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[0:00] Moe Brady: Morning Brian! Hi Kate Monster! How's life? Disappointing. You're listening to Tony Telecasts from The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out.

[0:06] Aaron Albano: I'm Moe Brady and I'm Aaron Albano. What? No, it sounds stupid. Aw, come on.

[0:17] Moe Brady: When I was little, I thought I would be. What? A big comedian on late night TV. Welcome listeners to our miniseries about the Tonys, bringing you all the drama behind the drama of a theater season in Broadway history. In each podcast episode, we watch a telecast of a previous Tony Awards, not only the performances but the opening and the speeches to see how it reflects the season as a whole. So let's start our second half of the conversation about the 2004 Tony Awards.

[1:07] Aaron Albano: All right, our first nominated performance, Fiddler on the Roof with a mashup of tradition and bottle dance. Oh, well, first we have Tevye walking through the aisles like he's Santa Claus and then we have tradition and the bottle dance. That is such a Radio City Music Hall reference. What'd you think of this performance?

[1:26] Moe Brady: I loved it. But I also love Fiddler on the Roof. Fiddler on the Roof is arguably one of my favorite, if not my favorite show, one of my favorite shows in the musical theater catalog.

[1:36] Aaron Albano: Oh, it is an incredibly well-loved show. This is the fourth of five Broadway revivals so far.

[1:41] Moe Brady: Yeah, not even including the all Yiddish version that we just had off Broadway.

[1:48] Aaron Albano: Right. It had been on Broadway in 1976, 1981, 1990, and 2004. This is the longest time we'd gone without a Broadway revival of Fiddler.

[1:56] Moe Brady: Oh, interesting. Wow. And then the fifth one was 2015, correct?

[2:02] Aaron Albano: Yeah. And we saw the original Jerome Robbins choreography for the opening and for the bottle dance.

[2:09] Moe Brady: Is this where I say I don't love Fiddler on the Roof?

[2:15] Aaron Albano: You can say it whenever you want to.

[2:22] Moe Brady: I think it's long and kind of boring.

[2:26] Aaron Albano: How dare you? I mean, like, I care. I just don't.

[2:32] Moe Brady: That's okay. A lot of people, this is not their favorite.

[2:39] Aaron Albano: They're monsters. I could just use the like 2020 like snipped version where we like took out a half hour of it.

[2:44] Moe Brady: What would you cut though?

[2:50] Aaron Albano: Oh my gosh, all of the pauses. There's just so many pauses.

[2:56] Moe Brady: There aren't that many pauses. In a good production, there are not that many pauses.

[3:02] Aaron Albano: Okay, well, I haven't seen a good production. This is though the highlights in my mind. Tradition and bottle dance. These are the two numbers I can stay awake for in a production of Fiddler on the Roof. Like, they've done a very- I mean, those are definitely like the high energy pieces of the show.

[3:14] Moe Brady: Yeah. I mean, tradition is like arguably as an opening number. It's arguably on par with like a ragtime opening in terms of like establishing the world that we're living in.

[3:23] Aaron Albano: Oh, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. These are good numbers. And seeing the original Jerome Robbins choreography, everyone loves a bottle dance. I mean-

[3:28] Moe Brady: The bottle dance is wonderful. The bottle dance is like special skills before special skills.

[3:35] Aaron Albano: Accurate. Before they were like, hey, do you have any acro you can share? Show us? They were like, hey. Hey, can you? Can you dance with a Manischewitz bottle on your head? Like, and not drop it? Like, live.

[3:42] Moe Brady: What I do think is funny is that it's like the two joyous moments of the show, right? It's like, hey, everybody, let's forget this is about the persecution of Jews, okay? We're just gonna do happy.

[3:54] Aaron Albano: Yeah, but my favorite character, especially in this dance, is Nahum the Beggar. Because after the bottle dance, he's the one that kicks off the around the world clap, clap, around the world clap, clap. And he is living his goddamn life. Like, it is like the way he arches his back on his around the world, like everyone else is like a sensible, straight back, like up, but like living. He is like, you'd think he was in footloose. He is going for it.

[4:21] Moe Brady: This is the gentleman who's like, I'm on the Tony Awards and I'm dancing at you.

[4:27] Aaron Albano: He did. He did extra stretching that day, I bet. I bet he may have even gone to yoga. Because he was ready. Let's give a little shout out. We have to give a little shout out. This is Thomas Titone. T-I-T-O-N-E. Work. He better live in those rags that he wears in that number. Thomas, oh my gosh, look at all these credits. Um, he was original production, original cast of The Most Happy Fella, My Favorite Year, a swing on the 1994 revival of Carousel, was swing and dance captain on Once Upon a Mattress in 1996. And here he is. Killing it. Killing it on the 2004 Tonys. Selling tickets with that back.

[5:04] Aaron Albano: Second performance of- Carolina Change. Lots of white. Carolina Change, lots of white. So this is the pinnacle of performances in my mind of not showing off a nominee well.

[5:16] Moe Brady: Okay. Because of the vocal health of Tanya Pinkins at the time.

[5:26] Aaron Albano: Okay. I have not seen Carolina Change come at me internet. I do not know what the show is about. So I don't know if this is a good representation of the show. But during this performance, a very talented actor and singer is obviously vocally tired and cracks multiple times. It is disappointing, I think, for everyone.

[5:43] Moe Brady: See, and here's what's interesting. Because before re-watching this telecast, I would have agreed with you. Watching it again, I don't think I agree. Because listening to it again, I don't think she's as vocally problematic as at least my memory remembered. This is very clearly the 11 o'clock number for Tanya Pinkins. This is arguably Rose's turn. Like it has that kind of strength. It has that kind of power in the show.

[6:15] Aaron Albano: It absolutely looks like a Rose's turn.

[6:18] Moe Brady: And watching this as that, there are moments of this number where she has control. She's fine. And I would argue that where I think this performance loses its luster is not her singing. It's the camera work.

[6:33] Aaron Albano: Go for it.

[6:34] Moe Brady: Because juxtaposing this with And I'm Telling You from last week. A, And I'm Telling You, we got context. We got the whole scene before.

[6:42] Aaron Albano: Right.

[6:43] Moe Brady: But while we're watching And I'm Telling You, that camera is on Jennifer Holliday the entire time. We get to see her entire journey because the camera does not leave her. It does not leave her face. This number was filled with like, sweeps and crane shots and camera moves where I was just like, I don't know what's happening. Because A, I didn't get the context. But B, I don't even get to see Tanya Pinkins' journey. Because I'm too busy watching like the crane shot going from left to right around her where she's like, this speck on the stage. And I'm just like, if this is going to be the presentation, let me see the performance.

[7:28] Aaron Albano: What you're saying is that there should have been some Sidney Lucas, Ring of Keys close ups going on here.

[7:35] Moe Brady: Yeah, and infinitely more. This camera work is doing a grand disservice to Tanya. You won an Emmy Award. But you took down Tanya Pinkins in the process. Was it worth it?

[7:48] Aaron Albano: Accurate. And so that's my takeaway from this rewatch. Because I didn't get to see any of her performance. But you don't think about that stuff when you watch it the first time. And you're like, oh, I don't know what this number is about. It must be the actress's fault, which I don't think is true. The defense rests.

[8:21] Moe Brady: Third performance of the evening from a little show called Wicked, it is a unknown number called Defying Gravity.

[8:35] Aaron Albano: I do think if you don't know the show, this explains it well, right? You'd be like, oh, there is a green woman. She is obviously the Wicked Witch of the West. I know who she is. I know there's a woman called Glinda. There's a broom. There's a cape, right? They're doing all of the things to help you see that it is a spin on the Wizard of Oz.

[8:53] Moe Brady: Yeah, 100%. And I don't even know if that's having to do with this performance and just like, the conceit of the show.

[8:59] Aaron Albano: They've done a good job of taking like, it's not a number in the show that I watch and go, oh, that's the Tony performance number. But it does a good job of that.

[9:08] Moe Brady: I would agree.

[9:09] Aaron Albano: And I will say, in Ms. Pinkins' defense, there is some vocal trouble from Ms. Menzel in this number.

[9:16] Moe Brady: Mm hmm.

[9:17] Aaron Albano: Spoiler alert, Aaron was in Wicked. So like, this is also what makes the cherry picker moment iconic, right? Like, I feel...

[9:25] Moe Brady: Oh, 100%.

[9:27] Aaron Albano: Speaking of the power of the Tony Awards, the reason that Elphaba with the broom in her hand and the backlighting is like, the iconic visual of Wicked is because of this performance.

[9:40] Moe Brady: And I would also say that part of the reason that we don't remember what Carolina Change is about is because they don't give you that visual moment in this commercial.

[9:50] Aaron Albano: Sure. This was the kickoff of like, hey, guess what? Wicked's coming to your town. This is what you're gonna see. Like, they chose this moment very specifically because it's the wow moment. I remember the first time I watched Wicked, I think was like, December of 03 before I moved to the city. And like, no one knew about the cherry picker yet. It was not a thing that people knew yet. My sister and I bought tickets to go watch it. We sat in the front row mezzanine and that moment happened and we lost our shit.

[10:22] Moe Brady: I remember Idina, very vividly, I remember Idina started raising on It's Me, vocally fresh, mind you, coming to my eye level at like, the Gershwin balcony. And I was just like, ah, she's flying! I like, lost my mind.

[10:39] Aaron Albano: I would argue that this is what they were going for across the nation. They're ready to give you spectacle. And also, I would argue that the Tony Awards is ready to give you Wicked spectacle too, right? Because this is not the only flashy moment we see from Wicked in the show.

[10:54] Moe Brady: No, not even a little bit.

[10:56] Aaron Albano: The moment where they fly Kristen Chenoweth in, in the bubble for like, a comedic bit.

[11:04] Moe Brady: Yeah.

[11:04] Aaron Albano: Wild. She's in it for like, a minute.

[11:07] Moe Brady: Where did this bubble come from? I have so many questions.

[11:10] Aaron Albano: So many, so many questions. There's no way they had a show this afternoon, and then struck the bubble out of the Gershwin, and then brought it to Radio City, like down the street, and then reloaded it. Like, this is a fresh bubble.

[11:26] Moe Brady: Do you think it was tour bubble?

[11:28] Aaron Albano: I would assume it's tour bubble, as well as that cherry picker was tour cherry picker. I want to say that they built both of them, because at the Gershwin, the cherry picker's in the stage. It's not like they were going to deconstruct their set and like, bring it over. So I was like, okay, between this bubble and this cherry picker, they were ready to go on tour. Wicked knew what they were doing, and Wicked was ready to sell tickets. Where everyone else was like, celebrating theater, Wicked was like, nah girl, like, tickets go on sale tomorrow.

[11:59] Moe Brady: Let's talk about Wonderful Town's performance of Swing.

[12:02] Aaron Albano: Okay.

[12:02] Moe Brady: Which starts with this random...

[12:05] Aaron Albano: Pre-recorded, like, outside on Restaurant Row.

[12:09] Moe Brady: With the full ensemble on Restaurant Row, with like, 15 seconds of pre-number airtime. I was like, who paid for them all to do this? Like, it's all about money for me, and I don't understand it.

[12:15] Aaron Albano: It was, and it was weird. It was like, no one else got this.

[12:22] Moe Brady: Yeah. Okay, well, anyway, continue.

[12:25] Aaron Albano: This is some classic Kathleen Marshall, with some classic, clean, sharp ensemble dancing. I mean, this is like, Kathleen Marshall when we were seeing her do Kiss Me Kate, The Pajama Game, Anything Goes, Nice Work, Wonderful Town. They were all sort of like, Kathleen Marshall did this kind of show, right?

[12:43] Moe Brady: And this is arguably like, the kickoff, because she won, again, for the first time.

[12:49] Aaron Albano: Wow, this is the Tony's that feels both like, yesterday, and like, a long time ago. Loved this, loved this ensemble, and I want to give a shout out, because it features a lot of our friends who are still working. We've got Rick Fogno, we've got Lauren Letero, choreographer of Mrs. Doubtfire.

[13:06] Moe Brady: Everything. Yeah.

[13:08] Aaron Albano: Megan Secora, Jeffrey Schechter, like, we've got some like, high quality, like...

[13:13] Moe Brady: Veterans.

[13:13] Aaron Albano: Yes, veterans of the Broadway stage.

[13:16] Moe Brady: Yeah.

[13:16] Aaron Albano: Dancing very well.

[13:17] Moe Brady: Oh, they look great.

[13:31] Aaron Albano: Go to extreme!

[13:33] Moe Brady: Assassins! Man, what was your first thought when you were watching this performance of Everybody's Got the Right from The Assassins Revival?

[13:38] Aaron Albano: My first thought was, wow, watching this in 2020, this number is chilling as fuck. There are so many guns. Just an all-white cast, happy with their guns. And I was just like, yo, I don't know, man.

[14:04] Moe Brady: Which again, and it's awkward because I know this show, I know this is a wonderful show. But like, just watching it in this cultural moment, this is a lot.

[14:10] Aaron Albano: I don't think I need this.

[14:16] Moe Brady: It's a lot to watch a lot of white people point guns at you.

[14:23] Aaron Albano: It's very uncomfortable.

[14:27] Moe Brady: I was like, sure, do we need it? I mean, and again, at the time, this was in the middle of like, George W. Bush.

[14:28] Mo Brady: Like at the end of his first term, unbeknownst at the time, going into his second term.

[14:33] Aaron Albano: And this revival was supposed to be done in 2001 and was postponed after the September 11th attacks.

[14:39] Mo Brady: Ah, interesting.

[14:41] Aaron Albano: It's like a show there's never a good time for.

[14:44] Mo Brady: Well, I mean, but like, it's better. Better. What is that word? But like, back then, because of the events of the day, American patriotism was very high. Watching it in 2020, sitting here, where arguably American patriotism is not so high.

[15:02] Aaron Albano: Particularly among theatergoers, I would say.

[15:06] Mo Brady: Yeah, yes, yes. It was rough. It was rough. Whoever does a revival of this next, after this cultural moment, is gonna have a job to do.

[15:18] Aaron Albano: Well, it was scheduled to be a classic stage company earlier in 2020. So I guess we'll see.

[15:24] Mo Brady: We'll see.

[15:24] Aaron Albano: We'll see how that goes.

[15:25] Mo Brady: We'll see how it goes.

[15:27] Aaron Albano: Man, I'm already distressed. Like, just stressed about talking about the show.

[15:33] Mo Brady: And it's a great show. But it's just like, it's, it was a rough watch.

[15:40] Aaron Albano: In terms of lighter fare.

[15:55] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[15:55] Aaron Albano: The Boy From Oz. Host Hugh Jackman, singing The Boy Next Door.

[16:00] Mo Brady: Broadway delight, Hugh Jackman.

[16:02] Aaron Albano: Is there a, I didn't see this show. Is there a scene in the show where he performs from Radio City? Because he's definitely mentioning that he's at Radio City.

[16:11] Mo Brady: 100% no. 100%. Well, not 100%. I did see the show. I'm going to say like 90% no.

[16:16] Aaron Albano: So this was a full like, production for the Tonys.

[16:21] Mo Brady: Like we weren't showcasing the show. We were showcasing Hugh.

[16:23] Aaron Albano: Yeah, I got that feeling because we only saw Hugh and I would guess maybe the band from the show and three backup singers. So this is a terrible showcase for the show.

[16:33] Mo Brady: And yet is perhaps the most enjoyable number to watch. Come at me.

[16:38] Aaron Albano: Well, he was unencumbered by a time limit. That's for sure.

[16:41] Mo Brady: Oh, for sure. The non time limit section is he goes out into the audience. I assume this happened in the show. He brought someone up from the house and like, did a moment.

[16:47] Aaron Albano: No, that wasn't a thing.

[16:52] Mo Brady: No.

[16:53] Aaron Albano: Oh my gosh.

[16:53] Mo Brady: This isn't a thing. This is literally a Tony Awards special.

[16:57] Aaron Albano: Okay, so he comes out into the audience. He picks Sarah Jessica Parker to come up on to like the little mini stage, the mini stage, and gets her to like do dance moves with him.

[17:10] Mo Brady: And she is in her own personal nightmare.

[17:12] Aaron Albano: It is honestly great TV. The moment where she's like covering her eyes. No, she's like closed her eyes. She's covering up her chest because she very clearly is afraid that she's going to pop out of the like, corset top of her ballerina inspired.

[17:29] Mo Brady: Uh huh. And she mentions like the wardrobe malfunction from JT and Janet Jackson.

[17:36] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[17:37] Mo Brady: Where she's like on this network, we can't have it happen again.

[17:40] Aaron Albano: It was one of the like the most enjoyable like this is real. Like we are really watching this moment between that and the LL Cool J, Carol Channing part. I was like, this is fun.

[17:51] Mo Brady: This was great. I mean, but it was great TV. It was absolutely great TV.

[17:54] Aaron Albano: 100%

[17:54] Mo Brady: What's the show about? Unclear. It's about...

[17:57] Aaron Albano: It's about you.

[17:58] Mo Brady: It's about Hugh Jackman winning a Tony Award. Fantastic.

[18:00] Aaron Albano: It's about you. Yes.

[18:02] Mo Brady: Our final Avenue Q. It sucks to be me.

[18:07] Aaron Albano: Avenue Q is a show for Republican administrations. It starts out with a question and answer where...

[18:15] Mo Brady: I hate you.

[18:16] Aaron Albano: Brian asks, how's life? And Kate replies, disappointing. I was like, I'm here. We're here, folks. Uh-huh.

[18:26] Mo Brady: Show for 2020. Brian says it sucks to be broke and unemployed and turning 33. And I was like, it does.

[18:34] Aaron Albano: Accurate.

[18:35] Mo Brady: Other than feeling wildly topical, what was your interpretation of this performance?

[18:41] Aaron Albano: This was definitely the show this season that was like the odd man out in every way. Like everything else was like glitz and glamour, camels, cherry pickers, like all these things. And this one was like puppets where you could see the puppeteers. Everything about it just like hit like in the most nostalgically beautiful ways. And then on top of it being hysterical.

[19:03] Mo Brady: Right. We see Jeffrey Seller, one of the producers, when it wins for Best Musical saying, thank you, Broadway, for voting for your heart.

[19:09] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[19:10] Mo Brady: Which he emphasizes the word heart, which made me go versus...

[19:14] Aaron Albano: Cherry pickers and bubbles.

[19:16] Mo Brady: Right, right.

[19:17] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[19:17] Mo Brady: For someone who liked Avenue Q a lot, has not listened to Avenue Q in 10 years, watching this performance, I was like, this weathers well. This is a good show and a good Tony performance.

[19:31] Aaron Albano: It's a wonderful Tony performance. It tells you what the show's about. It features all of its characters and they all get good laughs. You feel like they have a good time. Like my favorite takeaway from watching this again, watching it again and watching it now, without the drama and like the assumption that Wicked was going to win. Honestly, we should have known.

[19:52] Mo Brady: Well, it's interesting that Wicked was the presumptive winner because it was the big juggernaut that would tour well, that families could go to. And now when we think about what wins Best Musical, it's really small musicals that win Best Musical. It's Dear Evan Hansen, it's The Band's Visit, it's...

[20:11] Aaron Albano: Hadestown, yeah.

[20:11] Mo Brady: Like small musicals triumph. And this was sort of the start of that, I feel.

[20:17] Aaron Albano: I feel like that's right. Well, and especially this is the one that was like, had this stayed off Broadway, everybody would have been happy. But it was just that good that they were like, let's bring it to the... where were they? The Golden?

[20:29] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[20:29] Mo Brady: Let's bring it to the Golden and just see what happens. With all of these newcomers, it's truly where the show sort of stands on its own.

[20:37] Aaron Albano: These people, Stephanie DiBruggio, Jennifer Barnhart, John Tartaglia, Rick Lyons, these are from like the Sesame Street Muppet World. They're not part of us, and yet like they made the best theater this year.

[20:50] Mo Brady: Yep.

[20:50] Aaron Albano: It's great. And like, we should have known. That's my point. We should have known.

[21:08] Mo Brady: All right. It's time for our Yelp review.

[21:13] Aaron Albano: Let's do our Yelp review.

[21:14] Mo Brady: Our non-sanctioned Yelp review.

[21:17] Aaron Albano: So, Mo, which performance made the show look better than it was?

[21:20] Mo Brady: I'm going to go with Fiddler because it showed you all the high octane parts and none of the boring parts, which is most of the show.

[21:28] Aaron Albano: But maybe you convinced me that it's actually the Boy From Oz now that I've learned that what we saw was not actually from the show.

[21:36] Mo Brady: Yeah, because my answer is 100% Boy From Oz because Hugh Jackman, the musical, looks awesome. And it would make me want to buy tickets for the Boy From Oz.

[21:47] Aaron Albano: Having seen Boy From Oz, from what I remember, it's moderate, but Hugh Jackman is fantastic and well-deserved his Tony.

[21:56] Mo Brady: Okay. Well, speaking of well-deserved, what made you want to buy a ticket? Which performance made you want to buy a ticket?

[22:03] Aaron Albano: I would say Avenue Q because the performance was fantastic. But I'd also say Fiddler just because I love Fiddler.

[22:09] Mo Brady: Oh my gosh. It's Avenue Q. It's 100% Avenue Q.

[22:14] Aaron Albano: But Fiddler's great.

[22:15] Mo Brady: But yeah, but Avenue Q, probably. Final answer, Avenue Q.

[22:19] Aaron Albano: Yes.

[22:20] Mo Brady: Which speech moved you the most, Mo?

[22:22] Aaron Albano: You know, remembering back, I thought it was going to be Jeff Witte because I think it meant something for me as a young homosexual man to see a young homosexual man cry tears of joy on television.

[22:35] Mo Brady: Okay.

[22:36] Aaron Albano: But I was going to say that until I watched Felicia Rashad win for Raising in the Sun because who doesn't want to see their mom win an award?

[22:44] Mo Brady: No. Yes. Yeah.

[22:47] Aaron Albano: The audience erupts. Condola Rashad gets kissed on the cheek by her mom.

[22:50] Mo Brady: That is the gift that is going to get me through 2020.

[22:54] Aaron Albano: And then she, with her Felicia Rashad reserve, says, I've often wondered what it takes to win this award.

[23:02] Mo Brady: I love that thought that she wanted it. You know, I think we imagine people who are so esteemed don't need awards. And she's like, nah, nah, brah. I wanted that.

[23:14] Aaron Albano: And then to say that it takes tremendous self-effort and amazing grace. And I was like, see, you said you wanted it, but then you said you get it because of being a good person. That's why you're our mom. And we love you.

[23:31] Mo Brady: She's so great.

[23:31] Aaron Albano: What about you?

[23:33] Mo Brady: My answer is the same. Because on top of all of those things, she is the first Black woman to win the Leading Actress in a Play award.

[23:39] Aaron Albano: Wait, what?

[23:41] Mo Brady: Yes. Yeah.

[23:42] Aaron Albano: I hate our history. Our history sucks.

[23:46] Mo Brady: Yeah. In 2004. And so on top of the fact that, like, she might have just wanted this as a brilliant actress, she also wanted this because this would be a glass ceiling she'd be able to shatter. And we watched it happen.

[24:03] Aaron Albano: And it was done by the, like, I mean, on top of the fact that the Allen family is like the family of legends. And they were all literally just sitting right there.

[24:14] Mo Brady: Like, not only was Condola Rashad so happy for her mom, Debbie Allen was happy for her sister. With all joy and nothing else. Like, they were all so proud of her for winning this award.

[24:28] Aaron Albano: It was beautiful. And then on top of that, like, again, watching in a way that only Phylicia Rashad could do, there was equal parts, like, gratitude and movedness, as well as still poise and grace and elegance. Like, it was a spectacular moment.

[24:49] Mo Brady: Yeah, biggest surprise win.

[24:51] Aaron Albano: Honestly, Jeff Witte over Tony Kushner, I think. Not that that Avenue Q book isn't inventive. But just like Tony Kushner is an icon of playwriting, you know, like, yeah, this is the writer of Angels in America. And he wrote...

[25:04] Mo Brady: Oh, yes. Yeah, it is a little shocking.

[25:08] Aaron Albano: Oh no, I agree. 100%. Mine was the same. But like, even more so because both Jeff Witte and Bobby Lopez and Jeff Marks won over Tony Kushner and Janine Tesori. Like, talk about two icons of not even musical theater, just theater in general, right? These are legendary playwrights and composers and Avenue Q won. Honestly, we should have known.

[25:35] Mo Brady: Yes. I mean, the whole night was like going for Avenue Q. So even though the end is a shocker, yeah, it shouldn't have been.

[25:44] Aaron Albano: Yeah, it shouldn't have like, like, now that we've now that we know the history, we're like, oh, duh. Like we should have known. We absolutely should have known.

[25:52] Mo Brady: Would you recommend watching Aaron?

[25:55] Aaron Albano: Yes. 100%. Would you?

[25:57] Mo Brady: Yes, I think this is a quality Tony Awards, right? It feels like a party. You've got the Hugh Jackman, Sarah Jessica Parker moment, which I love. Right?

[26:04] Aaron Albano: You do love that.

[26:10] Mo Brady: You've got a shocking win. And even though we disagree, it is a good opening number. It's not my favorite, but it's a good opening number.

[26:18] Aaron Albano: It's the best opening number. Yeah. So same. I have many, many, many more reasons, like an obnoxious person, but because obviously for the opening, I love the opening. Shout out to Nahum the Beggar yet again, because fierce, like that back was selling tickets and he got my at least second place in my ticket purchasing LL Cool J and Carol Channing because iconic. You're right. Felicia Rashad breaking a glass ceiling because all of these reasons are worth watching, but that alone is worth watching. But the best part and I will take this to my grave is listeners. Mo had never seen this before. Yeah. And I definitely not only warned him about it, but then I also like screenshotted it and sent it to him after I watched it.

[27:08] Mo Brady: If you watch the end best musical Avenue Q wins, everybody's speeching, everybody's gagging, everybody's screaming. At one point in the show, the camera pans out to a big wide shot of the stage. If you pause it at that moment and look up at the proscenium, there is an LED screen that says in big, bold letters, wicked right next to the other LED screen that in big, bold letters says best musical, like the wind shocked everyone, even even the Tony, even the guy running projections.

[27:40] Aaron Albano: All right. So at the end of our first half of our 2004 discussion, we selected the 1976 Tony Awards as our final Tony telecast to watch for this mini series.

[28:01] Mo Brady: Yeah, the ensembles was produced today by me, Mo Brady, and by me, Aaron Albano. Special thanks to Wasif Sami for the background research on this week's Tony season. There are two great ways you can be helping the ensembles right now. One is by becoming a Patreon member at patreon.com slash the ensemble list. And the second is by leaving us a rating and review on Apple podcasts. Even better. Do you have a favorite Tony's telecast that we haven't recapped yet and wish we would tell us about it in that review, and we'll maybe recap it in a future episode. Please follow the ensemble list wherever you listen to podcasts on Spotify, on Apple podcasts, or at bpn.fm, the home of Broadway Podcast Network. You can also follow us on Instagram. Thanks for listening, everybody. Until next time.