The 2020 Tony Awards Fantasy Clip Show

The 2019 Tony Awards

CBS is breaking my heart as we enter the ninth week of lockdown (NYC is still in quarantine while the rest of the country rushes back to the beaches, malls and nail salons.) The Eye network had announced the 32nd season of The Amazing Race--my favorite TV show as you can tell from past recap-blogs--would premiere on this Wed. May 20. When I tried to DVR it, the listing was absent. It turns out they are pushing back the whole series until sometime later in the year because the network is saving a strong ratings performer like TAR for the fall or winter just in case there are no new shows in production because of the coronavirus.

CBS is also not running the Tony Awards. That's not their fault. The Broadway League and the

Joel Grey in Cabaret

American Theater Wing have opted not to present the awards at all because of the pandemic, unlike the Drama Desks, Outer Critics, Obies, Lortels, New York Drama Critics Circle, and Drama League which are going forward to honor the truncated 2019-20 season on various virtual and TV platforms. So I don't blame CBS, but they could have come up with a better substitute than a sing-along broadcast of the movie version of Grease. Why not a clip show of highlights from previous Tonycasts? I suggested the idea on Twitter and Facebook and the response was a resounding yes. Here are my suggestions and those of some Twitter and FB friends on what we would have included for ALL the previous nationally televised Tony shows. OK, the show would probably run for five hours if everything here were shown, but this is just a fantasy. Note: I tried not to go for the obvious every year and didn't always pick whatever show won Best Musical. Some years, they didn't even include numbers from the nominated shows.

1967--Wilkommen from Cabaret--Joel Grey

1968--Before the Parade Passes By from Hello, Dolly--Pearl Bailey

Jack Crowder, Sherri Peaches Brewer,
Pearl Bailey, and Winston DeWitt Hemsley in Hello, Dolly!

1969--Turkey Lurkey Time from Promises, Promises--Donna McKechnie, Baayork Lee, Margo Sappington

1970--Always Mademoiselle from Coco--Katharine Hepburn, George Rose

1971---(25 years of Tony-winning musicals) Shall We Dance? from The King and I--Yul Brynner, Patricia Morrison; Before the Parade Passes By from Hello, Dolly--Carol Channing; If I Were a Rich Man from Fiddler on the Roof--Zero Mostel

1972--You Can Dance With Any Girl At All from No, No, Nanette--Helen Gallagher, Bobby Van

1973--Magic to Do from Pippin--Ben Vereen

1974--Upper Berth sketch from Phoenix 55--Nancy Walker, Harvey Lembeck, JJ Barry, Charles Nelson Reilly

1975--The Story of Lucy and Jessie from Follies--Alexis Smith; Everything's Coming Up Roses from Gypsy--Angela Lansbury


1976--I Hope I Get It from A Chorus Line--Cast

1977--Medley from Annie--Andrea McArdle, Dorothy Loudon, Reid Shelton and cast

1978--The Ladies Who Sing with the Band/Off-Time from Ain't Misbehavin--Ken Page, Andre DeShields, Nell Carter, Armelia McQueen, Charlayne Woodard

1979--The Worst Pies in London from Sweeney Todd--Angela Lansbury

1980--A New Argentina from Evita--Patti LuPone, Mandy Patinkin, Bob Gunton

Elizabeth Taylor at the 1981 Tonys
Husband number 7 John Warner is at left

1981--Elizabeth Taylor screwing up everyone's name while presenting Best Musical to 42nd Street; Lullaby of Broadway from 42nd Street--Jerry Orbach, Wanda Richert, Carole Cooke, Lee Roy Reams, and cast

1982--And I Am Telling You from Dreamgirls--Jennifer Holiday and cast

1983--Kickin' the Clouds Away from My One and Only--Tommy Tune, Twiggy, Roscoe Lee Browne, chorus; Memory from Cats--Betty Buckley; Vodka from Song of the Flame--Dorothy Loudon

1984--Broadway Baby from Follies--Dorothy Loudon

1985--River in the Rain from Big River--Daniel H. Jenkins, Ron Richardson

1986--40 Years of Tony-winning Best Plays--David Wayne, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Rene Auberjonois, Marlo Thomas, Jack Gilford, etc., etc.

Courtney B. Vance and
James Earl Jones in Fences

1987--Scene from Fences--James Earl Jones, Courtney B. Vance; Bosom Buddies from Mame, Angela Lansbury, Bea Arthur

1988--Anything Goes from Anything Goes--Patti LuPone, chorus

1989--Scene from Largely New York--Bill Irwin and cast; Rockin' in Rhythm from Black and Blue--Chorus

1990--We'll Take a Glass Together from Grand Hotel--Michael Jeter, Brent Barrett, chorus

1991--Presenter Anthony Quinn reading the wrong card and losing it while Joan Collins remains motionless; Favorite Son from The Will Rogers Follies--Keith Carradine and chorus

1992--Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat from Guys and Dolls--Walter Bobbie and cast

1993--Where You Are from Kiss of the Spider Woman--Chita Rivera, Brent Carver, Anthony Crivello

Angela Lansbury and Beatrice Arthur at the 1987 Tonys

1994--Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo from Damn Yankees--Vicki Lewis and cast

1995--Diva medley--Nathan Lane, Gregory Hines

1996--Seasons of Love from Rent--Anthony Rapp, cast

1997--Opening Number with Rosie O'Donnell and the casts of Rent, Cats, Smokey Joe's Cafe, Bring in da Noise, Grease, Beauty and the Beast

1998--Circle of Life from The Lion King--Cast

1999--My New Philosophy from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown--Kristin Chenoweth, Stanley Wayne Mathis

2000--When It Ends from The Wild Party--Eartha Kitt; Sing, Sing, Sing from Swing--Chorus

2001--Along Came Bialy from The Producers--Nathan Lane and chorus of Little Old Ladies; scene from King Hedley II--Viola Davis, Brian Stokes Mitchell

2002--Forget About the Boy from Thoroughly Modern Millie--Sutton Foster, chorus

2003--You Can't Stop the Beat from Hairspray--Melissa Jarret Winokur, Harvey Fierstein, cast

2004--Opening number--One Night Only from Dreamgirls with Hugh Jackman, Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, casts of all the musicals on Broadway

2005--Opening number with casts of Monty Python's Spamalot, the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Light in the Piazza, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; Somewhere from West Side Story--Aretha Franklin, Hugh Jackman

2006--Show Off from The Drowsy Chaperone--Sutton Foster, Bob Martin

2007--The Revolutionary Costume for Today from Grey Gardens--Christine Ebersole; Mama Who Bore Me from Spring Awakening--Lea Michele, Jonathan Groff, John Gallagher, Jr. and cast

2008--Everything's Coming Up Roses from Gypsy--Patti LuPone

2009--Opening Number with Elton John, casts of Billy Elliot, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, Shrek, Rock of Ages, (Poison lead singer Bret Michaels gets hit in the head by a moving piece of scenery), Aaron Tveit, Stockard Channing, the cast of 9 to 5, Dolly Parton, Liza Minnelli, cast of Hair

Neil Patrick Harris and Mike Tyson
(believe it or not he had a one-man show on Broadway)
in the opening number of the 2013 Tonys

2010--That's Life from Come Fly Away--Karine Planadit, dancers

2011--Broadway's Not Just for Gays Anymore, Special Opening Number--Neil Patrick Harris and chorus

2012--Buddy's Blues from Follies--Danny Burstein, Lora Lee Gayer, Kirsten Scott

2013--Bigger, Special Opening Number--Neil Patrick Harris, Mike Tyson, and chorus

2014--Freeze, Melt from After Midnight--Dule Hill and cast

2015--Jenny's Blues from It Shoulda Been You--Lisa Howard

2016--Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) from Hamilton--Lin-Manuel Miranda and Cast

2017--Waving Through a Window from Dear Evan Hansen--Ben Platt

2018--Omar Sharif from The Band's Visit--Katrina Lenk; Robert DeNiro says "F**k Trump" while introducing Bruce Springsteen

2019--James in the Bathroom (parody of Michael in the Bathroom from Be More Chill)--James Corden, Sara Bareilles, Josh Groban, Neil Patrick Harris