As a challenging, unprecedented year draws to a close, theatre artists are looking ahead to much-needed good news on the horizon, namely, Broadway's 2021 return. We heard from some of the 2020 Tony Award nominees expected to be back on the boards when Broadway reopens—either on stage or behind the scenes—to find out the moments from their shows they are most looking forward to sharing with audiences again. Read what they had to say below.
Simon Baker
Best Sound Design of a Play, A Christmas Carol
There are so many great moments in Matthew Warchus’ production of A Christmas Carol—everyone always remembers the cast chatting to the crowd pre-show, or the delivery of Christmas as sprouts parachute through the air. Here’s a tiny moment that's easy to miss: The show is all about the ghosts showing Scrooge the light. When the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come shows him Tiny Tim's future, Scrooge keeps trying to blow out the lamp—metaphorically and literally. When he realizes he can't, he tries to hide the lamp he's holding (that refuses to be blown out) under his coat. There’s a tiny sound effect of fabric being twirled mixed with a bass drum roll. It gives Scrooge's cloak real weight and makes the move feel like it's happening in slow motion. I love those tiny details we put into shows. On their own, they are something and nothing, but when they all come together, something magic happens.
Danny Burstein
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical, Moulin Rouge!
I think I’m most looking forward to my first entrance, where Zidler welcomes the audience to the theatre. Zidler invites them in like an old friend. No matter their shape, size, color, orientation, or occupation, everyone is welcome. I love that. And I think we’re all starved for that special place of inclusion where, as Harold Zidler says, 'all your dreams come true.' When I first see the audience’s beautiful, beaming faces, I may just burst into tears of joy.
Celia Rose Gooding
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, Jagged Little Pill
The first performance of "Hand in My Pocket" once we’re back is going to be something really special. I always look forward to that song in the show. It's one of the few moments we get to see Frankie live in some joy, so getting to live in that joy, combined with the joy of being back on stage, I know Lauren and I are really going to soak it all in.
Rob Howell
Best Scenic Design of a Play and Best Costume Design of a Play, A Christmas Carol
I can’t wait for the next festive season to welcome our production of A Christmas Carol back to Broadway and the road. There’s so much to be found in some moments of stillness and quiet in this show. It’s a hug when you are not expecting it and kindness in the face of mean spirit that reminds me that life will surprise and change us.
Derek Klena
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical, Jagged Little Pill
I am most excited to perform "You Learn" again for audiences when we return to the Broadhurst. It is a song that praises introspection, acknowledgment, acceptance, growth, and hope. I think we will all be emotional, reconnecting with our audiences and sharing these themes in a new social and political climate.
Sean Allan Krill
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical, Jagged Little Pill
There are so many moments in Jagged Little Pill that I've missed so much in the last nine months, but what I think I’m most excited about performing again is the finale, "You Learn." I always felt such a kinship with the audience in those final moments, like we’d all gone on this wild roller coaster ride together; somewhat challenging and scary, but ultimately hugely fulfilling and exhilarating. We all reached the end together, a little braver and maybe even a little wiser. I really look forward to that feeling of connectedness and sense of communal enlightenment again.
Sahr Ngaujah
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical, Moulin Rouge!
I’m looking forward to performing the encore finale of Moulin Rouge!. There is nothing quite like sharing smiles, laughter, and joyous screams with an enthusiastic Moulin Rouge! audience through a flurry of fresh confetti
Christopher Nightingale
Best Original Score Written for the Theatre, A Christmas Carol
The moment the house lights go up in the auditorium, snow falls across the entire theatre, and a thousand faces look up with pure, childlike joy. It is one of the most extraordinary shared experience I’ve witnessed in a theatre. The music loudly plays out "Joy to the World," and in the best of times many of the audience can’t help crying. I think given everything that’s happened, this moment will be absolutely wonderful to witness again. In terms of the story, it's the start of Scrooge’s redemption. I’ve never thought of him as anything other than a lost soul. He represents so many of us, not as a miser or a misanthrope, but as someone who has somehow gotten lost along the way. His solemn denouncement of misanthropy is what makes this moment of light and happiness so special and so emotional. It’s may be a bit of an obvious part of the show to look forward to, but given what this year has been like, I cannot wait to sit in a theatre again and witness that sense of shared childlike joy.
Elizabeth Stanley
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, Jagged Little Pill
I can’t wait to share both "Smiling" and "Uninvited" with audiences again. Alanis’ songwriting is so brilliant that the songs easily stand alone as solos, but when you add the choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, the story by Diablo Cody, and the direction of Diane Paulus—plus Tom Kitt’s arrangements and orchestrations under the incredible execution of the entire company and live band—well, that is truly the stuff of transcendent theatrical magic! I especially miss sharing the haunting moment of Mary Jane’s "Uninvited." I’ve come to really feel it in my bones as a trio with Kathryn Gallagher and Heather Lang. It’s like they are my limbs, and I almost don’t feel complete performing the song without them!
Myra Lucretia Taylor
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
It’s the end of the show when we are concluding the megamix and we get to look at the audience and give, give, give—and they give back! It’s a moment that makes you glad to be a performer, because you get the feeling that many somebodies are gonna leave the theatre feeling all right!
Aaron Tveit
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, Moulin Rouge!
Besides seeing the shining faces of everyone that works inside the Al Hirschfeld, I can’t wait for the moment right as our show is starting. The audience in our theatre is absolutely buzzing every night at that time after they have walked in to see our set, and our incredible company welcoming them into the world of the Moulin Rouge during the pre-show. And then that bass and downbeat hits, and it all kicks off. I loved that moment every night. I can’t imagine how electric it’s going to feel when we are back.
Hugh Vanstone
Best Lighting Design of a Play, A Christmas Carol
My favorite part in A Christmas Carol is "O Holy Night," which is sung at the end of the first half as Scrooge rails into the night: "I am a great man, do you hear me? A great man." It’s a brilliant juxtaposition of music and text, heightened by Chris Nightingale’s superb musical arrangement of the carol. The moment never fails to move me.
