The Tony telecast is shaping up and the big winner could well be — “After Midnight.”
No, it’s not going to make off with the award for Best Musical. That, I think, will go to “Beautiful,” the Carole King musical, though I’m starting to detect a little upsurge for “Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.” But “After Midnight” has landed the opening slot on the Tonys, which will be broadcast June 8 on CBS.
Producers covet the opening slot because that’s when ratings are highest. The 1995 Tonys led with a number from “Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” and while the show didn’t win any awards, it ran for five years.
The “After Midnight” segment will feature star turns by Fantasia and k.d. lang, both of whom were in the show, as well as Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight, who’ll join the production this summer.
Hugh Jackman, this year’s host, will probably join them in a rousing rendition of “On the Sunny Side of the Street.”
Sting is also set to appear, performing a song or two from his upcoming musical, “The Last Ship.”
Jessie Mueller will perform a song from “Beautiful,” possibly with King herself. And there’s pressure on four-time Tony host Neil Patrick Harris to perform a song-and-dance routine with Jackman. But Harris is doing a number from “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” so he may not have time to doff the wig and high heels and slip back into his tux. (He’s up for Best Actor in a Musical and is expected to walk off with the award.)
Disney is toying with doing the big number from “Aladdin” — “A Friend Like Me” — but it may be too elaborate to shoehorn into the middle of a live broadcast. As Harvey Fierstein told me after he saw the show, “Where do all those people come from? There are so many of them. You don’t know where to look.”
One final tidbit: The casts of all the shows have been instructed to remain at Radio City Musical Hall after they finish performing their numbers, reportedly to take part in what one source calls a “megafinale,” led by Jackman.
I just might join the Hugh Jackman conga line myself.