Cynthia Erivo sang a song with the lyrics that “sometimes all you need is a song” for a rousing opening of the 2025 Tony Awards. The Wicked star, who won a Tony herself for her role in the 2015 revival of The Color Purple, is hosting the 78th annual event live from Radio City Music Hall.
As she made her way to the stage, she met up with presenter Oprah Winfrey for a pep talk; together they recreated the finger-grabbing meme that went viral, which originally featured her Wicked co-star Ariana Grande.
Erivo was backed by a full choir, and Kristin Chenoweth, Aaron Tveit, and Adam Lambert provided assists from the audience for the opening number.
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Early in the broadcast, there was also a fun reunion: Bill & Ted, a.k.a. Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves who are not yet starring on Broadway, but will be soon, were the first presenters of the night, which was bestowed on Best Performance of a Leading Actress winner Sarah Snook for her performance in The Picture of Dorian Gray.`
The actors, who starred in three Bill & Ted films (and voiced the animated TV series spinoff) including the most recent Face the Music in 2020, are next teaming up on Broadway as Estragon (Reeves) and Vladimir (Winter) in a revival of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The Jamie Lloyd-directed production officially opens on Sept. 28 at Hudson Theatre, with preview performances beginning on Sept. 13. The limited engagement is set to run through Jan. 4, 2026.
From Rolling Stone US
