She’s topped the Billboard Hot 100 four times and scored 15 top 10 hits on the chart; placed three albums atop the Billboard 200 and nine in the top 10; won three Grammy Awards; been named a Billboard Legend of Live, and is known for her astounding aerial feats. But this Sunday, June 7, longtime pop star P!nk will add a more unexpected achievement to her resume: hosting Broadway‘s biggest night, the Tony Awards.
For P!nk, a love of Broadway hits very close to home. She grew up loving classic musicals (and sometimes acted in them); now, her daughter Willow Sage Hart is not only a devoted musical theater fan but an aspiring performer herself, now attending performing arts school in New York.
But despite the fact that her own music certainly has a Broadway presence — Moulin Rouge! features “Lady Marmalade,” the blockbuster hit she sang on with Mya, Lil’ Kim and Christina Aguilera in 2001; and & Juliet features “Perfect” — P!nk has yet to appear on a Broadway stage herself. That’ll change this weekend, not only with her hosting gig, but with a much-anticipated special performance celebrating the 30th anniversary of Broadway mainstay Chicago, in which P!nk will perform alongside Queen Latifah and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
“The first thing I had to do was see if my hips worked, and they do… sort of,” P!nk tells Billboard with a laugh. The pop superstar sat for a chat as she prepares for the Chicago performance high up New York’s Rockefeller Center, around the corner from Radio City Music Hall, where the Tonys will be presented. “It’s not something I ever thought I’d do, and now that I’m doing it it’s really fun.” As for what to expect: “It’s gonna be a medley. I’m doing… something! And it’s gonna be amazing! I’m like, living out my childhood dreams right now.”
P!nk caught up with Billboard days ahead of the Tonys to discuss her own musical theater past, the shows she’s constantly listening to with her daughter, and whether she’d ever consider letting her catalog become the basis for a musical.
Billboard: Broadway cast recordings can be formative just like pop albums; was there a gateway theater album that really got you into musical theater?
P!nk: Annie. [Sings from “Maybe”] “Maybe now it’s time, and maybe when I wake…” That was my singing lessons song. It was Whitney Houston that made me want to take voice lessons [in the first place], because I was like, well, how come she can sing like that? But I did train classically, so I would sing Phantom and then I got into Les Misérables and I just loved it all.
Singing Phantom will definitely get your range going!
Oh yeah, I mean, I used to sing it seriously. And then I smoked it all away [laughs].
And you participated in theater yourself growing up too, right?
Oh yeah. I was Rumpleteazer in Cats! I had to make my own costume. I was also Annie as a child at musical theater camp, this tiny little YMCA camp in Doylestown [PA].
Which cast albums are in rotation in your house today, that you listen to with your family?
What is [Willow] not listening to? Newsies was a big one for a while. The Notebook was a favorite of Willow’s, to be honest. Huge Outsiders fan. Sara Bareilles is amazing and Waitress was amazing — that’s another one we have in constant rotation. Hamilton was kind of an entry point for Willow — it was The Greatest Showman and Hamilton, around that time where she was like, “What is happening?”
If you had to choose your personal Mount Rushmore of musicals, what would be on it?
I mean, Les Mis every time. That’s some of my favorite music. You see that girl playing Cosette singing “Castle On A Cloud”… just great songs and really fun.
There is increasingly so much overlap between the pop and theater worlds. Do you have friends who’ve come to the theater world who have helped bring you into it?
I don’t know many pop musicians. It’s Willow all the way that brought us here.
There’s a lot of interest today in mining pop artists’ catalogs for Broadway musicals. Have you ever been approached?
Many times. I don’t know if I have an opinion just yet. I think & Juliet was the coolest. It’s a really good show, I really liked it, and I was skeptical, even though I love Max Martin. I think anything is possible if it’s done right.
Speaking of & Juliet, I have heard rumors that you might go into it at some point….?
They asked me to play Shakespeare, and I thought that was hilarious and awesome and would certainly be the role for me. But I’m not doing anything right now.
Would you ever be interested in writing an original musical?
Yeah, I like to write. Absolutely.
Among the performers you’ve seen on Broadway, do you have particular favorite voices?
Joshua Henry — he’s so good. Caissie Levy I love, Jessica Vosk I love. Shoshana [Bean] is incredible. I mean, even the guy that plays the dad in Lost Boys [Ben Crawford], he opens his mouth and I’m like, how are you that good with this small of a part?! Like, Jesus, do you have the best voice in the play? You’re here for four seconds! And [Crystal Lucas-Perry] who played the mom in Bigfoot! [off-Broadway], her voice is sick. I love Maria [Wirries] in Lost Boys, Emma Pittman [and] Sky Lakota Lynch from Outsiders…
You have an innate sense of theatricality. Has a sense of theater affected how you put together your live show?
I think very much that we always come from a theatrical place. 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 [laughs]. It’s a combination of circus, theater, rock opera… I guess pop show, but the pop show has the least amount to do with it. I would say more of a rock show than anything. We rock harder than a lot of rock bands. But definitely with staging and what’s possible, it is theater — it’s just a movable stage.
Can you share anything that’s happening with your own music right now?
Absolutely nothing. No, I’ve been writing some songs just because my heart needs it. But no, I don’t have any plans right now. I’m just mom-ing and seeing where the day takes us.
The Tony Awards are produced in collaboration with Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League. In addition to executive producing the show with Sussman, Kapoor and Levine Hall will also serve as co-showrunners. Patrick Menton and Rob Paine will co-executive produce, with Menton also serving as head of talent.
