‘Stereophonic’ Cast Will Perform Song At The Tony Awards After All: Online Outcry For The Best Play Nominee Preceded Inclusion

Stereophonic, the David Adjmi play about a 1970s rock band that prominently features the fictional band’s songs, will perform a musical number at the Tony Awards this Sunday after all.

The earlier exclusion of the play from the musical number line-up was publicly questioned by the playwright and widely condemned on social media among fans of the Best Play nominee.

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Traditionally, the musical numbers performed on the Tony broadcast are largely drawn from the Best Musical and Best Musical Revival nominees, which this year include Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, Hell’s Kitchen, Illinoise, Merrily We Roll Along, Suffs, The Outsiders, The Who’s Tommy and Water for Elephants.

But this is no traditional year. Among the 13 nominations earned by the Best Play nominee Stereophonic are two top music-related categories: Best Score (music and lyrics by Will Butler) and Best Orchestrations (Will Butler and Justin Craig).

When Tony organizers recently released the list of planned musical numbers, the absence of Stereophonic, which has released a cast album of songs from the play, drew considerable criticism and consternation. Even playwright Adjmi joined the fray: In a recent X/Twitter response to posters who decried the snub and questioned the reasoning, Adjmi wrote about the show’s producers, “We wanted to perform but they weren’t into it. We tried!”

Today, Tony producers announced that Stereophonic will perform after all. No word on which song of the play’s nameless Fleetwood Mac-style rockers will perform at the ceremony, but fairly safe bets would be either “Masquerade” or “Drive.”

The 77th Annual Tony Awards air Sunday, June 16 (8:00-11:00 PM, LIVE ET/5:00-8:00 PM, LIVE PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S.

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