![]() ![]() Both men were presented with their awards-Kander by Lin-Manuel Miranda (his collaborator on New York, New York), Grey by his daughter, Jennifer-in the Tonys preshow that was not part of the main broadcast. ![]() Grey, meanwhile, famously won both the Tony and the Academy Award for his portrayal of the Emcee in Cabaret. Along with Fred Ebb, who died in 2004, John Kander made up half of the writing team responsible for Cabaret, Chicago, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and this year’s Big Apple tribute New York, New York, among other shows. This year’s Lifetime Achievement Tonys went to the eminently deserving and appropriately paired duo of John Kander and Joel Grey. ![]() John Kander and Joel Grey Photo: Getty Images The joy and humor that came along with flubs and wrong turns, and watching the pros make things up on the fly, was unexpectedly energizing under the circumstances. Yet in the end, there was value in letting a group of people accustomed to improvising onstage have a little freedom. Due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, the Tonys had been in jeopardy of not airing at all, but a compromise was reached last month to allow them to proceed so long as nothing (besides a countdown and the words “Please wrap up”) appeared on the teleprompters.Īfter a rollicking dance number, DeBose, breathless, attempted to explain the nuances of that agreement to the crowd, which felt like a slightly tedious way to kick off the big show. Hosted by Ariana DeBose, with a preshow of creative and honorary awards cohosted by Julianne Hough and Skylar Astin, the show pointedly opened on DeBose flipping through a binder of blank white pages titled “Script” backstage at the United Palace theater in Washington Heights. At a Tony Awards where the host and presenters were totally unscripted but the wins hewed close to projected favorites, the ceremony managed to feel both predictable and refreshingly spontaneous. ![]()
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