New York ain’t the Windy City, but Radio City Music Hall hosted a star-studded tribute to Chicago on Sunday (June 7) during the 79th annual Tony Awards.
P!nk (2026 Tonys host), Queen Latifah (who played Matron “Mama” Morton in Rob Marshall’s 2002 film adaptation), Whitney Leavitt (who currently plays Roxie Hart on Broadway), Dylan Mulvaney (who recently wrapped a run in Broadway’s Six), Alex Newell (2023 Tony winner and Chicago Broadway veteran) and Julianne Hough (who hosted the 2022 Tonys pre-show) and more participated in a medley of the musical’s best-known songs.
After an introduction and torch passing (“from one mother hen to another”) from Queen Latifah, Newell belted out a song both of them know well: “When You’re Good to Mama.” Newell’s boisterous voice was on full display, making Mama a helluva hard act to follow. But it helps when you have a round-robin of murderesses talking about how they killed the men who had it comin’: “Cell Block Tango,” which everyone (including Jesse Tyler Ferguson in a brief but hilarious cameo) sold with gusto. To wrap it up, P!nk sang Chicago centerpiece song “All That Jazz”: the hardest-rocking pop star served jazz hands, vocal excellence and a bit of the cat who caught the canary energy at the end, clearly living her childhood fantasy on the Tony Awards stage.
“We always come from a theatrical place,” the Grammy winner told Billboard ahead of her Tonys hosting gig when asked about the connection between live theater and her concerts. “I mean, for me, I’m a carney, right? So it’s sort of like a circus, without the animals of course, other than the humans.”
The multi-song performance commemorated 30 years of Chicago on Broadway; while the John Kander and Fred Ebb musical debuted on Broadway in 1975, the current revival opened in 1996 and has been running ever since, making it the longest-running show currently on the Great White Way and the longest-running musical revival ever.
Prior to the Chicago stopover, P!nk opened the 2026 Tonys with an extravagant, hilarious parody of her collaborative 2001 smash “Lady Marmalade” (a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1) rewritten as “Leading Lady Marmalade,” which brought out Megan Thee Stallion, Lea Michele, Neil Patrick Harris, the Tony-nominated women of 2026 and dancers from The Lost Boys, Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Schmigadoon! and more.