It’s the final Friday of Black History Month, and today the category is Tony Awards history. Now, we’ve already looked at the historical Tony winners, so today, BBox flashes back to some of the most notable Tony Awards night performances. Chart musical theatre history from 1967 when the telecast began to 2019 with these 51 videos. (Shout-out to YouTube account MrPoochsmooch for being such a wonderful archivist!)
"Smile, Smile", Hallelujah, Baby!, 1968
“Put On Your Sunday Clothes”/ “So Long Dearie”, Hello, Dolly! Revival, 1968
”Three-Five-Zero-Zero”/ “What a Piece of Work is Man”/ “Let the Sunshine In”, Hair, 1969
“I Got Love”/ “Walk Him up the Stairs", Purlie, 1970
“Just Don’t Make No Sense”/ “Put a Curse on You”, Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death, 1972
“Magic to Do”, Pippin, 1973
Raisin, 1974
“Sweet Georgia Brown”, Bubbling Brown Sugar, 1976
“Ladies Who Sing with the Band”/ “Off Time”, Ain’t Misbehavin’, 1978
“Rockin’ in Rhythm” Sophisticated Ladies, 1981
“Fifty-Fifty”, Tintypes, 1981
“It’s All Over”/ “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”, Dreamgirls, 1982
“Fabulous Feet”, The Tap Dance Kid, 1984
“Muddy Waters”/ “River in the Rain”, Big River, 1985
“This Must Be the Place", Grind, 1985
“Sarafina”, Sarafina!, 1988
“T'Ain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do”/ “That Rhythm Man”, Black and Blue, 1989
“The Human Heart”/ “Mama Will Provide", Once On This Island, 1991
“Five Guys Named Moe”/ “Caldonia”, Five Guys Named Moe, 1992
“That’s How You Jazz”, Jelly’s Last Jam, 1992
“On Broadway”, Smokey Joe’s Café, 1995
“Ol’ Man River”, Showboat Revival, 1995
“Seasons of Love”/ “La Vie Boheme”, Rent, 1996
“Bring in 'da Noise Bring in 'da Funk”, Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk, 1996
“My Body”, The Life, 1997
“The Circle of Life”, The Lion King, 1998
“The Prologue”, Ragtime, 1998
“Wild Party”/ “Welcome to My Party”/ “When It Ends”, The Wild Party, 2000
“It’s Too Darn Hot”, Kiss Me, Kate Revival, 2000
“The Impossible Dream”, Man of La Mancha Revival, 2003
“You Can’t Stop the Beat”, Hairspray, 2003
“Lot’s Wife”, Caroline, or Change, 2004
“Hello No”/ “The Color Purple Reprise”, The Color Purple, 2006
“Keys (It’s Alright)”, Passing Strange, 2008
“Rain”/“Everything Scatter”/ “Upside Down”, Fela, 2010
“Steal Your Rock ‘n’ Roll”, Memphis, 2010
“That’s Life”, Come Fly Away, 2010
“Commencing in Chattanooga”, The Scottsboro Boys, 2011
“Raise Your Voice”, Sister Act, 2011
“Summertime”/ “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’”/ “It Ain’t Necessarily So”/ “I Loves You Porgy”, Porgy and Bess Revival, 2012
“Get Ready”/“Dancing in the Streets”/“I Want You Back”, Motown Medley, 2013
“Everybody Say Yeah”, Kinky Boots, 2013
“It’s All Happening”, Bring It On, 2013
“On Sunny Side of the Street”/ “Rockin’ in Rhytm” , After Midnight, 2014
“Broadway Blues”, Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, 2016
“Yorktown”, Hamilton, 2016
“Mysterious Ways”/ “I’m Here”, The Color Purple, 2016
"We Dance”/“Mama Will Provide", Once On This Island Revival, 2018
"Ain't Too Proud to Beg"/"Just My Imagination"/"I Can't Get Next to You."Ain’t Too Proud, 2019
“It’s Too Darn Hot”, Kiss Me, Kate Revival, 2019
“Rockin’ Jerusalem”, Choir Boy, 2019
