NY Public Library for the Performing Arts Curator Doug Reside on Musical Numbers at The Tony Awards

BroadwayWorld.com continues our exclusive content series, in collaboration with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, which delves into the library's unparalleled archives, and resources. Below, check out a piece by Doug Reside (Lewis and Dorothy Cullman Curator for the Billy Rose Theatre Division) on Shakespeare + Musical Theater:

The opening number of the 2013 Tony Awards -- performed by Neil Patrick Harris and with lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda -- was widely praised with the sort of enthusiasm usually reserved for the shows the ceremony celebrates. For those who don't remember or didn't see it, this was the number that included the tear-jerking-for-the-theater-kids lines:

"There's a kid in the middle of nowhere

Who's sitting there living for Tony performances [...]

So we might reassure that kid,

And do something to spur that kid,

'cause I promise you, all of us up here tonight,

We WERE that kid!"

The Broadway theater is a strange art form. It is hyper-localized to about ten New York City blocks, but, through cast recordings, national tours, and licensed scripts and scores performed by high schools and regional theaters, is an international industry. Yet, for most around the world the newest Broadway works exists mostly in the form of buzz on Internet chat forums, the occasional song sung on a morning or late-night talk show, and, articles on publications like this very website. But once a year, Broadway is granted a full 2-3 hours on network television and the nation's far-flung theater fans get a glimpse of performances from the nominated musicals of the past season.

These Tony Award performances join original cast recordings as the most widely distributed documentation of a production. For this reason, they are incredibly important as a marketing tool. The awards show is broadcast just as many tourists with summer vacation plans to visit New York are making their final decisions about which tickets to purchase, and it introduces potential audiences at regional touring venues to the musicals that may populate the next year's season. Constructing the right musical number to represent the show on the awards broadcast is, therefore, a crucial decision for producers and directors.

The number selected is frequently the climactic moment in the show, when a big decision comes to a head and the protagonist sings loudly about the options in front of him or her. In 2003, Wicked performed "Defying Gravity" and in 2011 The Book of Mormon performed the musically (and structurally) similar "I Believe." Of course, the climactic moment comes later in the show, and so some productions feature a short part of the opening number as well. For their respective Tony performances, in 1983 Cats opened with a bit of "Jellicle Cats" before transitioning to Betty Buckley singing "Memory," and in 1987 Les Miserables began with a bit of "At the End of the Day" before finishing with "One Day More."

Bringing a set and a large cast to perform on the Tony Awards can be expensive, though. For this reason, musicals that have already closed by the time the televised ceremony airs, or are struggling commercially, or aren't favored to win will sometimes feature a small scene with a solo and relatively few actors, often opting to feature other elements or people in the production who may have been nominated. Caroline, or Change which never reached 65% of its gross potential during its entire run and was unlikely to win the best musical award in a season that included both Wicked and Avenue Q, featured a solo by nominated actress Tonya Pinkins in a performance of "Lot's Wife." The 1999 revival of You're A Good Man Charlie Brown showcased the nominated and soon-after award-winning Kristin Chenoweth and her comic number, "My New Philosophy." The same year, Parade, which had closed by the time of the ceremony, used nominated actor Brent Carver's solo "This is Not Over Yet," which included a brief duet with nominated actress Carolee Carmello. The selection of the song also suggested that the life of the musical itself was "not over yet"--a reference Alfred Uhry pointed out after receiving his award: "You're gonna hear a song later from Parade called 'This Isn't Over Yet,' and it's my honor to announce tonight that Parade isn't over yet either. Parade is going to reopen next June in Atlanta, it's gonna tour for a year."

The selected number must also fit into a prescribed time limit set by the producers of the awards show. The time allowed is not always divided equally. In 2001, Mel Brooks's mega-hit, The Producers, was allowed five minutes to perform a lengthy medley of songs, while the struggling Jane Eyre was permitted less than three minutes to perform an abridged version of the act one finale. Composer Paul Gordon remembers that the music director felt so pressured by the time crunch that he "actually played the song 'Sirens' faster than it needed to be played" making the song feel even more rushed. The musical director had reason for concern, though: two years prior one Tony-nominated show, Ain't Nothin' But the Blues didn't even get a performance slot when the ceremony ran long and the producers cut the scheduled performance mid-broadcast.

As of this writing, the performances for this season's awards show have not yet been announced, but it's possible to guess what kinds of numbers might be featured. Shows with nominated cast members will likely feature those actors. Most will select big, up-tempo production numbers. It's been a strong season, and I suspect that, whatever numbers are selected, this year's show will be one of the most entertaining in years.

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