Top Ten Tony Awards Performances - Part Two - Honorable Mentions

It's hard to identify just ten performances from the Tony Awards.  So, here are four amazing performances that just missed the cut.  I think each does its main job - making you think "I HAVE GOT TO SEE THIS SHOW!"

Annie 1977.  Today, most musicals only get 4-5 minutes to perform.  This medley is nearly 11 minutes!  If you want to know why Annie was a huge hit - and wasn't always considered a sacharine show, watch this medley.  In the Easy Street segment, you will see why Dorothy Loudon won the Tony Award for her performance as Miss Hannigan.

Side Show 1998.  This show was a financial flop.  In 2014, the show was revived with alterations - what is sometimes called a "revisal".  It also flopped.  But, the score has lived on - and this clip helps explain why.  Side Show was about the Hilton Sisters - conjoined twins who became stars in vaudeville.  The show had closed months before the Tony Awards, but the stars Alice Ripley("Violet" on the right) and Emily Skinner ("Daisy" on the left) came on the broadcast, without costumes or sets, and let loose on one of the show's two power ballads - "I Will Never Leave You".   Alice Ripley actually flubs an early line but Emily Skinner covers the error.

The Wedding Singer 2005.  This was a musical version of the Adam Sandler movie.  The show was struggling at the box office, but this opening number with its high energy and catchy tune and lyrics set the box office aflame the day after the broadcast.  However, the rest of the show paled in comparison and the show was not a financial success.  But this opening number always brings a smile to my face.

Ragtime 1998.  E. L. Doctorow's sprawling novel was given the musical treatment in 1998.  The first number in the show is nearly 10 minutes long - but for the Tony presentation, it was cut down to four minutes and restaged.  Still, you get an accurate sense of the immenseness of the show - even without sets!