I didn’t watch the Tony Awards this year; although thanks to Mark Evanier, I saw Neil Patrick Harris’s sensation opening number.

Here’s a more subdued but still thrilling clip from the 1976 Tony Awards. Donna McKechnie wins Best Actress for her performance as Cassie in A Chorus Line. (Small thrill for me to notice Cheryl Clark, who played Liz in 1975’s Chicago, posting in the comments. She even refers to herself as “the original POP!”)

McKechnie defeated Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera from Chicago, although the role of Velma Kelly would eventually win a Tony for Bebe Neuwirth’s performance in the 1996 revival. Here she is accepting the award from Mandy Patinkin, who is inexplicably wearing space-age sunglasses.

I just noticed that Tonya Pinkins was also nominated that year. I’d seen her in Play On! during the spring of 1997. She and the rest of the cast were great in a production that unfortunately did not live up to its title.