Move over, Seymour! Because suddenly Cynthia is standing beside us, waiting to take the reins on Broadway’s biggest night! The silver screen’s celebrated green girl is set to emcee the 78th Annual Tony Awards, and to celebrate, we’re looking back at some of her most thrillifying award show appearances that led her up to this big night! (And one topical bonus appearance we just couldn’t bear to leave out!!)
From The Color Purple to The Lion King to Wicked, it’s been quite a ride to this point, each preceding moment a meaningful marker that cemented her place in Tony and award show history, and, of course, changed us all, as viewers, for good. Have a look at our list of faves, and tune in Sunday to see what heights, limits, and splendiferous new stratosphere she defies next!
“Thankful for This Tony That I’m Given” (2016)
Let’s start at the very beginning. (A very good place to start, as Maria von Trapp would suggest). Erivo bursts onto the Broadway scene as Celie Johnson in the 2016 adaptation of The Color Purple, the Oprah-piloted musical originally mounted in 2006 (itself based on the 1985 film in which Winfrey starred) and, naturally, wins a Tony Award for her “transcendent” performance, a moment the recipient herself has, understandably and rightfully, deemed her favorite among all her Tony Awards memories. 
“Mommy, look!” she shouts to her mother, while propping up her new prize.
Hailed as “intelligent, resonant and vibrant” by presenter Audra McDonald, and lauded by Lady O herself (“I would not be here if it [were] not for you!” the actress tells the former talk show host), Erivo goes on to thank original author Alice Walker for her timeless story of courage and bravery, director John Doyle “for giving me all the tools I needed to tell a story that everybody needs to hear” and to her fellow castmates “for looking into my eyes every night onstage [and] making me a stronger woman.”
Ultimately, however, though she admits she told herself she “wouldn’t cry, because my makeup artist would be really mad at me,” she tearfully sums up her sentiments in a sentence: “Thank you, American Theatre Wing, for making a London girl very, very happy.”
Beautiful and Here to Stay (2016)
Earlier in the evening, of course, she stuns with an emotional performance of the show’s high-octane finale, “I’m Here,” earning her a standing ovation at number’s end.
Of note, moving lyrics like “I believe I have inside of me / Everything that I need to live a bountiful life” and “I’m thankful for every day that I’m given….but most of all, I’m thankful for lovin’ who I really am” are even more resonant in light of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, FL that occurred hours before.
“It’s changed my life really,” she says, in an interview on CBS Mornings conducted shortly before the show’s closing. “I didn’t know that it held so much gifting in it, whether it be discovering what kind of actress I could be or discovering the depths I could [go to] onstage… or just being able to have doors open that I didn’t think would be open to me. It’s been a wonderful experience to be able to play this role, in this [production], on Broadway, for my first time.”
Christening Celie as “the ultimate survivor,” she comments that the heroine’s “doing [what] she needs to do [to] survive and to live. She never really gives up. She keeps going because she knows – even though she doesn’t really know what’s happened to her sister – [that] there’s someone to keep going for. She’ll do whatever it takes [to] keep that love alive.”
Ultimately, with the radiant reception to her triumphant performance, she let us know that she was beautiful and she was here… and she was not going anywhere.
Spreading the News in Song (2017)
Fresh off her win, Erivo returns to the Tonys stage the following year — her debut appearance at the showplace of the nation – alongside fellow former winner Leslie Odom, Jr. and the Radio City Rockettes – to serenade us with an iconic New York anthem.
Complete with a mash-up of Big Apple classics that blended the famous kickline with contemporary hip-hop choreography, the pair rouse the room with their resounding final notes, expertly concluding a sensational salute to the city so nice they named it twice.
Justice is Her Right (2017)
Backed by the Broadway Backwards ensemble, Erivo puts a robust, gospel-infused spin on Ragtime’s ardent anthem of strength and resilience at the annual LGBTQ+ extravaganza in 2017.
Urging allies to “Make Them Hear You,” in keeping with the song’s title and motif, she infuses the selection’s ever-prevalent lyrics with her full-bodied, equally impassioned timbre.
Given the onslaught of uproar based on news in our world today – and the urgency with which we’re fueled to fight back (because “sometimes there are battles which are more than black or white”), it seems this song and its message are more paramount than ever. If only we had a similarly fervent, headstrong revival on the way…
Feelin’ the Love (2019)
As part of the “In Memoriam” segment in tribute to those we lost in 2018-2019, Cynthia serenades the audience with The Lion King’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” at the 2019 ceremony.
Accompanied by a sole pianist, she lends to her dulcet tones to such poignant lyrics that convey how the power of love can transcend limitations and equalize us all (with soulful riffs and trills that make it all her own, to boot), while greats like Carol Channing, Georgia Engel, Gillian Lynne, Neil Simon, and Eric LaJuan Summers flashed in a final public farewell above her. Needless to say, Erivo certainly helped us feel the love for these late artists that night.
Let Her Shine (2022)
Who could forget the moment Erivo and Danielle Brooks bestowed fellow Color Purple player Joaquina Kalukango – who just seconds before hearing her name announced was declared to be Erivo’s “sister onstage… and honestly, in life” – with a Tony of her own?!
In the first full-season post-pandemic ceremony in 2022 – which aimed to reunite classic Broadway pairings of the past – she and Brooks walk out to an instrumental “I’m Here” (in honor of the show that brought the two of them together, and for which Erivo received her honor), while a photo of the two onstage in that 2016 production was projected behind them.
Praising Kalukango and the other Featured Actress nominees for their otherworldly performances, delivered with “intelligence, compassion and emotional depth” at a time when we sure needed it most, Erivo emphasizes that, no matter the outcome – a notion especially prevalent given her prior win – “all of them can and should be proud of their accomplishments.”
However, visibly moved by Kalukango’s “Let It Burn” performance earlier in the evening (“Yes! Yes! You own that!” she shouted, as the crowd rose to its feet), Erivo is further brought to tears upon opening the envelope that confirmed that year’s trophy belonged to her friend and former castmate.
The tears continue following Kalukango’s acceptance speech, as the trio simultaneously bob up and down in pride and excitement, before walking off hand in hand... proving the power of true sisterhood, and how we truly can make each other’s hearts beat when we share love.
Green Girl Power! (2024)
Erivo returned to the Tonys last year to bestow The Outsiders with its Best Musical prize, alongside her OG onstage counterpart, Idina Menzel, who, of course, won a Tony for originating the eventual Wicked Witch (an outsider in her own right, we might add), in 2004.
“I’m just going to go off the script real quick to say how excited I am to see what I know is going to be an amazing performance in that movie that you’re doing,” the recent Redwood standout tells Erivo.
Obviously referencing the film adaptation of Wicked, Menzel then follows up with: “I just want to say green girl power!” and Erivo concurs – “Green girl power indeed!” – pulling the elder Elphie in for a hug.
To quote the high-flying sorceress: if they work in tandem (as we see they’re cheekily doing here), there’s no fight they cannot win!
“Moon” Landing (2025)
Though not a Tony-specific presentation, Erivo took to the stage in tribute to the late Quincy Jones at the Grammy Awards earlier this year.
Joined by Herbie Hancock – a revered artist in his own right – the star of the hour gifts us with the jazz standard “Fly Me to the Moon,” which Jones arranged for Frank Sinatra and Count Basie in 1964. Starting soft and somber, with Hancock’s sole accompaniment on the keys opposite Erivo’s lilting vocals, the dulcet duet develops into a snazzy jazzy big band rendition, complete with horns and high notes aplenty!
Of note, on the subject of Grammys and music: no stranger to the art form, having won a Grammy herself in 2017 for her work on the aforementioned Color Purple album, the ever-versatile Erivo released her debut solo album Ch. 1 vs. 1 in 2021, and her sophomore effort, I Forgive You, on which her latest single, “Worst of Me” also appears, is out today.
Defying Expectations... and Everything Else (2025)
In what we presume will be the only thing bested by her Tonys opening on Sunday, Erivo opened the Oscars earlier this year with an electric, gravity-defying performance that won’t soon be forgotten.
Following fellow nominee, Broadway alum, and Wicked film cohort, Ariana Grande, who gives a soaring rendition of The Wizard of Oz’s wistful “Over the Rainbow,” Erivo follows up with a stirring “Home” from The Wiz, in tribute to the city of Los Angeles, in light of the wildfire tragedies. (The Smalls-Vandross musical spawned a popular film adaptation in 1978, thus making it a perfect song for the film-centric ceremony and to merge the properties within the Ozian multiverse).
She is then joined again by Grande to segue into – what else? – that empowering Wicked anthem about being airborne, as she stands atop a platform that gradually rises with the song’s climactic finish, ending with a battle cry for the ages.
While real life is devoid of the film’s special effects, and the rising platform isn’t as electrifying as the elevated cherry picker in the blockbuster Broadway adaptation, it’s no doubt a stunning live performance nonetheless – whose power undoubtedly comes across onscreen, its vivacity equal parts palpable and chilling.
Which may give us a hint as to what to expect Sunday night.
Though teases more than a few costume changes, Erivo’s keeping quiet about any other surprises.... but with Kristin Chenoweth poised to present and original Gary Coleman Natalie Venetia Belcon among the nominees — not to mention the recent release of a certain swankified trailer — Cynthia’s certainly got plenty to play with throughout the night.
But we know one thing’s for sure: as this list can affirm, it’s clear Erivo’s on top of the world; flying high and flying free, her future is truly unlimited. And nobody is ever gonna bring her down.
The 78th Annual Tony Awards will be held at Radio City Music Hall (1260 Avenue of the Americas), concurrently airing on CBS & Paramount Plus, on June 16th, 2024. For more information, please visit www.tonyawards.com.
