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Broadway’s biggest night may have come and gone, but we are still thinking about that glorious opening number. On Sunday, host P!nk kicked off The 79th Tony Awards with one of the most memorable openings in recent years, a flashy tribute to leading ladies everywhere, written by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Mark Sonnenblick.
Not only did it feature cast members from every nominated musical and musical revival, the number, a showbiz twist on “Lady Marmalade,” also included appearances from frequent Tonys host Neil Patrick Harris, along with standout musical moments from other nominees, such as the always-willing June Squibb. And then, of course, there was a very cheeky reference to Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) from Moulin Rouge! alum Megan Thee Stallion.
But beyond the opening, there were still nearly three hours to fill with musical tributes, showcases, and the main event: the awards. Less than 24 hours after Sunday’s show, BroadwayWorld caught up with Raj Kapoor and Sarah Levine Hall, who, along with Jack Sussman, served as executive producers for this year’s ceremony.
Both Kapoor and Levine Hall are award-winning veterans of live shows, with Kapoor having served as showrunner and executive producer for both the Oscars and Grammys earlier this year, among numerous other events. Levine Hall is no stranger to Broadway, having been involved with a whopping nineteen Tony Awards ceremonies, in addition to her many other credits.
During the interview, Kapoor and Levine Hall expressed their reactions to the big show and its standout moments. The duo also offered insights into the process itself, with Kapoor sharing his experience of producing his very first Tony Awards ceremony and Levine Hall explaining why the annual event never gets old.
This interview has been condensed for clarity and length.
Now that it’s behind you, how are both of you feeling?
Levine Hall: Happy, grateful, relieved. In awe of all the talent that was on the stage. So many things.
Sarah, you have a few Tonys under your belt and Raj, you have, of course, worked on many live events, but this was your first time at the Tonys. How did it compare to other shows and also your own expectations?
Kapoor: You can’t really describe it unless you do it. I’ve watched this show since I was a kid and I’d never even been to the ceremony in person. This year was a real learning curve and Sarah helped me along the way. When you see how all the pieces fit together, it’s absolutely mind-boggling. I think that was my biggest takeaway.
I was really reflecting yesterday when we were putting the numbers together, because the whole [opening] number really came together in about two and a half weeks. What blew me away was that all those 170-some people, not including our cutaways, came to dress rehearsal yesterday. They got to us at 8:00 AM and what people don’t know is that they were actually at their theaters at 6:00 AM to get into their costumes and wigs and makeup. And they all had a show the night before.
They did our camera blocking with us for an hour. We did a full dress rehearsal. Then most of them went away and did a matinee and then they came back and did the Tonys. They basically did eight shows this week, and then in their time off, they came and rehearsed or learned part of their blocking or a little bit of extra choreography if they had those sections. Those Broadway kids work so hard.
People really love being a part of a great show and their dedication to the art form… still brings a little bit of a tear to my eye. I think maybe that’s why the whole opening was so joyful, because you really felt the love that hopefully we had putting the number together, but also the love that they had in celebrating each other. All of them donated their extra time to come and make something beautiful with us. And I think that was one of the biggest takeaways of the show for me this year.
People always talk about the Broadway community as such a family. Sarah, you’ve probably seen this because you’ve been part of several of them, but that seems to be one of the reasons why they’re willing to do all that work, too. They’re around people that they love and in this community of people that they love.
Levine Hall: It’s amazing because I’ve been so lucky to see this in varying degrees over the years and it never gets old. It never lessens. And to get to do it this time with this particular team of people [and] alongside Raj for the first time, was a dream come true.
The show this year was so extra special with the effort of everybody involved, including all of those incredible people in this opening, who just worked their butts off with so much extra stuff over the last few weeks. It’s remarkable, and we’re so grateful.
Kapoor: And so much of that, too, came from our host, P!nk, who was just the most talented, lovely human on the planet. We are so fortunate to work with her. I think her energy just translated through the entire show, but especially through that opening. She wanted to celebrate all those amazing leading ladies and then everybody else, everybody who was nominated in a musical and revival musical, and then found opportunities to have humor and wit and just really celebrate the entire season all in one epic number.
Levine Hall: Her love and respect for this community is so genuine and it telegraphed through the whole night.
She seemed up for anything and very relatable. She made it feel like everybody was in it together and I think that’s an important thing in a host.
Kapoor: I think she was such a fan of everybody who got nominated and the shows. She went to everything. I’ve been scrolling online and you just see her with photos backstage with cast members and it’s just awesome. You even felt that with Neil Patrick Harris coming back and Megan Thee Stallion. Looking at all the pictures today, they just all have so much joy in them. It’s really making me feel awesome.
Levine Hall: The level of connection, the level of community, it’s so needed right now. And that’s the biggest takeaway from last night: what a joy to be able to experience all of these different people coming together to just celebrate and support.
What were the logistics of putting that number together?
Kapoor: It was a masterful schedule and [choreographer] Sarah O’Gleby is one of the reasons I think that number was so successful. Seeing her move all of those people around and then giving them entrances and exits and cameos and quick cutaways. June Squibb came and rehearsed with us twice. And it didn’t matter whether your piece was with three seconds or five seconds or you had four bars, everybody was down to play. I think a few people didn’t know that they were going to have a shout-out and those reactions were so awesome.
Levine Hall: We can’t shout [Sarah] out enough. First of all, she’s a creative genius. She was able to sit with the songwriters and figure out how to bring their gorgeous lyrics and vision and put it onto the stage with all of these moving parts. But the way that she’s able to take that creative vision from A to Z, know exactly what story she’s trying to tell and then break it apart into all of these little intricate pieces and weave them all together into this seven-and-a-half-minute tapestry of joy.
Sometimes in live events, of course, things don’t always go exactly as planned. But was there a moment for either of you where everything felt like it came together as close as possible to your original planned vision?
Kapoor: I think the opening number did it. We were so relieved because it’s honestly so complicated. It’s not only all the choreography on stage and getting everybody to participate. For P!nk, I think it was a really heavy lift with choreography, entrances, exits, all the people that she had to acknowledge and everywhere where she had to actually be on stage and in the theater.
Our kick-ass audio team, who have so many different mics to pick up and mute and make live. And then our amazing directorial team, led by Liz Clare and her AD, Hayley Collett. If you see the scripting of what actually happened and how many shots there are, it really is mind-boggling and they nailed it. We were all wiping away tears at the end of it because I think we were really stressed and then to see it all come together, but also to feel it and that roar of that audience and how long the standing ovation went for.
Levine Hall: It was nice to see how we were able to plan out the rest of the show. The pacing that we intended from the start really let people have a moment to speak in their acceptances. It didn’t feel like people felt rushed or couldn’t speak. There were a couple of different things online today about the acceptance speeches that just landed. Every award show has good speeches, but this one in particular seems to be the show where people can speak to things that harken back to childhood and the journey that it took for them to get into this place. It felt nice that [those] who were in the room and [watching] on TV could feel the joy that started with this incredible opening number and then just carried through the rest of the night.
Kapoor: I wanted to make sure we mentioned Benj [Pasek], Justin [Paul], Mark [Sonnenblick] and [opening creative consultant] Tim Murray. They did such a great job. As soon as they came on board, I think we had a draft two days later. We did a Zoom meeting and were just beaming from ear to ear. They got P!nk on a Zoom about an hour later. She loved it and then we were kind of off to the races and it was being orchestrated and minor tweaks were happening and offers were being made. It was such a team effort between so many people involved in that opening number. The stage management and lighting teams, too. We just want to say thank you to everybody.
The 79th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall were hosted by music superstar and global icon P!NK on Sunday, June 7. The awards were broadcast LIVE to both coasts on the CBS Television Network and are streaming on Paramount+. Check out the full list of winners here.
The opening number was written by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Mark Sonnenblick. Creative consultants for the opening number are Tim Murray and Isaac Josephthal. It was arranged by Sam Davis and orchestrated by Charlie Rosen. Check out the full lyrics to the number here and watch it in full below.
Photo Credit: Michele Crowe/CBS
