On Repeat: Another Year, Another TONY AWARDS
My favorite songs of the year
Happy Tony Day! I am excited because I love theater and I love watching the Tonys, and planting myself in front of that CBS broadcast for 3.5 hours is a very special activity to me (though that said, if Anyone would like to let me in to Radio City to watch it live next year, I would be OVERJOYED). I am also slightly stressed because I’ve seen so many of the shows this season (a deranged number…) and I want, nay, need my predictions to be correct because I’m deeply competitive and opinionated.
Because I have seen a (again, deranged) number of the musicals (all but three of them), I’ve also had the music from them trapped in my head for months. With that, and in no particular order, here are some of my favorite numbers from this season of musical theater.
Please note I had this idea INDEPENDENT of the New York Times doing the same kind of list.
Honorable Mentions: ‘Cassandra’ - The Connector, ‘The Berries and the Plums’ - Three Houses
These two receive the designation of honorable mention because they are Off-Broadway musicals that were a part of last season, but had cast albums that came out this year. ‘Cassandra’ is a clever take on female rage and misogyny in Jason Robert Brown’s musical about a lying journalist. It’s rhythmic, classic JRB, and sung nicely by Hannah Cruz. The other hit from The Connector is Ben Levi Ross’ syncopated 11 o’clock number, ‘The Western Wall.’
I love all of Three Houses, but ‘The Berries and the Plums’ is particularly gorgeous, a tragic lullaby that tells the story of long-gone grandparents fleeing Latvia. So often, the ‘old people’ (respectfully) numbers in musicals are slow or dull, and yet this one is the heart of the show. It’s led beautifully by Ching Valdes-Aran, and she’s backed well by harmonies from the full ensemble. The first time I heard it I cried.
Lucky - Floyd Collins
I think this little earworm might actually be my good luck charm. Like manifesting WORKS when you’re singing “I feel lucky” around the house over and over again - I got it stuck in my head on Tuesday or Wednesday, and since then, I’ve had a quite lucky series of days. It’s a sweet, hopeful ditty (perhaps naively so) in a heavy show, and Lizzy McAlpine’s voice is perfect for the folk-meets-musical theater sound. The new cast album isn’t out yet, but you can listen to Lizzy sing it in the aforementioned New York Times article.
Tell Me, Ernest (and Tell Me, Ernest - reprise) - Death Becomes Her
For all my gripes with Death Becomes Her, the lyricism is phenomenal, and there’s a plethora of deeply clever numbers. I think my favorites are in Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard’s respective ‘Tell Me, Ernest’ and reprise. “So, tell me, Ernest, how much have you seen of me, cinematically? / The roms, the coms, the rom-coms, the dramas, the dramedies, the straight-to-DVDs? / No, really, Ernest, how often have you watched me? /Uh, sporadically” is a delicious rhyme, and I cannot stop compulsively doing the chest (read: boob) slap rhythm Simard does as she sings “It feels good to get that off my chest / I really wish you both the very best.”
Sunset Boulevard - Sunset Blvd.
This is far and away NOT the best song in Sunset Boulevard, but because star Tom Francis sings it out on the streets of New York, it is the most iconic. Nothing beats the experience of putting in headphones, turning up the volume, and storming your way through Times Square pretending that you are actually Francis, being filmed and projected onto the giant screen inside the St. James Theater.
Hitting the Road, Pt. 1 - Maybe Happy Ending
Maybe Happy Ending has a lot of cute numbers, but despite the fact that this one has talking (usually not my favorite in a song) and is a bit broken into pieces, I really love it. There’s a certain hopefulness to it that I really like, and Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen have some lovely harmonies (its particularly fun that they keep switching who is on the high one and who is on low).
Where I Wanna Be - Boop!
Although Jasmine Amy Rogers wins you over almost immediately as Betty Boop in Boop! The Musical, its in this number that she becomes a bonafide star. From the first chord, shes commands the stage with wit, charm and humor. In fact, she’s so good in this song that you almost forget that the man standing next to her is doing perhaps the worst job of pretending to play the trumpet I’ve ever seen. What a delight to watch, and what a delight to hear her sing it.
Some People - Gypsy
I have always been an Audra McDonald as Mama Rose Truther, and I think she sounds really excellent on all her songs in the show, but there’s a reason they’ve used this one for all the marketing. It’s got such a nice pace to it, McDonald builds emotion throughout beautifully, and the number sets up every other number she sings - this is the THEE ‘I Want’ song, and nothing compares.
Wish I Were Here - Next to Normal (UK)
Okay, we are cheating here, but the pro-shot of the UK production of Next To Normal just became available on PBS Great Performances (its free, you can watch!), and the cast album came out last week. There are indeed a number of great performances in it (and also one actor who sounds like Kermit the Frog when he sings), but the number that’s been stuck in my head the most is the act 2 opener, ‘Wish I Were Here,’ which sees mother and daughter both fighting their demons. It’s got great (impossible to learn) harmonies, a pop rock vibe, and a delicious sense of urgency.
Normal - Dead Outlaw
I wrote about this one recently, but it’s a beautiful sensitive love song about settling down (and as I wrote before, it has a nice train chugging drum pattern throughout). I love Andrew Durand, Jeb Brown, Julia Knitel’s voices together - the harmonies are so simple and yet they give me goosebumps.
Dead - Dead Outlaw
On the more loud and aggressive side of Dead Outlaw, we have the second song in the show, a rabble rousing reminder that we’ll all die someday. It’s funny, it’s catchy, it has an acoustic clapping section - what’s not to like?!
Green Light - John Proctor is the Villain
Cheating again, but this is my list and I make the rules. On its own, Lorde’s ‘Green Light’ is one of her finest songs, with a steady build throughout to an explosion of music and angst and heart. In pop culture, it’s even better. It was used perfectly in Nick and Jess’ grand romantic gesture moment in New Girl, and it is used even better in John Proctor is the Villain. [Spoilers] In the play, when asked why the young women/witches of The Crucible might choose to dance in the woods, if not for demonic reasons, one student offers that “maybe it was the only way to deal with their lives,” and that is exactly what happens at the end of the play. These brave, messy girls have spent two hours onstage telling us what they think, how they think, and what they need, and finally words aren’t enough - they have to use their bodies to share how they feel. It’s cathartic, exhilarating, and it’s set to ‘Green Light.’ It might just be my very favorite musical moment of the season.
That’s all! For those needing details to tune into the Tonys, you can find them on CBS or Paramount+ tonight! The pre-show and design awards start at 6:40, the main show is at 8pm. Enjoy, and may my predictions be perfectly accurate!