The Tony Awards are Sunday night, but some winners already have their awards in hand.
Broadway veteran and Carnegie Mellon alumnus Michael McElroy was among the 2019 Tony Honor Recipients in a Tuesday ceremony in New York City. He accepted the award as founder of Broadway Inspirational Voices, the choir he brought to life 25 years ago to prop up a community being ravaged by AIDS.
“It gave us a place to use our talent to replenish ourselves and others, and I had no idea 25 years ago that it would become what it is today,” McElroy was saying Tuesday morning. “But the main mission, the main point of what I was always trying to do, was to represent diverse voices — people with different beliefs, different backgrounds, different ideologies, different identities — uniting our experiences in song and being a support system to our community.”
What began as 12 people — including future Tony Award winners Alice Ripley (“Next to Normal”), Adriane Lenox (“Doubt”) and CMU alumnus Billy Porter (“Kinky Boots”) — is now 80 members, with 60 active at any give time.
McElroy initially got the group together for an annual fundraising concert. Soon, special events by Broadway Cares and others were requesting the presence of Broadway Inspirational Voices, and “No” was not an option. The choir quickly jumped from that original 12 to 21, and by 1999, there were 65 members.
McElroy, a 2004 Tony nominee for his role as Jim in “Big River,” is an associate professor at New York University’s Tisch School of Drama.
Creating musical arrangements and fielding requests also keep him busy. For the 25th Silver Anniversary Kickoff concert on June 17 in New York City, there will be 44 Inspirational Voices, but it can vary drastically. Nine members were deployed to a recent event with Jennifer Nettles, and, for a May 17 concert with Patti LuPone and the New York Philharmonic, there were 20.
The choir’s repertoire is a mostly musical theater-gospel mix. Among the songs it has become known for are “Sunday,” from “Sunday in the Park With George” — an arrangement that comes from the Billy Porter album “On the Corner of Broadway and Soul.” Another is “God Is Able,” and the newest song on the choir’s list is McElroy’s take on “You Will Be Found” from “Dear Evan Hansen.”
McElroy keeps a watchful eye out for members, but he has never auditioned singers for the choir.
“So much of what we do as actors is selling ourselves to get a job. That’s not what we’re about,” he said. “It’s about being a part of a group of artists who want to use their talent and their passion as part of a community and as something that feeds their soul and in turn, feeds the people who hear them.”
The American Theatre Wing that awards the Tonys took note of Broadway Inspirational Voices’ outreach in New York City, which includes art programs for homeless schoolchildren, LBGTQ youths and pediatric cancer patients. McElroy, who grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, helps provide the mentorship that nurtured his own gifts.
McElroy was getting ready to receive recognition for the choir’s work as he recalled a meeting a year ago, when chairwoman Schele Williams, who has been with Broadway Inspirational Voices since 1999, said, “You know, I think we should have a Tony.”
“And I thought she was crazy,” McElroy said. “It had never even crossed my mind.”
Ms. Williams is going to be by his side Sunday at Radio City Music Hall, where he can watch himself, via film clips, accept an honorary Tony Award.
More Tonys
Billy Porter is among the presenters Sunday when the 73rd annual Tony Awards, hosted by James Corden, will be broadcast live at 8 p.m. on CBS. Porter, the reigning king of awards season red carpets, said of his look in a tweet: “I can tell you this. It’s never been done before.”
The musical "Hadestown" leads the field with 14 nominations, followed by “Ain’t Too Proud — The Life of the Temptations” with 12. The best musical category also includes Drama Desk winner “The Prom,” “Beetlejuice” and “Tootsie.” Among plays, “To Kill a Mockingbird” tied “The Ferryman” with nine nominations but is not up for best play. In contention are “Choir Boy,” “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus,” “Ink” and “What the Constitution Means to Me.”
Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg. Sign up for the PG performing arts newsletter Behind the Curtain at Newsletter Preferences.
First Published: June 6, 2019, 12:00 p.m.
Updated: June 6, 2019, 2:29 p.m.
