if you plan on seeing this show because I’m about to ruin the most effective piece of theatre.
The real emotional kicker, though, happens in the very last moment. The Emcee is doing his thing, wearing his trenchcoat and singing “Willkommen” just as in the beginning. His cheeky little striptease revealed his famous lederhosen + suspenders getup when he did this earlier. At the end, however, you get a shock. I actually gasped, as I forgot, or maybe never knew, this final moment of the show. For some reason, I expected the Emcee to be a Nazi, or at least to pretend to be, selling out to save himself and maybe his club. What I never expected ever to happen was in the final beats of “Willkommen” for the Emcee to pull off his trenchcoat to reveal the famous striped pajamas and gold star of Jews, of concentration camp victims. His arms go out, his body goes limp, and you see the silhouette of the backs of all the other characters upstage, and then blackout. This was the most riveting moment I have seen in theatre in a very long time, and this gut punch of an ending made the entire show an unbelievable emotional success. It also made me realize how important and necessary “Cabaret” is in the musical theatre canon. Current events especially across Europe are proving that old saying about learning history so we don’t repeat history to be scarily timely. And that’s the point of art, like “Cabaret”, to hold a mirror up to modern society and show you how much or how little progress it’s made.
Despite its unbelievably depressing themes and ending, this revival proves “Cabaret” as one of the greatest musicals ever written. It continuously reels you in until you can’t break away. When Sally gets to the title number at the end, you really feel every note in your non-tiger blood and somehow still have hope for everyone amid all your fear. If you can see this important show before Alan Cumming (and Danny Burstein, amazing) leaves, you owe it to yourself to do so. I hope Emma Stone captures even half the character of Sally that Michelle Williams did. If she can, you’re in for a treat.
Michelle started the show a little harshly, with the dirty and hilarious song “Don’t Tell Mama”, but when that’s your introduction to the character, it’ll always be harsh and unnerving (especially because we’ve never seen Michelle like this before). It’s performed here with all the dancers/strippers in baby doll clothes and squeaky voices, so uber uncomfortable but that’s the point. We did this song as part of a cabaret (not Cabaret) in college and I had super fremdschamen for the girl singing it to the crowd of friends and family. The song is about how her other relatives are cool with where she’s working but begs you not to tell her mother. It’s a very efficient title.
After, in her first book scene, her Mayfair accent is crazy uncomfortable. It’s not pleasant to listen to like so many British accents, and it’s off-putting. But this choice makes sense for Sally. She is a jarring person and she is unstable. You see immediately that this girl is trying to find solid ground to stand on but is simultaneously frightened of staying still. Michelle evokes this inner push and pull with every word she says. You kind of hate her, you kind of feel bad for her, and most of all you just want her to take a deep breath.
But once she sings her best song, “Maybe This Time”, you realize what an incredible actress Michelle Williams really is. We are lucky she began her hopefully long career in live theatre with this show. As she prays and hopes through this heartbreaking song, you realize how badly she was snubbed for a Tony nomination.
But of course this is “Cabaret”, it’s World War Two Berlin; it’s not going to end well. Of course Sally never learns how to accept comfort or stability, or love. She throws away what we know she wants due to fear, maybe not of anything in particular but of everything. Yet you still feel relieved for Cliff, a wonderful Bill Heck. Sure you don’t want him to be heartbroken, but a) Sally is a freaking train wreck and b) you want him to hightail it the hell out of Berlin.
Also, Sally and Cliff do not have the most compelling relationship in the show. That honor belongs to Herr Schultz and Fraulein Schneider, played by the inimitable Danny Burstein and Linda Emond (both of whom should have won Tonys). Herr Schultz adorably woos the Fraulein with kindness and pineapples, and they adorably decide to marry and fill their older age with companionship. But, as one could see from space, Herr Schultz is a Jew, and the increasing strength and brutality of the Nazi party scares Schneider away, leaving Schultz broken-hearted but not broken in spirit. Even before we see his fruit shop vandalized, we know how things will end for him. And even though we want the two to be together, you can’t help feeling for Schneider as well, because there is no right decision for her in this situation.
Spoilers!! Seriously don’t read if you plan on seeing this show because I’m about to ruin the most effective piece of theatre.
The real emotional kicker, though, happens in the very last moment. The Emcee is doing his thing, wearing his trenchcoat and singing “Willkommen” just as in the beginning. His cheeky little striptease revealed his famous lederhosen + suspenders getup when he did this earlier. At the end, however, you get a shock. I actually gasped, as I forgot, or maybe never knew, this final moment of the show. For some reason, I expected the Emcee to be a Nazi, or at least to pretend to be, selling out to save himself and maybe his club. What I never expected ever to happen was in the final beats of “Willkommen” for the Emcee to pull off his trenchcoat to reveal the famous striped pajamas and gold star of Jews, of concentration camp victims. His arms go out, his body goes limp, and you see the silhouette of the backs of all the other characters upstage, and then blackout. This was the most riveting moment I have seen in theatre in a very long time, and this gut punch of an ending made the entire show an unbelievable emotional success. It also made me realize how important and necessary “Cabaret” is in the musical theatre canon. Current events especially across Europe are proving that old saying about learning history so we don’t repeat history to be scarily timely. And that’s the point of art, like “Cabaret”, to hold a mirror up to modern society and show you how much or how little progress it’s made.
Despite its unbelievably depressing themes and ending, this revival proves “Cabaret” as one of the greatest musicals ever written. It continuously reels you in until you can’t break away. When Sally gets to the title number at the end, you really feel every note in your non-tiger blood and somehow still have hope for everyone amid all your fear. If you can see this important show before Alan Cumming (and Danny Burstein, amazing) leaves, you owe it to yourself to do so. I hope Emma Stone captures even half the character of Sally that Michelle Williams did. If she can, you’re in for a treat.
The Cast & Cameos of Tick, Tick…Boom! and Why You Know Them (or Should)
By now, you may have recovered normal hydration levels after crying all weekend from the glorious movie musical ‘Tick, Tick…Boom!’, now on Netflix. A musical theatre adaptation for the ages, ‘Tick, Tick…Boom!’, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s directorial debut and a copyeditor’s nightmare (I think it’s official ‘tick, tick…BOOM!’?? nothx), is the rare passion project that is as undeniably compelling for the general public as it is fervent in its appreciation and respect for a relatively niche genre. The lovingly created film paints a fully provocative, engrossing portrait of the late Jonathan Larson, the musical theatre composer who created two incredible lasting works before an untimely death, the devastation of which has threatened to define his legacy more than his brilliant creations. Lin’s (we’re on a first-name basis btw) directorial debut is spellbinding. He treats Larson’s life story, as told through Larson’s painstaking creation of what would eventually be ‘Tick, Tick…Boom’ the stage show, as only another such creator could, fully understanding the desperation, the hope, the single-minded devotion, the heartache.
The resulting film is one so fine that it is generating tons of Oscar buzz, which the fuckers rarely give to deserving movie musicals. Those of us who have known and loved the musical TTB for years are completely satisfied with this careful and meticulous adaptation, and those who are brand-new to it join us as die-hard fans. (At least the ones I know have. Or they know better than to tell me otherwise.) And we are all left adoring this excellent film about the creative process and what artists sacrifice for their craft, about this man and all the brilliance spilling out of him, and above all about our love for musical theatre.
This last part is evidenced in all aspects of the film, and not least by the people onscreen. Lin brought out the big guns for this one. His rolodex is probably the sickest one on the planet. The musical theatre legends, the exciting up and coming talent, and the beloved performers of all ages and bio lengths who fill the screen in roles big and small and miniscule (no small parts!) act as a treat for musical theatre lovers who amid crying over how great Andrew Garfield is and how wonderful the music sounds and how beautifully the story weaving was done can shout ‘OH MY GOD THAT’S _!!!’ over and over to the delight (not delight) of anyone watching with them. In February, when we do our gigantic pre-Oscars movie review roundup, I’ll talk more about this masterpiece, but today I’m here to go through the faces we saw and what we know them from.
Main Cast
Jonathan Larson: Andrew Garfield
What you know him from: Winning a Tony Award for Angels in America, Hacksaw Ridge and other great movies, Spider-Man and other spidery movies. Also he’s Jewish; we love that.
Michael: Robin de Jesus
What you know him from: Originating the role of Sonny in In the Heights on Broadway (‘chillax! you know you lumme’ I DO LUM YOU) (p.s. In the Heights is the other best movie of 2021 these are facts); being the best part of several other Broadway shows like the Douglas Hodge La Cage. Last seen in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix adaptation of The Boys in the Band. He was also Michael in the amazing theatre-kid cult movie Camp, which I hate to tell you is almost 20 years old (gasp!).
Roger: Joshua Henry
What you know him from: Billy Bigelow in the last revival of Carousel; making his name on Broadway in American Idiot, The Scottsboro Boys (ugh talk about crying and deserving more acclaim), being the best part of Violet with Sutton Foster which is saying something since she was perfect, being part of the spellbindingly-cast-but-not-as-strong-as-it-should-have-been Shuffle Along.
Carolyn: MJ Rodriguez
What you know her from: the lead of Pose, baby! How good is Pose! How good is she on it! We cry so much!
Susan: Alexandra Shipp
What you know her from: Straight Outta Compton, the Aaliyah movie.
Karessa: Vanessa Hudgens
What you know her from: being a teen star? Gigi on Broadway (lol), Grease! Live on NBC, Rent Live. She loves doing live stuff! Fun fact: I have never seen High School Musical. I know. Not by choice, I just haven’t gotten around to it in 25 years or whatever. Funner fact: I have watched High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, which I enjoy.
Freddy: Ben Levi Ross
What you know him from: He was one of the Evan Hansen replacements on Broadway.
Ira: Jonathan Marc Sherman
What you know him from: He’s a playwright first and foremost, most recently having written Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, which played off-Broadway and starred Jennifer Damiano and Michael Zegen (we love them).
Diner patrons in the opening number, 30/90 (what a bop right???)
Roger Bart
What you know him from: being the super creepy evil pharmacist on Desperate Housewives (I still remember how scary!), winning a Tony for You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; The Producers; Young Frankenstein (frahnkenSHTEEN). Currently playing Doc Brown in London’s Back to the Future musical. Fun fact: He’s the singing voice of Hercules in the amazing animated movie. HE CAN GO THE DISTAAAANCE.
James C. Nicola: long (LONG) time artistic director of the New York Theatre Workshop.
Party scene
Scott the finance guy: Ryan Vasquez
What you know him from: Before being absolutely hysterical in this movie (I mean, he is us, those of us not professionally in theatre who geek out over it wholeheartedly), Vasquez was in the original cast of Waitress and has apparently played literally every male role in Hamilton.
Fun fact (this shit is FULL OF FUN FACTS! SO FUN!): The R&B ish song playing on the boom box as Jonathan and Susan go down into the bone zone is ‘Green Green Dress’, a song from the stage version of TTB cut for the film but I believe included on the film soundtrack with a full version by Garfield and Shipp. This version in this scene is sung by Joshua Henry!
Michael’s fancy pants building
I’m sure there are lots more famouses in this scene but I could not make out their faces.
Concierge: Luis Miranda
What you know him from: being Lin’s dad, being my mom’s biggest crush (I know and she has a lot), lots of great political work, also waving to Nina in ‘Breathe’ in In the Heights movie (Lin will put his dad in everything and we’re not mad).
Doorman: Chris Sullivan
What you know him from: One of several members of Freestyle Love Supreme in this movie! He’s the one known as Shockwave. I wish I had a cool nickname. Anyway thanks to the person who corrected me since I got my Chrises Sullivan mixed up!
Parking attendant: Andrew Bancroft
What you know him from: More Freestyle Love Supreme!
Writing workshop
OKAY this is where I started really screaming. EVERYONE sitting in this room is a musical theatre creative, and I LOVE that Lin did that, solidifying that this movie and TTB in general is so much for the people it’s about. I’m not going to pretend I recognized everyone (I’m sorry but I would not know Georgia Stitt by face) but these are the ones I did yell about. If you knew all of them, bravaaa.
Jason Robert Brown: composer of all my faves, like The Bridges of Madison County, The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs for a New World. Also 13 (fun fact I sat in the front row of the first Broadway preview LIKE A NERD) and is friends with Ariana Grande as a result.
Alex Lacamoire: known for being the right-hand man of Lin when it comes to his orchestrations and generally being the best ever. Orchestrator of In the Heights, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, also this movie!
Shaina Taub: composer of the great musical version of Twelfth Night; friends with my friend from Hebrew school.
Dave Malloy: MY BOY DAVE! Wild & Crazy composer of Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812 and other wild & crazy works like Moby Dick (SO COOL), Ghost Quartet, Octet, Preludes, and of course the f-ing nutty Beardo, which is about Rasputin, don’t forget that one.
Stephen Schwartz: composer of Godspell (which gets a hilarious shoutout later in the film), Wicked, Pippin. What a dude.
Who lives who dies Jeannine Tesori: composer of Fun Home; Caroline or Change; Violet; Thoroughly Modern Millie. A legend.
Tom Kitt: Seems very tall; Tony- and Pulitzer-winning composer of my beloved Next to Normal. Oh man, Next to Normal, guys. Also wrote Bring It On! the musical with Lin, and If/Then, which was good-not-great but has one of my favorite shower singing songs (IF WE’RE ALWAYS! STARTING OVER!)
Quiara Allegria Hudes: book writer of In the Heights the musical, screenwriter for ITH the movie, also is from Philly so COME THROUGH QUIARA.
Richard Kind: Uncle Richard as we call him. I mean, you know him from everything. He’s the greatest ever. Currently being hysterical with every single word he utters as Andrew’s father on Big Mouth.
Bradley Whitford as Stephen Sondheim
What you know him from: The West Wing, being Bradley Whitford, aging amazingly.
Hilarious music video
H.A.W.K. Smooth: Tariq Trotter
What you know him from: He’s Black Thought from The Roots. Yes Philly!
Sunday number at the diner
This is the part where musical theatre lovers wept tears of pure joy, and where everyone else became a musical theatre lover. This. Was. EVERYTHING. Everyone in that diner is a theatre legend. LEDGE.
Line cook: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Yes, the director himself. My husband heard his voice to start the scene and said ‘oh that’s Lin!’ before they showed his face. So proud, so lucky. Can you IMAGINE being in the audience of Les Mis when he did the voice at the barricade that one time?
Patrons:
Joel Grey
What you know him from: originating the emcee role in Cabaret on Broadway and recreating it for the movie, and winning an Oscar for it. The original wizard in Wicked, Moonface Martin in the unmatched 2011 Anything Goes! revival. That one amazing episode of Star Trek Voyager that made me cry.
Howard McGillin
What you know him from: the longest running Phantom in Phantom of the Opera
Chuck Cooper
What you know him from: winning a Tony for The Life. MY SISTER WAS A PROS…
Phylicia Rashad
What you know her from: I mean…do I have to say it.
Beth Malone
What you know her from: originating the role of Big Alison in Fun Home on Broadway — the costume from which she is wearing in this scene!!!! best! You may also know her from the best Best Actress in a Musical announcement at the Tonys that year, when Kelli O’Hara finally won and all the other nominees, shown in their little boxes, were clearly so happy for her, it was the sweetest ever.
Andre de Shields
What you know him from: Hermes in Broadway’s Hadestown, giving one of the best Tony acceptance speeches ever, talking to me about sweet potatoes after one of the London performances and I wish we were best friends.
Brian Stokes Mitchell. STOKES.
What you know him from: having wheels of a dream in Ragtime; Tony Award for Kiss Me, Kate; Man of La Mancha; having THAT FUCKING VOICE.
Bebe Neuwirth
What you know her from: Cheers/Frasier, revival of Chicago. That incredible episode of Will & Grace playing herself.
Renee Elise Goldsberry
What you know her from: Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton; original Nettie in The Color Purple; the final Mimi in Rent on Broadway, so she’s the one in the Rent Live filmed production, which I was in the audience for!!! It was THE BEST! We went nuts after the finale and ovated for like 30 minutes and then they were like ‘we have to do it again!’
Phillipa Soo
What you know her from: breaking Lin’s heart so good in Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812 off-Broadway that he cast her as Elizabeth Schuyler in Hamilton.
Bernadette Peters
What you know her from: Sunday in the Park with George (I mean, if you are IN THE SHOW that the characters are watching in this movie reverently that’s just…everything); Song & Dance; Into the Woods; A Little Night Music; Follies; Hello, Dolly!; being in the best film version of Annie; being Sondheim’s muse? being so lucky? having the best hair? Broadway Barks?
Chita Rivera: I mean, it’s Chita Rivera. Original stage Anita in West Side Story; the chief cook and bottle washer in The Rink; Kiss of the Spider Woman; original Velma Kelly in Chicago; original Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie; scary scary sexy robot lady in the musical adaptation of The Visit; Fosse’s film version of Sweet Charity. Ledge.
The 3 bums:
Daphne Rubin-Vega, Adam Pascal, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, from the original cast of Rent
Jonathan’s workshop cast
Aneesa Folds
What you know her from: another Freestyle Love Supremer! they are so talented I wanna barf.
Kate Rockwell
What you know her from: the best part of Mean Girls the musical (‘My name is Karen. I may not be smart…that’s it.’)
Gizel Jimenez
What you know her from: has been in Wicked, Avenue Q. Really enjoyed her in this I want to see her onstage!
Joel Perez
What you know him from: the original cast of Fun Home. So many of them in this!
In the extended workshop cast shown in the Sextet
Janet Dacal
What you know her from: original Carla in In the Heights! long as he keeps it clean! ay dios mio!
Kenita R. Miller
What you know her from: the best part of the flawless Once on this Island Tony-winning revival. HOT HOLY GODDAMN that show was incredible and she revolutionized her track.
The woman who buys Jonathan’s records for $50 and makes hilarious Godspell jokes
Joanna Adler
What you know her from: lots of off-Broadway work but probably most recognizable as Summer’s mother in School of Rock
The hilarious focus group
Leader: Laura Benanti
What you know her from: Gypsy, My Fair Lady, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, stealing scenes in Sound of Music Live, being hilarious, the name my dad guesses every time a song starts on Sirius Broadway.
Micaela Diamond
What you know her from: The Cher Show on Broadway, playing the youngest Cher
Danielle Ferland
What you know her from: OG Little Red in Into the Woods!!! omg she grew up
Utkarsh Ambudkar
What you know him from: Freestyle Love Supreme, the rapper in the boy group in Pitch Perfect (hey you! with the eeeyes), Mindy’s brother on The Mindy Project
Jonathan’s parents
Danny Burstein
What you know him from: consistently gifting us amazing performances on Broadway. The Drowsy Chaperone, Luther Billis in the Kelli/Szot South Pacific, heartbreaking in Follies, Cabaret, a wonderful Tevye in 2016. Recently winning a Tony for Moulin Rouge. Being king of the adorables.
Judy Kuhn
What you know her from: original Broadway Cosette in Les Mis, Chess, singing voice of Pocahontas so the version of ‘Colors of the Wind’ that isn’t Vanessa Williams, Alison’s mom in Fun Home, Golde in Fiddler last year on the West End.
Jonathan’s agent: Judith Light
What you know her from: You know her from Who’s the Boss?, I know her from spending one summer when I lived in NYC somehow being on the exact same theatre schedule as her with seats always near each other and after a few weeks we were like wtf??? who is stalking who?
Louder than Words cameos
Jelani Alladin, when they cut to Michael the Jesus in the audience at “why so many people bleed”
What you know him from: originating Kristoff in Frozen on Broadway
Chris Jackson making SERIOUS FACE and sitting in front of Sondheim Whitford
What you know him from: original Benny in In the Heights, original George Washington in Hamilton
What my baby nephew knows him from: Mr Softee in the In the Heights movie, whose ‘tuck is boken downnn’; video upon request.
Extra treat: When Jonathan sings “what does it take to wake up a generation/how can you make someone take off and fly’, they show a split-second black & white image of the original cast of Rent. Just in case you weren’t sobbing uncontrollably already.
Obviously I didn’t get everyone and I have poor vision so shout out those I missed in the comments! and your favorite part of the movie!
