For musical theatre fans across the globe, the Tony Awards offer us a chance to get a glimpse of Broadway. This year's Tony performances are especially anticipated, thanks to a certain historical sensation that's gripping the nation. Never fear, fans and friends, Hamilton will perform at the Tony Awards according to Playbill. The ceremony traditionally features performances from the nominated musicals and revivals, and this year will be no different.
According to Vulture, each musical gets approximately three and a half minutes to perform. So it won't be the whole show, just an invariably awesome Hamil-tease. I know that a lot of us would just prefer Hamilton Live! to the actual Tony Awards but hey, it's not all bad news — this just means that those who tuned into the Tony Awards to see Hamilton perform will also get the chance to discover some of the other awesome musicals and performers working on Broadway right now. There are so many!
Hamilton is groundbreaking, wonderful, and probably the most important contribution to American musical theatre in the last 20 years, but the night still belongs to Broadway. Other performances include shows like Spring Awakening, Bright Star, The Color Purple, Fiddler On The Roof, Shuffle Along, She Loves Me, School of Rock, and Waitress — with an additional performance from Gloria Estefan and the cast of On Your Feet.
So, what will Hamilton perform to represent this show? I mean, if I had my dream, the cast would do the six-minute long Act I closing number "Non-Stop" in full, at which point I would melt into a puddle of pure joy and a little anxiety. However, here are the best clues and my own educated guesses as to what we can expect.
"Wait For It"
Hamilton ensemble member and understudy Sydney Harcourt took some Instagram pictures and videos during the cast's rehearsal for their Tony performance that give us a hint at what's coming. So we know that this bit of Burr's chilling song "Wait For It" is part of the performance. Yay!!
"It's Quiet Uptown"
Leslie Odom Jr. may have give us another clue in his vlog for Broadway.com which shows the cast rehearsing this song from the second act. (The clip is about 7 minutes into the video). It's an interesting choice, a little dark, but would definitely showcase a different side of Lin-Manuel Miranda as a performer and the amazing ensemble. Granted, they may have been rehearsing for a lot of things that day. Broadway casts rehearse all the time to stay fresh, to help work in understudies and new cast members — this isn't a definitive thing!
Probably A Medley
Even "Alexander Hamilton," which the cast performed at the Grammy Awards, doesn't really showcase the individual talents of every nominated actor. My guess is that Jonathan Groff, who is nominated for his role as King George but no longer in the show, will appear in character with host James Corden for some kind of bit instead of performing with the cast. Up for Tony Awards besides Groff, Miranda, and Odom Jr. are Daveed Diggs, Chris Jackson, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Phillipa Soo. That's a lot! So they're probably gonna do a few bits and pieces strung together.
My guess for other featured songs is"The Schuyler Sisters" and maybe either "Guns and Ships" or "What'd I Miss" — depending on if they want to showcase Diggs as Lafayette or Jefferson. It's a good thing that this isn't up to me, because I just don't know. The end of "Take a Break" would also be good fgood opportunity for the female cast members to show off their talents, though if "It's Quiet Uptown" is Eliza's moment, maybe we'll get some "Satisfied" as well. There are too many choices!
Of course, I trust Hamilton to come up with something and make it awesome. Between Miranda, director Tommy Kail, and music director/orchestrator Alex Lacamoire — who can mashup Hamilton with Game of Thrones and your favorite Star Wars tunes (above) and pretty much do anything, the Hamilton performance at the Tony Awards will be one to remember.
