Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel performed together at Madison Square Garden in New York in 2009.
The Tony Awards has announced a list of people who will be participating in the awards ceremony on Sunday at Radio City Music Hall in New York And Billy Joel is on the list.
Hmmm. Joel has some history with Broadway, via the 2002 jukebox musical “Movin’ Out” (for which he co-won the Best Orchestrations award). And he’s a longtime friend of Bruce Springsteen, and has performed with him on a number of special occasions, through the years.
Will he be the one to give Springsteen his Special Tony, for “Springsteen on Broadway”? That would be my prediction. (A Tony spokesperson said she was unable to confirm or deny.)
Others who will be making appearances include Chita Rivera, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tina Fey, Amy Schumer, John Leguizamo, Kerry Washington, Christine Baranski, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jeff Daniels, Robert De Niro, Brandon Victor Dixon, Patti LuPone, Katharine McPhee, Matthew Morrison, Kelli O’Hara, Bernadette Peters, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Uzo Aduba, Matt Bomer, Claire Danes, Armie Hammer, Tatiana Maslany, Leslie Odom, Jr., Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells, Melissa Benoist, Erich Bergen, Rachel Bloom, Rachel Brosnahan, Tituss Burgess, Ming-Na Wen and Christopher Jackson.
Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban will co-host the ceremony. Tickets are still available via Ticketmaster, here.
The list of performers has not been announced yet for the ceremony, which will be broadcast live on CBS television. Presumably Springsteen will perform, but there’s no definitive word on that yet.
Though confirmed as a Special Tony winner, Springsteen will not compete for any other awards during the ceremony. According to Tony rules, the Special Tony honors “a live theatrical event that … does not fit into any other category of Tony Award to be awarded for the current season.”
For information, visit tonyawards.com.
Here is a video of Springsteen and Joel performing together at Madison Square Garden, in 2009:
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