In 2020, we have all suffered through a lot together. From the Australian fires and coronavirus, to murder wasps and the injustice to the Black community, 2020 has been a crazy and unforgiving. Brent and I began 2020 by living in New York City for a month and living our best theatre life. It’s crazy to think that just a few months later, the lights of Broadway were switched off, and these shows couldn’t be a part of the greatest event of the theatre year. A monumental event for the performance community was the shutting down of Broadway. I never thought in my lifetime that I would see the greatest theatre experience be put on hold for months on end. And because Broadway was shut down, the great Tony Awards were cancelled.
While we wait for Broadway to reopen and (hopefully) see another Tonys next year, I asked my followers of @resonantvoiceonline on Instagram what their favourite Tony Awards performances were.
Here are some of my favourite responses.
1. Resonant Voice with Freya Meredith student Sam with Hadestown from the 73rd Annual Tony Awards, who swept the Tony Awards including Best Musical, Direction, Original Score and, my favourite Best Lighting Design, because man, they are gorgeous!
2. Jess came in strong with their response: Something Rotten, who were nominated for 10 catergories!
3. Georgia expressed her love for the 2014 revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, when it’s two leading stars, Neil Patrick Harris and Lena Hall, won Tonys!
4. Zippie admitted that she was a fan of the revival of Once on this Island, a theatre in the round production that won Best Revival of a Musical!
5. Allira couldn’t choose between Billy Elliot, who won 10 of the 15 Awards they were nominated for…
…and Newsies, who obviously won for best choreography (because we all do this every time I get a newspaper, right?)
6. Resonant Voice fan Zoe loves Spring Awakening, whose both Broadway productions were nominated for several Tonys. We couldn’t choose between each production, so why not have both?
7. Resonant Voice friend Alex fan-girled over Katrina Lenk’s performance in The Band’s Visit, who won the Tony Award of Best Actress in a Musical.
8. Resonant Voice with Freya Meredith student Rory was also another person who couldn’t decide on their favourite Tonys performance, so they elected Next to Normal, in which the incredible actress Alice Ripley won her Tony Award…
…and the ill-fated Beetlejuice, whose Australia’s own Eddie Perfect was nominated for Best Original Score…
…and Green Day’s American Idiot, who won 2 of the 3 Awards they were nominated for!
10. Tammy also couldn’t decide on her exact favourite performance, so here are her top 3 choices! First, of course, we have Hamilton, who decided to perform without the use of guns in light and solidarity of the 49 victims who lost their lives in the Pulse nightclub shooting just hours before…
…we then we have Bullet over Broadway, whose performance features the late Nick Cordero, who was nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and who recently lost his battle with complications to COVID-19. After watching his incredible performance, please consider donating to This GoFundMe to help support his wife Amanda and baby Elvis: https://au.gofundme.com/f/support-amanda-kloots-nick-cordero-amp-elvis …
…Last of Tammy’s choices, we have the revival of West Side Story, in which Karen Olivo won her first Tony Award.
10. And at number 10, Resonant Voice student Alice shared her love for the Frozen Tony Awards performance, who were nominated for 3 awards.
What are your favourite Tony Award performances? I hope that next year we can all join together and celebrate Broadway in the biggest theatre event of the year!