This is a new tradition: the day after the Neil Patrick Harris-hosted Tony Awards airs everyone flocks online to either experience for the first time or revisit Harris’ best musical numbers from the show. It’s not that the other performances are bad or the actual awards (winners/losers) discussion is boring; it’s that Harris is just that damn good. At this point, when it comes to Harris I am reminded of the ending of the season four episode of The Simpsons “Krusty Gets Canceled” where Bart acknowledges that Johnny Carson might be the greatest entertainer in the world. The visual evidence for this claim is included below, but yes that is Carson in the middle tap dancing while playing an accordion while also balancing two people playing a board game of some sort atop his head.
Well, now I am claiming Harris might be one of the greatest entertainers in the world. My evidence? Last night’s opening number. Dude jumps through a literal hoop and performs multiple magic tricks (correction: illusions; give my apologies to GOB Bluth and Tony Wonder).
Harris – he’s got magic to do:
I think the look on the face of Debra Messing, who was in the audience and used for frequent cut-away reaction shots during the telecast for some reason, says it all:
Photo credit: Laughterkey.com
Harris has hosted the awards show 3 years in a row now, 4 times total since he took 2010 off but hosted in 2009 and 2011 up to the present. Only Angele Landsbury, the original Mrs. Lovett, has hosted the show more times, although Harris is only one behind her at this point. If me saying this makes it happen (because that’s how the world works, right?) please let Harris just host this thing for the forseeable future.
There was also a very funny bit involving three Broadway veterans who left the stage for now-canceled TV shows returning to re-pledge allegiance to Broadway (or are they?). The actors in question are Andrew Rannells (RIP The New Normal), Megan Hilty (RIP Smash), and Laura Benanti (RIP Go On and The Playboy Club). Of course, the presence of host Harris, he of the 8+ seasons of How I Met Your Mother, creates some fun conflict. For any Go On fan (such as myself) who did not know Benanti had a Broadway background, she’s a multiple-time Tony Award nominee who has starred in big shows like The Sound of Music, Into the Woods, Nine, and Gypsy, to name a few.
Here the unemployed actors vent their frustration on Harris:
Of course, as is his tradition Harris concluded the show by rap/singing the names of all the award winners, the lyrics obviously having been hastily written throughout the show.
Here Harris is closing the show, joined by Audra MacDonald:
Obviously, actual Tony Awards were handed out, and on the musical end Kinky Boots, Mathilda, and Pippin were frequent winners whereas on the play side “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” was a frequent winner. You can view the full list of winners here and an analysis of what it all means here.
Of course, the Tony Awards show is only half about distributing awards. The other half is devoted to big lavish numbers from shows currently running on Broadway, regardless of whether or not they’ve been nominated for anything. As such, there was a performance from the current cast of Once simply because it won Best Musical last year, and now features two new lead actors. Doctor Who fans who’ve ever wondered if Rory (Arthur Darville) could sing should check the clip out here.
Now, we close with a big finish. Wow, that immediately puts a lot of pressure on me. I am freaking out here. So, let’s just close with the past previous opening numbers Harris has done at the Tony’s:
Harris’ Opening Number from 2009:
Harris’ Opening Number from 2011 (notice him just rolling with it when Brooke Shields butchers her part):
Harris’ Opening Number from 2012:
Now, imagine me smiling just a little too widely and displaying my hands in front of me in a classic Bob Fosse jazz hands pose. That’s how you know I am done. If this were a theater you’d politely applaud. What’s the equivalent of that on a website? Leaving a comment. Hint, hint.