The Tony Awards opening number Sunday saw Pink suspended from the rafters and lifting Neil Patrick Harris up in the air with her legs while belting, Megan Thee Stallion rapping about a best musical nominee and Lea Michele making jokes about not winning awards.
And then there was the lyric now etched into popular culture: “Gitchie Gitchie Lesley Manville. Gitchie Gitchie Carrie Coon.”
More than 170 performers filled the stage, alongside Tony Awards host Pink, as she guided them through the number, set to a rewritten “Lady Marmalade” that honored Broadway’s leading ladies and included cast members from the season’s shows. This all came together as the brainchild of Dear Evan Hansen and The Greatest Showman composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and Mark Sonnenblick, composer of KPop Demon Hunters‘ “Golden.” (Pasek and Paul also collaborated on last year’s opening number for Cynthia Erivo.)
The three chatted with The Hollywood Reporter about how they convinced nominees to participate (spoiler: it wasn’t hard), that flying moment, getting certain jokes in the telecast and the complicated logistics of bringing it all together for the first time on Sunday.
In the number you have Lea Michele singing the line “We don’t do it for the awards,” after she was not nominated for a Tony Award this season. Was that a tough sell for her, or how did you convince her to do that line?
