Last night’s Tony Awards were quite the show, and critics agree, Neil Patrick Harris lived up to his charismatic reputation as an engaging host.
He went way "bigger,"-the theme of his song- this year, with the opening number at the 67th Annual Tony Awards. In the performance, he began by slowly strumming a guitar and singing, drawing inspiration from last season’s musical Once, and then burst into a spectacular show-stopper performance, celebrating and poking fun at the season’s nominated musicals and actors and dancing along the fierce Mike Tyson according to USA Today.
"I can break your heart with a work of art and a song that's quiet and small," Harris sang, "But we're back where we began it all — Radio City Music Hall.So tonight … we might go bigger ... It's Broadway's greatest night and we're raring to go."
According to The Los Angeles Times, the remainder of the Harris’s number exploded with musical theatre excitement and intense stunts to impress the audience, including acrobatic leaps through a hoop, avoiding Mike Tyson as he tried to take a bite of his ear and an impressive disappearing act where he vanished from a box onstage, and quickly reappeared back of the music hall. He made quirky jokes about Tom Hanks, Shia Labeouf, and the movie "Tom Hooper Les Miz close-up."
He started to bring the number to a close with that camera close up on his face singing, "On Broadway, we don't need extreme close-ups to prove we're singing live. We sing live eight shows a week. Check it!"
The audience absolutely loved it, granting him a long and held out standing ovation.
Those watching from home must have been equally impressed, as the Tony broadcast saw a 20% increase in viewers from last year, with 7.2 million viewers turning to the awards this year. It probably didn’t hurt that the following musical number performances and award presenters were some of the highest regarded perfomers A-list celebrities in the business. To judge the video yourself, see below.
Among the numerous awards yesterday, “Kinky Boots” won Best Musical, “Matilda” won Best Book of a Musical, and “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” won Best Play.
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