This year's Tony Awards got me to thinking of memorable moments from past telecasts…
This is a clip I've featured before on this site but it's been it's been fourteen years so why not? It's from the Tony Awards ceremony in 1990 which they opened with a scene from the musical Grand Hotel, which was running then on Broadway. An actor named Michael Jeter, whose life had once hit rock bottom due to substance abuse, made an amazing personal comeback in that show. In it, he played a bookkeeper who was dying but still managed to perform an amazing, energetic dance number. The role and the win led to much bigger things for Mr. Jeter.
You'll see that number — the other man in it is Brent Barrett — and then you'll see the opening titles for that Tony broadcast. Sit through that (or fast forward) because the first award presented is the category for which Mr. Jeter was nominated. Spoiler alert: He wins…and his acceptance speech will moisten your eyes…