Turns Out Pink Is a Broadway Diva at Heart

Last night was, as they say, Broadway’s biggest night, and a huge array of theater stars were out to celebrate, from doyennes of the stage like Bernadette Peters to reality-stars-turned-actors like Whitney Leavitt. (The former seemingly confirmed a rumor about Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Groff returning to Broadway to star in a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Passion; the latter appeared in a tribute marking Chicago’s 30th anniversary, following her run as Roxie Hart earlier this spring.)

Among the highlights: Pink’s excellent job hosting. I know she’s a consummate show(wo)man with a killer belt and a knack for acrobatics, but I was still very pleasantly surprised! She kicked off the show in a tribute to Mary Martin (or Allison Williams?): in a harness, spinning ferociously, before singing Peter Pan while fully 10 feet off the ground. Her opening number was a parody of Moulin Rouge’s “Lady Marmalade,” shouting out various nominees, and featuring cameos from Lea Michele, June Squibb, and Megan Thee Stallion. (In what other sentence are those three women going to be named alongside each other?? There’s nothing like Broadway, baby!) 

As is often the case, the musical numbers dominated the evening (note: that is not a complaint, but I do wish there was a comparable way to showcase straight plays). Luke Evans gave us a taste of his Tony-nominated Rocky Horror Picture Show performance (and Bowen Yang, Darren Criss, and more joined the cast onstage for “Time Warp”). Cats: The Jellicle Ball (which I still can’t really wrap my mind around, conceptually, but to be fair, I’ve never been able to wrap my mind around the original Cats either) won three Tonys, including best direction, but Schmigadoon! and Ragtime were the main musical winners of the evening. In addition to the Chicago medley, the Tonys marked some other big musical anniversaries: Rachel Zegler sang “What I Did for Love” for A Chorus Line’s 50th, and Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad reunited to mark The Book of Mormon’s 15th. 

Aubrey Plaza and Christopher Abbott (who was nominated, but lost, for Death of a Salesman, which won) walked the red carpet together; Corbin Bleu wore an insane hat; Carrie Coon wore a deeply weird dress; Cole Escola said, “If you’re in line to play Mary [Todd Lincoln], stay in line, we will get to you.” 

God, I love the theater. 

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